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Football

06th Mar 2022

Roy Keane slams ‘shameful’ Man Utd for ‘giving up’ against Man City

Daniel Brown

‘They gave up and shame on them’

Roy Keane has criticised Manchester United’s players for ‘giving up’ against Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s men secured a 4-1 victory in the Manchester derby.

City opened the scoring through Kevin De Bruyne in the fifth minute, before Jadon Sancho levelled proceedings in the 22nd minute.

However, Guardiola’s men restored their lead just six minutes later as De Bruyne grabbed his second of the game from close-range.

The home side, who dominated the second period, made it 3-1 in the 68th minute through Riyad Mahrez – the Algerian’s wonderstrike took a slight deflection off United captain Harry Maguire.

Guardiola’s side completed the rout in the final minute of the tie as Mahrez grabbed his second goal of the derby, with a VAR check confirming the attacker was onside before smashing his effort past David de Gea.

Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Keane said: “In any game, to give up, it’s unforgivable really, the beauty of top level sport is that there’s no hiding place.

“We saw all of the [Manchester] United shortcomings today, there’s way to lose football matches, we’ve all lost football matches, but the way United lost it today, they stopped running, they gave up.

“There’s players not running back, that’s what I don’t understand, when you’re playing for Man United, that’s really unacceptable, they threw the towel in which is shameful.”

He added: “You’ve got to run back, you’ve got to tackle – we’ve just seen a reflection of where the team is and where the club is, they’re just so far behind the other teams.

“I’m sitting there watching it and I’m getting really frustrated, I’ll forgive mistakes, but you’ve got to run back. There’s players out there that should never play for Man United again, just shameful, shameful.

“It’s shameful that you can’t put your body on the line, the subs coming on, you’re going they’re going to have an impact, but they’re not prepared to run around.

“I think Man City toyed with them, it’s the old saying of ‘Men vs Boys’, they gave up and shame on them.”

As the punditry team analysed the final two City goals Keane took another run at Fred and Scott McTominay.

“Just look at Fred… he’s standing there like he’s waiting for a bus. Your instinct should be to run back and fight for everything. He’s just stood there,” he said.

“Look at McTominay’s effort, look at McTominay, McTominay. He seems like an honest enough kid but, at this level, honestly.”

United host Tottenham Hotspur in their next Premier League match on Saturday March 12.

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