‘Is that real?’ – Keane shocked by damning Man Utd stat as ‘sign of insanity’ explained

Roy Keane explained the “sign of insanity” under Erik ten Hag at Manchester United having been shocked by a damning Red Devils statistic.

United have lost six of their opening 14 games in the Premier League this season as Ten Hag has struggled to rediscover the form that saw them thrive in his debut campaign at the helm.

They were completely outplayed in a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle at St James’ Park on Saturday in a game they could easily lost by a far more significant margin, and their away troubles under Ten Hag were highlighted on Super Sunday.

Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards were shown a graphic which showed that Ten Hag’s United have picked up just one point against clubs in the top nine of the Premier League in 12 games since the start of his tenure at Old Trafford.

Keane responded: “That doesn’t look real. Is that real? It looks ugly. That looks ugly.

“It’s just the amount of goals, we were discussing earlier, six at City, seven at Liverpool, four at Brentford. It’s not good. They’re obviously in a tough place. The manager is under pressure again. There were players playing last night for United and you thought they would have been leaving the club in the summer.

“You’re still going back to the same players who’ve been getting United nowhere fast over the last one or two years. What’s the sign of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This groups not going to change and, as I said, if they’re not going to work as hard as the opposition, then you’re in trouble.”

Keane was particularly critical of one of those players United are “are still going back to”.

He added: “We mention Martial… we forgive Martial because he scores a goal every 14 years.

“But let me tell you when at Newcastle under pressure, we get that ball into you, you better get hold of that ball to get us up the pitch and a bit of breathing space.

“He’s touching balls off and gives the ball away cheaply. You may as well go down the leagues.

“Man United have been trying to get rid of him a few years ago. You judge Man United on what they do in the big matches. If you can’t deal with that, maybe you’re not a Man United player.”

MAILBOX: No manager can thrive at Man Utd with these players. It’s time to play the kids…