Christian Eriksen for openly acknowledging that the team’s players have lacked motivation this season.
Eriksen sparked controversy following United’s 1-1 draw with FC Twente in the Europa League last month when he admitted that he and his teammates didn’t put in the same level of effort as their opponents.
‘It’s disappointing,’ Eriksen said. ‘We wanted more in the end but it wasn’t good enough. ‘They looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right. That was said in the dressing room.’
Man United have failed to win their following three matches after that draw with FC Twente at Old Trafford, piling more pressure on Erik ten Hag’s position as manager.
‘I even go back to the FC Twente game and when the players came out after the match, it was Eriksen, again a really poor game, oh my goodness, and when players come out [and say], ‘I think they might have wanted it more than us’, I kind of gave up at that stage,’ Keane said on The Overlap.
‘If that’s the noises coming out of the dressing room then no wonder the manager is in trouble, no wonder they’re not going to win football matches, that’s it.
‘But that’s where United are, it’s hit and miss, they’ll win a few games but they’re going to lose plenty.
‘They’re just too open, they’re not athletic, they don’t score enough goals, I’m not sure there is a team there.
‘I’d love to know what the culture is at the training ground, who is putting demands on each other? Who is pushing each other? Who is helping the younger players? Are the senior players proper?
‘When they’re 1-0 up against FC Twente get the job done instead of a player coming out afterwards going, ‘I think they wanted it more than us’.’
Keane also claimed that it was ‘unfair’ for United to give Harry Maguire the captaincy only five months after his £80 million arrival from Leicester City.
‘You’re on about decision making and managers, Harry Maguire walks into United, obviously new club for him, the worry for me is Harry comes into the club and he was given the captaincy – what does that say about the rest of the group?’
‘He’s just walked in, he’s not even had a year or two at the club where you go, ‘listen, he’s learning what the club was about’. That was unfair on him, 100 per cent.
‘I go back to Eriksen, Eriksen’s an experienced international player, vastly experienced, so he’s back in the United team the last few weeks because the manager is saying he’s doing really well in training. Eriksen’s not going to close the gap on Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, absolutely not.
‘So he’s coming out after the game, I’m looking at him, even if you feel that, and that has happened where you thought they wanted it more than you, you don’t bloody say it, you fool, do you?
‘Someone should get a grip of him and go, ‘what are you sending those messages out about us for?’. We go and say, ‘we had a disappointing result but we bounce back next week’.’
