Roy Keane disagreed with Ruben Amorim over the Manchester United head coach’s assertion that his side has shown ‘progress in recent performances’ ahead of their clash with Manchester City on Sunday.
United lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest last time out in the Premier League but were unbeaten in their previous four league games, with draws against Everton and Arsenal as well as victories over Ipswich and Leicester.
They also saw their way past Real Sociedad during that run to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Europa League in what has undoubtedly been Amorim’s best spell at Old Trafford since arriving in November.
But few would disagree with it being a disappointing tenure in general, with United sitting 13th in the Premier League table having lost 13 and won just ten of their 30 top flight games so far this season.
Amorim was positive in his programme notes though, claiming ‘it is clear to see we are making progress in our performances’ and Keane was asked whether he agrees with Manchester United boss on Sky Sports ahead of the Manchester derby.
“Not from what we’re seeing,” Keane said. “We don’t know whether he’s seeing something on the training ground – a bit more spirit and a bit more fight.
“But I’ve not seen it in the few games I’ve watched recently. After the Forest game they got a few plaudits for their possession and being neat and tidy, but when people say they’re neat and tidy, what the hell does that mean?
“It’s really important to score goals in football. Obviously the attacking players aren’t doing the business and that’s where they’ve been really lacking. I think even Wolves have scored more goals than them. So that’s a huge problem.
“They’re not dynamic, they’re not mobile. They showed a little bit of spirit a couple of weeks ago at home to Arsenal but the standard of the game wasn’t great and there was no edge to it.
“So I don’t see where the manager is coming from. I’ve not seen much progress. And the fact is they don’t dig in, they lose too many matches – 13 already this season, 14 last year – so even when they’re not at their best they don’t dig in, they don’t roll their sleeves up, I don’t like the spine of the team.”
This United side have a reputation of raising their levels for big games though and beat City at the Etihad through two late Amad Diallo goals in December having got the better of them in the FA Cup final at the end of last season.
And Keane admits that despite his reservations over the so-called progress of the Red Devils he believes “they’ll get a result today and find some sort of spark”.