'Man United are the new Spurs' – Roy Keane slams former club after Tottenham defeat

The Irishman did not mince his words as he criticised Erik ten Hag's side in his assessment of the game as a Sky Sports pundit

Posted Monday, August 21, 2023 by fourfourtwo.com

Manchester United legend Roy Keane tore into his former club following their defeat to Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday, calling them "the new Spurs".

Keane was often critical of Tottenham, the team he grew up following in Ireland, during his playing days and once famously praised manager Sir Alex Ferguson for a team talk ahead of a game against Spurs in which the Scot simply said: "Lads, it's Tottenham!"

That phrase would become synomymous with Tottenham's soft centre in the 1990s and so often since, but Spurs were impressive on Saturday in a 2-0 win – their first under new manager Ange Postecoglou.

United had been better for much of the first half and at the interval, Keane said in his role as Sky Sports pundit that he thought his former club would go on to win.

Instead, Tottenham took the lead through Pape Matar Sarr after 49 minutes and went on to wrap up a 2-0 win following an own-goal from Lisandro Martinez late in the game.

"I think Man United are the new Spurs," Keane said. "Desperate. Absolutely desperate. Biggest insult I always think about teams are teams who can't do it away from home or players who aren't up for it away from home.

"They're a good team and they fancy it when the home fans are in front of them. They've got that support and that energy. United go away today, that second half - weak, no leadership, gave bad goals away. Spurs were lovely, honestly, all credit to Spurs.

"But United, it's easy to play against them. I said before the game they were poor against Wolves but they got the result and they'd be better today. They weren't. We made the point they were fine the first half-an-hour but the game is 90 minutes."

And he added: "You're obviously not going to dominate that long but you've got to show some belief, some desire, some fight. You're bringing on Anthony Martial and these players - you might as well bring on Frank Stapleton and Norman Whiteside."

Keane also likened Marcus Rashford to a 'child' as the forward failed to make an impact and appeared isolated in the central striker position.

"Martial's not going to get you out of trouble again," he said. "Rashford played through the middle again - usual stuff. He's like a child up there. He's obviously not happy playing through the middle and his body language, his first few touches in the game, suggested 'I don't want to play up through the middle.'

"But you have to - you've got to do a job for the team tonight. You're looking at the captain, the senior players, established international players. Easy to play against - that's the biggest insult I can give to these United players."