Roy Keane Questions the Extent of Praise for Michael Carrick
Roy Keane has recently expressed his concerns about the amount of praise being given to Michael Carrick, the interim head coach of Manchester United. During a discussion on Sky Sports with Gary Neville, Keane interrupted to question whether the acclaim for Carrick was “over the top.”
Carrick was appointed as interim manager in January following the sacking of Ruben Amorim. Since then, he has led the club to Champions League qualification, which was secured with a 3-2 victory over Liverpool on Sunday. However, his future at the club remains uncertain, as the management will need to decide whether to appoint him permanently.
Keane has been vocal about Carrick’s future, initially suggesting that he would not give him the full-time job if he won all his matches in charge. He later appeared to change his stance, expressing hope that Man United would appoint Carrick.
During the latest discussion about Carrick’s future ahead of Manchester United’s match against Liverpool, Keane interrupted Neville to question the extent of the praise given to the interim boss.
“He is getting praise for winning football matches, he got praised for tactically changing it on Monday night to a system where United ended up losing the second half,” Keane said. “He is getting credit for that. You are 2-0 up at half-time against Brentford who have not won in five or six, they lost the second half 1-0 and he’s getting thumbs up for that. That is where I draw the line, where it is a bit over the top.”
Neville responded by stating that the team would have likely lost the game had they kept the system they had in the first half. Keane countered by pointing out that the system they played in the first half allowed them to score two goals and be 2-0 up.
“They were hanging on for dear life,” Neville replied, prompting Keane to interject, “they were hanging on at Chelsea.”
Neville admitted that the performances in the last few weeks haven’t been great, but acknowledged that Carrick has managed to get the team over the line in these games. Keane emphasized that he is unsure about whether Carrick should get the job permanently.
“I have gone on the record about whether I think Michael should get the job, what I would say is that I am unsure, but my gut feeling when he got the job was that Man United should go out and appoint a world class manager, the very best they can with a body of work with Champions League experience and league titles.”
“Michael obviously doesn’t have that, he’s been at Middlesbrough earning his trade for a few years, I don’t think we are on a different page on that. What I would say is ‘Who is out there right now that is available and can come in and take over from Michael?’”
“What he has done is settle the club down on the pitch and everyone has been able to see that, there was a lot of turbulence in the club over the last 12 months.”
“I think today is big, they haven’t been playing well, there has been West Ham, Newcastle, Brentford, Leeds, Chelsea where there have been struggles there they have limped over the line. Today is about making sure they win as they have got a lot more going for them on paper with the injuries Liverpool have got.”
Keane agreed with Neville’s pre-match assessment that the result could have a bearing on Carrick’s future, suggesting a victory and positive performance would be a big step towards securing the job permanently.
Manchester United started strong, storming into a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford with Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko putting the hosts into a comfortable lead at half-time. Liverpool battled back with Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo pulling them back level, before Kobbie Mainoo scored Manchester United’s winner from the edge of the box in the 77th minute.
Keane claimed post-match that the “best and the worst” of Manchester United had been on show in the match, with Carrick’s side earning praise for netting three against their rivals but expressing concern over an “ugly” second half.
