Roy Keane is certainly not convinced by Man United’s defence or their title chances and is adamant they will find it hard to compete with Liverpool and Man City next season.
In an interview with The Independent, Keane openly makes it clear that his former club are not good enough in defence yet.
‘The league table doesn’t lie,’ he said, before adding that United ‘are a bit short at the back.’
Although Manchester United are now on a 13 game undefeated streak after Saturday’s extra-time FA Cup win over Norwich, a poor start to the Premier League season has left them in sixth place in the league, still five points off Chelsea in fourth.
Admittedly United have managed to rutn their season around and shown more promise going forward in 2020, notably with the arrival of Bruno Fernandes who has given them that extra leverage in midfield.
Defender Harry Maguire’s arrival last year has galvanised United’s defense at the back although the Red Devils need to find him a strong partner in central defence.
The main excitement and challenges of this season are now largely over with Liverpool having already won this year’s Premier League by a massive margin from Manchester City in second place, who have also opened up a large gap to third. Liverpool have won 28 of their 31 games, and are currently 37 points ahead of Manchester United, who have only won 13.
As such, clubs are now scrambling to get their squads ready for the new season which kicks off right after the current season is officially done and dusted.
‘It will be hard to get past Liverpool or Man City over the next 12 months,’ said Keane.
Notably, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made numerous changes to the team for Saturday’s FA Cup match, yet they were discernibly slow to get going. Odion Ighalo roared into action and opened the scoring for the hosts, but a great goal from Todd Cantwell got Norwich back in the game, and the Canaries had a number of chances after that as well.
United eventually wore the the Canaries down in extra-time, with Harry Maguire nabbing the final winner. All in, not exactly a very impressive game from United.
Keane may not be off the mark in expressing his candid opinion. It does seem that Manchester United still have some ways to go before they can seriously mount a challenge going up against Liverpool and Machester City next season for Premier League glory.
Not forgetting too the serious challenges that will be forthcoming from the likes of newly-strengthened Chelsea and other squads eager to get their clutches on the trophy.