Roy Keane has said Harry Maguire’s presence on the pitch has his Manchester United teammates frightened.
Erik ten Hag’s men were handed a reality check on the weekend in their defeat to Fulham after a run of positive results.
And despite getting on the scoresheet, Harry Maguire has come under fire for his performance at Old Trafford.
Roy Keane slams Harry Maguire
The 30-year-old centre-back played the full 90 minutes on the weekend against Marco Silva’s men and thought he’d secured United a point.
But the Red Devils were unable to hold out after Maguire’s late equaliser as Alex Iwobi secured all three points for the visitors.
United had come under criticism from Jamie Carragher earlier in the week for the defence sitting so deep compared to their midfield.
And this has seen Roy Keane suggest his United teammates are frightened to push up the pitch due to the trouble they’ll then face if a ball is played in behind.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: ‘I don’t want to pin it all on Maguire but there is always that worry with Maguire, with United coming up and squeezing the pitch like all the other top teams do. There’s that worry with him all the time. And I think they are frightened to death to come up because anything in behind he will be in trouble.’
Man United’s top four hopes
The Red Devils went into the game against Fulham on the back of some encouraging results.
Four consecutive wins in the Premier League had seen Ten Hag’s men close the gap on the top four.
However, with a victory for Aston Villa over the weekend, the gap to the Champions League spots has now widened to eight points.
Going into the summer, decisions will likely have to be made on the future of some of these United players.
Whether they qualify for the Champions League or not, the quality of the squad will surely be assessed with Sir Jim Ratcliffe now in the building.
Maguire has been used fairly heavily by Ten Hag this season – when fit – with injuries seeing the likes of Lisandro Martinez miss large periods of the season.
But it seems he is not winning over Keane who is clearly feels Maguire’s place in the starting XI is hindering the team’s style of play.
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