Roy Keane finds it incomprehensible that manager Erik ten Hag decided not to give Cristiano Ronaldo playing minutes in the Manchester derby. After the lost Premier League game with Manchester City (6-3), the elector indicated that he did not let Ronaldo come in ‘out of respect’, but the analyst finds the comment strange. At the same time, Ten Hag receives support from Micah Richards, who works in the studio of Sky Sports got into a heated argument with Keane over the coach’s decision.
After the painful defeat in the derby, Ten Hag said when asked why he did not let Ronaldo take action. “I didn’t want to bring him in, out of respect for Cristiano himself and because of his great career. In addition, it was important that I could bring Martial, because he needs the minutes after his injury,” said the coach of the Red Devils. Anthony Martial eased the pain somewhat in the 84th and 91st minutes by narrowing the 6-1 deficit to 6-3.
Roy Keane & Micah Richards clash over Cristiano Ronaldo’s role at Manchester United! ???? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????pic.twitter.com/GzIqHT4ffr
— SkySports (@SkySports) October 2, 2022
After Keane expressed his disagreement with Ronaldo’s decision and Richards questioned whether the Portuguese would add value in the derby, the discussion erupted. “Oh here we go, here we go!”, responds Keane, who already indicated halfway through the game that he finds Ten Hag’s choice ‘disrespectful’. “Ronaldo could have played well, because they were already finished by City anyway. The coach is all about pressure, the new magic word in football… I don’t care if he gives me 20 or 25 goals. Last season he was the club’s top scorer and even then he didn’t put much pressure. They have already lost three league games this season!”
“I’ve never had a problem with a striker scoring 20 to 25 goals. Even if they never run back, it doesn’t matter,” Keane emphasizes. Richards picks up on his colleague’s arguments and believes that scoring goals is not the only role of an attacker. “You know Manchester City are going to dominate the passing. The trainer probably thought before the match: I’m going to play with players who put a lot of intensity into the match…” Keane interrupts Richards and indicates that Ten Hag, given the end result, is not right.