Roy Keane lays down non-negotiable gauntlet for Bruno Fernandes to end Man United misery

Roy Keane has called on Manchester United to start delivering performances like they put in away to league leaders Liverpool and in their Manchester derby at Manchester City on a more regular basis – with Bruno Fernandes and his senior cohorts urged to set the standard.

United took a surprising but deserved lead at Anfield on Sunday afternoon before finding themselves 2-1 down, only to rally and secured a well-earned point from a much-improved performance.

Ruben Amorim will even have good cause to feel his side should have won the game after Harry Maguire failed to hit the target in the dying seconds, instead curling Joshua Zirkzee’s bobbing square ball over the bar.

Keane was nonetheless pleased to see his former club get a point having written off their chances entirely after seeing the teamsheets, and had to admit he was pleasantly surprised by what he saw from Amorim’s side.

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Responding to a similar ‘got to do it every week’ sentiment from Fernandes, Keane said on Sky Sports: “I said before the game, I just looked at the whole team, I looked at the performances recently, the lack of goals…[but] they turned up. They showed a bit of passion.

“The argument to all of this stuff – and I don’t want to take away from United today – is do that in the other games. They done it at City recently…you can’t just pick and choose when you want to turn up for a game at Man United and have passion today and then [not other games].

“It’s a difficult question to ask to a player after a match, ‘how come can’t you do it week in week out’. [Fernandes] is just a player himself, so when you’re a senior player the key is to turn up to every game with that passion and that quality.

“They showed their quality today and I don’t think anyone would have predicted Man United scoring two goals and nearly winning it at the end. Liverpool had their chances, of course they did, but I take my hat off to United: they showed a bit of passion, lots of quality, a bit of fight, and they showed what playing for Man United is all about.

“The key is obviously they’ve got to back it up. They’ve got Arsenal in the cup next, and they’ve got to turn up with the same attitude, the same level of attitude, the same level of performance, the same fighting spirit, and then they’ve got a chance of winning matches.”

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