Manchester United legend Roy Keane has compared under-pressure manager Michael Carrick to a “politician,” accusing him of talking a lot but saying little as his side’s struggles continue.
In a dramatic game against Aston Villa on Sunday, United fell two goals behind inside four minutes before fighting back to level by half-time, only to concede twice more early in the second half.
They appeared to be heading to a certain defeat only for Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu both to score in stoppage time.
Carrick, whose future has come under increasing scrutiny, repeatedly said United needed to ‘tighten up’ during his post-match interview with Sky Sports but didn’t give much else away on his future.
“It’s obviously difficult for the manager. Under pressure, no doubt. He talks a lot but doesn’t say much. I don’t know if that’s a tactic. Like a politician,” Keane said afterwards on Sky.
“He keeps saying we need to tighten up and there’s things we need to work on. But they better get moving on that. It’s the worst start in how many years, all these stats aren’t very good. If you keep giving up goals and chances, it’s just going to continue.
“What are we expecting to change over the next few weeks and months? What are they working on? They need to do a lot better than that.”
Keane felt United deserved credit for fighting back to claim a point against Villa but lambasted their defending.
The former United midfielder added: “I think we’ve said previously there have been question marks over this team but they’re showing a bit of fight, a bit of desire and, as bad as the game was from a footballing point of view, they kept going to the end.
“So, on the one hand, you say dreadful to give up four goals at home, but they kept going, so we have to give them a little bit of praise.
“In terms of the bigger picture, it’s that rollercoaster of watching United. Some bits were so, so bad. Defensively the way it started, the start of the second half, but they found a way to get a point in a game where they looked dead and buried.
“Still nowhere near good enough to try and get towards the middle of the table.”
United have dropped into the relegation zone and still boast only one Premier League victory to their name this season, and former defender Ashley Young was scathing in his assessment.
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Young said: “There’s got to be so much more communication going through this team. It looks like they don’t even know each other at times. It’s tough to watch.
“You’re looking at the fans, they’re probably wondering what they’ve just witnessed. Of course there’s a lot of young players but there’s got to be more leaders out there on the pitch.”
The point was of no comfort to United forward Matheus Cunha, who said of his emotions: “So tired. I feel so disappointed.
“After the other night we talked a lot about how to concede goals and then be there and then change our mentality to come into the game. And then we did it again, we conceded some goals. We can’t do it. We need to play like Manchester United and go forward.”
Information from PA was used in this report.
