Manchester United legend Roy Keane has lambasted Manchester United players saying that they lack the spine and character of the old Manchester United teams. He also accused the current crop of United players of playing like a “bunch of strangers.”
United were held to a 1-1 draw against Liverpool in the Europa League and this caused them to be eliminated from the competition on a 3-1 aggregate score.
"I'm really saddened by what I've seen of United over the last year or two," former club captain Keane told ITV. "It's like a bunch of strangers have been thrown together. When you play for United and you put that jersey on, I always felt 10-foot tall.
"But when you see these players, some of them look like they're shrinking with the jersey on, whether it is the pressure or not. If you're playing for United, you have to deal with that pressure and expectation and this group of players are certainly struggling.
"I know they have had injuries. It goes to show how important Wayne Rooney is to this club. I'm looking at the characters. Where are the leaders in this group? Even tonight when they weren't quite at it and were chasing, trying to get back into the game.
"Liverpool could've scored five or six goals easily. You have to use your head and your brain. That is where the leaders and characters come into it and we're not seeing it."
Van Gaal proud of United’s performance despite Europa League elimination
Manchester United manager was happy with his team’s performance on the night despite not going through. “I'm not angry. I'm not frustrated. I was very proud of my players. They have given everything. The fans applauded at the end and that was remarkable.”
"We played like Liverpool did in the first leg. We created a lot of chances and scored a penalty -- and then you concede one goal in the last seconds of the half. That's what we did not do in Liverpool; they scored an away goal and that was a difference. A difference was also how the teams felt in the dressing room at half-time.”
The manager was also critical about the amount of time each team had to recover before this game saying, “Liverpool had a week free. That's a big difference and you could see that in the last 50 minutes. Now we have the same problem against Manchester City [in the Premier League on Sunday]. But we keep confidence because Arsenal had the same benefit and we beat them.”
United will now have to shift their focus on the Manchester Derby and the Premier League after the defeat. Finishing in the top four will become their number one priority after their Europa League route to the Champions League was ended.
