“They are making a lot of excuses, to me they’ve been bad champions.”
Manchester City ruthlessly tore through Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, consigning Jurgen Klopp’s team to their third consecutive home defeat for the first time since 1963/64.
Ilkay Gundogan bagged a brace after missing a penalty, before Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden ensured Mohamed Salah’s penalty was nothing more than a consolation goal.
After the game, Roy Keane also tore through Liverpool with equal ruthlessness, berating their weak mentality.
Speaking on Sky Sports, the former Manchester United captain said: “They are making a lot of excuses. To me, they’ve been bad champions.”
He continued: “I don’t just mean today. You can lose a game of football, but… I can’t figure this group out. I’m looking at them – even the game during the week against Brighton – Brighton were comfortable during the game.
“You can be beaten in a game, but there’s a way to get beaten.
“But I don’t see that… I think maybe they’ve all believed the hype over the last year or two.”
Oof. Roy Keane destroying Klopp’s excuses with utter glee pic.twitter.com/leYx8MG4ls
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 7, 2021
“We spoke about, maybe there would be some sort of drop off, but they’re playing for a big team in Liverpool,” he added.
“It’s as if they won the league last year, they’ve all got a bit carried away and they’ve all believed their own hype.
“In my mindset, when you won a league title, your next challenge is always: ‘Can we do it again?’
“I never got the impression from this group, from their interviews, from their manager last year. When they won it, were they saying, ‘what’s the next step for Liverpool?’
“No. It was almost, ‘let’s enjoy this’, it was obviously a long wait for them, 30 years, but I never heard any of the players coming out and going, ‘we want to do it again.’ That’s the key.
“They’re now talking about trying to get in the top four. From winning the league last year, to all of a sudden going, ‘well the top four now is where our targets are.”
Many Twitter users have pointed out that Keane is probably revelling in this opportunity to feel vindicated after he called Liverpool ‘sloppy’ earlier on this season – a comment Klopp objected to live on TV.
