Legendary Manchester United captain Roy Keane has warned that Alejandro Garnacho still can’t be trusted to start games despite his fantastic off-the-bench performance in a comeback victory against Leicester City on Friday night.
United recovered from a goal down to win 2-1 and book their spot in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid struck in the 42nd minute to give Leicester the lead which sparked boos from the United fans at half time.
The Red Devils were poor for large parts of the game, taking them 65 minutes to register their first shot on target.
Garnacho made the difference when he came on at the interval in place of debutant Patrick Dorgu. Garnacho nearly got on the score sheet but his effort was cleared off the line by Caleb Okoli.
However, he wasn’t deterred, making a number of runs down the left that caused all sorts of problems for the Leicester defence. His cross inside the box found its way to Joshua Zirkzee, who made no mistake from close range to restore parity.
Harry Maguire then came up with an injury-time winner to complete the comeback.
Ruben Amorim was full of praise for Garnacho in his post-match press conference but according to Keane, the Argentine is still better when coming on from the bench.
Speaking on ITV, Ian Wright insisted he was surprised Aorim didn’t name Garnacho in his starting XI.
However, Keane stated, “I think it suits him when it comes off the bench, I don’t think you can trust him when he starts. But when he comes off the bench and you’re gambling and the team is stretched, that’s when he comes into his own.”
“They put Leicester on the backfoot and the subs came on. That’s what Garnacho does well. The first-half they were going sideways and sideways. He came on and tested them.”
Keane noted that United’s win should not hoodwink anyone into thinking that they’re now a good side.
“United got out of jail. Don’t be fooled by it. You have to praise them – Manchester United are in the next round of the cup – but if they keep performing like that…the performance itself was nowhere near good enough.”
“The subs made a difference. They played a lot more direct and more forward passes but they should do more. They rode their luck.”
“The manager is obviously really frustrated with the performance. He mentioned about having no energy, that’s the bit I don’t understand.”
“Whatever about the tactics and players trying to settle in and lack of confidence but you’ve got to play with energy.”
He added, “Your starting point has to be energy and enthusiasm and then you take it from there. If you’ve got no energy, it doesn’t matter what system you’re playing, you won’t get near anybody.”
“It’s all well and good playing in possession but you have to close people down. Leicester were getting plenty of joy. We’ve seen two bad teams there tonight. Any team with a bit more quality than Leicester would have got the job done. United rode their luck.”
On Maguire’s controversial goal, Keane noted, “That’s just a poor decision. We talk about VAR, if it was here and it should be here, whatever, but the linesman’s got to see that, has to see that.”
United are back in action on Sunday, February 16 when they face Tottenham Hotspur in North London.
Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
