Roy Keane was outraged with Altay Bayindir following Manchester United’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Despite the narrow loss, it was a positive performance from Man United, who showed plenty of fire on the attack and were largely unlucky not to find the back of the net during their intense encounter.
Even in defence, United were largely stable. It was only a blunder early in the match that cost them the match.
For United legend Keane, this mistake was clearly the main talking point of their narrow defeat.
Assessing United’s game
“Wasn’t great the second half,” Keane said of United’s performance on Sky Sports following the match. “Overall, I think the game was poor in the second half. The expectations that United have now are so low that even when Gary [Neville] was on the commentary, everyone’s even comfortable with a 1-0 defeat.”
“United have got to do better again,” when asked if this drop in expectations troubles him, Keane responded: “It does worry me, yeah. There were obviously a couple of the new signings who were encouraging. They were getting up the pitch, there was a bit more power, you think, obviously, results will improve.”
“But again, no goal, another defeat, first day of the season. So yeah, still some problems out with United.”
Despite this broadly damning assessment, there was one issue in particular that frustrated Keane above any other.
Keane enraged
The United legend was highly critical of Bayindir, who was largely at fault for Arsenal’s goal when he failed to clear the cross coming in from a corner kick.
“Obviously, with the goal, in terms of set piece physicality…your goalkeeper really not doing well enough, not being strong enough,” Keane remarked.
“So yeah, there’s still that worry.”
Keane and fellow pundit Micah Richards proceeded to get into a heated argument, with Richards defending Bayindir to some extent.
Still, Keane was unwilling to alter his view.
While Richards claimed that the entire defence was unable to defend the corner leading to the goal due to being outsmarted by Arsenal, Keane chimed in: “You can’t babysit a goalkeeper.”
If there is one main takeaway from the match, it is that while United have plenty of promising new signings, further reinforcements in goal will be required if they hope to compete at the highest level this season.
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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Mathew Cohen
A faithful Manchester United supporter, Mathew has worked as a football writer and analyst for SB Nation, FanSided, and now The Peoples Person. Mathew’s heroes include David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sir Alex Ferguson, all of whom played their part in creating some special childhood memories.
