ROY KEANE accused Luke Shaw of “giving up” to allow Manchester City to score their opening goal against Man Utd.
United were brushed aside by their neighbours in a 3-0 defeat on Sunday afternoon as their dismal start to the season continued.
Phil Foden opened the scoring for City with a glancing header following a delightful darting run into the box and chipped cross from Jeremy Doku.
But United legend Keane, 54, reckons that the goal was avoidable – claiming Shaw gave up on defending Doku’s mazy run into the penalty area.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Keane said: “Listen, it was very good from City. Doku and Foden’s timing [was] perfect.
“But United’s defending, the two midfielder before that are too square and Shaw just gives up.
“It’s a nice bit of skill, but Shaw is an England international player. He’s got hundreds of games under his belt and he doesn’t even get his body positioning right.
“It’s far too easy, it’s like he was throwing the towel in. We know people can run off the back of Bruno [Fernandes], that’s been going on for years.”
Micah Richards, who was part of Sky’s coverage alongside Keane, shifted more of the blame on to United captain Bruno Fernandes.
The ex-Man City defender said: “I just want to look at Fernandes’ positioning here, because they’re playing a two in midfield.
“Once the ball is over to that [right] side, now you have to read the danger, and he just loses Foden there.
“He just switches off and it wasn’t good enough.”
Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim felt that the goals his side conceded were avoidable too, explaining that his team needed to do better during his post-match interview.
He said: “If you look at the three goals, we can avoid these goals.
“Doku had a lot of space surrounded by four players. We can be more aggressive. Of course, the ball bounces in the moment and goes to Foden.”
Erling Haaland netted a second-half brace to put Man City out of sight after the break.
Man Utd ratings vs Man City: Mbeumo forces wonder save from Donnarumma but that’s as good as it gets
MANCHESTER UNITED’S miserable start to the season continued after they were brushed aside by neighbours Man City.
Ruben Amorim’s side were unable to come back with a bang after the international break, falling to a 3-0 away defeat.
Phil Foden opened the scoring for City after just 18 minutes with a glancing header that gave Altay Bayindir – keeping his spot despite the arrival on Ssnne Lammens – little chance to stop.
While Erling Haaland did what he does best by bagging a second-half brace to put the hosts out of reach.
United now sit 14th in the table, with City leapfrogging them with their second win of the season.
Here’s how SunSport’s Katherine Walsh rated each Man Utd players performance…
But the Red Devils had offered very little threat throughout the game anyway, managing just two shots on target.
Keane put United’s lack of impetus down to a need for more quality players in the squad.
He said: “This United team, they lack that real quality. They struggle defensively, the midfield [too].
“We’re talking about United breaking the press, but when teams get at United, United look all over the place.
“I think United are an average team, an average Premier League team. The stats will tell you that, going back to last season as well.”
Read the full article here