Roy Keane slams Manchester United after limp away loss to Tottenham Hotspur

LONDON – Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane labelled the Red Devils as the “new Spurs” and ruled them out of being crowned English Premier League champions after just two games, following their 2-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Ange Postecoglou’s first home game as Tottenham manager served as the perfect introduction for the Australian, whose side played with the kind of flair sorely lacking from the north Londoners in recent years. Senegal midfielder Pape Matar Sarr opened the scoring early in the second half, before Lisandro Martinez’s late own goal capped a dynamic Spurs display.

United, on the other hand, were fortunate to grab all three points in a lacklustre league opener against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but a listless second half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earned the ire of Keane.

“Man United are the new Spurs. Desperate, absolutely desperate,” the Irishman told Sky Sports as he compared United’s fortunes to those that Tottenham are renowned for.

“The biggest insult I always think about with teams is teams who can’t do it away from home or players who aren’t up for it away from home... United go away today and they were weak. No leadership, gave bad goals away.

“Spurs were lovely, all credit to Spurs, but United, it’s easy to play against them... They were fine the first 30 minutes but the game’s well over 90 minutes. You’re not going to dominate that long, but you’ve got to show some belief and desire, fight... Easy to play against, that’s the biggest insult I can give to these United players.”

As for Postecoglou, who has already had to deal with Harry Kane’s departure to Bayern Munich while also trying to erase the bitter taste of last season’s turbulent campaign, he will hope this eye-catching result against sloppy United can kick-start his reign.

“It was good. Man United probably had the better of the chances at the start, but I like the fact we hung in there and worked our way into the game,” he said.

“Second half, certainly in spells, it kind of showed the team we want to be. I keep saying we’re still a long way to go, but I really liked the belief and resilience the guys have. They were brave.”

In contrast to the sudden optimism around Tottenham, it has been a worrying start to the season for United manager Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman had overseen a remarkable improvement at United last term, with his side finishing third in the league and lifting the League Cup in his first season in charge.

With the additions of goalkeeper Andre Onana, midfielder Mason Mount and striker Rasmus Hojlund, the anticipation among fans for ten Hag to end the Red Devils’ 10-year league title drought has been high, but Keane squashed such hopes when he said: “The title? Forget it, you’re in cuckoo land. Forget about it. There’s no chance, there are too many issues in the squad.”

United were unchanged from last Monday’s scrappy 1-0 win over Wolves, although it was notable that Harry Maguire was absent from the squad following his decision to reject a move to West Ham United last week.

The Red Devils paid the price for poor first-half finishing and a strangely lethargic second-half performance with their first defeat at this stadium and their first on the road at Spurs in six trips.

Marcus Rashford drew a smart stop from Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario after linking up with Antony to carve open the hosts’ defence, before United appealed in vain for a penalty after Alejandro Garnacho’s shot hit Cristian Romero’s outstretched arm.

Then, Bruno Fernandes was guilty of a shocking miss when the unmarked United midfielder headed over from Luke Shaw’s cross.

“It was a very good performance in the first half, except we have to score. We deserved a penalty. I don’t know why it’s not,” ten Hag said.

“Then we switched off. The start of the second half was not good, it was totally unnecessary to concede the first goal. We didn’t collapse, but when you lose it’s never good. You always have to look in the mirror.”

Tottenham took the lead four minutes after half-time, when Dejan Kulusevski was released down the right by Pedro Porro and his deflected cross looped off Martinez towards Sarr, who guided a clinical volley past Onana.

United then came close to scoring an instant equaliser, with Antony curling against a post from Fernandes’ pass.

But Vicario preserved Tottenham’s lead with a superb save from Casemiro’s header after Fernandes’ free kick picked out the Brazilian.

On a perfect day for Postecoglou, even his substitutes worked to perfection.

After sending on Ben Davies and Ivan Perisic, Postecoglou watched in delight when Perisic’s 83rd-minute pass reached Welsh defender Davies, whose scuffed shot deflected in off Martinez. AFP