Roy Keane And Jamie Carragher Slam ‘Frightened’ Manchester United After Arsenal Stalemate
Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher have blasted Manchester United’s performance in their drab 0-0 stalemate with Arsenal, with the Red Devils icon labelling Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side ‘frightened’.
United entered Saturday’s trip to the Emirates Stadium in need of a bounce back performance following their shock 2-1 defeat to basement boys Sheffield United at Old Trafford in midweek.
However, the Red Devils were unable to break the deadlock as Edinson Cavani spurned the game’s two best chances to leave north London with just one point, despite Mikel Arteta being unable to field a number of key players.
And Keane has slammed his former club for failing to seize the chance to put the pressure back on rivals Manchester City in their pursuit of the Premier League title.
‘I’m scratching my head with United, the worry watching them today was they almost lacked the belief they could win the game,’ the Irishman said on Sky Sports.
‘This is Manchester United. The game was there for the taking, imagine playing for Manchester United and lacking the belief of going to win the game.
‘The performance lacked the intensity, you can make excuses but there was a real lack of quality and conviction and desire to get the result and Arsenal deserved the point.’
Former Liverpool defender Carragher concurred with Keane’s analysis, reflecting that United appear satisfied with their status as title challengers.
‘The biggest thing for me with United, normally going to Anfield or Arsenal and getting a point is not a bad result. I would be more angry as a United fan with today than Wednesday. It’s almost like United can’t believe where they are.
‘There is this idea that they are building and next season they can go for it. Man City have no strikers, Liverpool have no centre backs. [For] Man United this is a fantastic opportunity and it’s almost like they are happy to be there.
‘The results are not bad, but Liverpool with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho at centre backs, Arsenal without their three best players, I don’t see the fight from these players to go and get the win.
‘This idea that next year will be United’s year, next year Liverpool and City might go back to getting 96, 97 points.’
Keane added that United’s transformation from title hopefuls to genuine title challengers has resulted in a ‘different pressure’ for his former side, and that the Red Devils looked ‘frightened’ with the task at hand.
‘There is a different pressure now. They were getting plaudits while they were climbing the table but now they are up the top it’s almost as if the players have gotten frightened of the challenge.
‘You could maybe forgive them for the Sheffield United one. That can happen. But today I’m really scratching my head at this team.
‘You are signed to win football matches and the big prizes. You watch them today, I am thinking you’ve got into this great position will you go for it, they didn’t do it today.’
Saturday’s result means United have picked up just one point from the six available in winnable games against the Blades and Arsenal. However, Solskjaer appeared content with his side’s showing at the Emirates Stadium.
‘I felt we had the bigger chances to win the game, definitely,’ the United boss said after the game. ‘Decent performance, good defensively, two massive chances second half from two good crosses, unfortunately we couldn’t put it between the posts.
‘We come away with most of the possession, the bigger chances, we had a spell in the second half where we were a bit passive but apart from that I was pleased with the performance.’