Manchester United 'should be embarrassed' over their Premier League form, says former captain Roy Keane
The former United and Republic of Ireland captain believes the 19-point gap to leaders Chelsea is far too big for a club of their stature
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Roy Keane believes Manchester United should be “embarrassed” by their Premier League form this season as his former club finds itself 19 points behind leaders Chelsea and out of the top four reckoning.
The former Republic of Ireland captain has not been impressed with how United have faired in the league this season, having spent nearly £150m in a transfer window last summer to bring in Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly.
Mourinho has lamented United’s fixture build-up this season due to their run to the Europa League semi-finals and League Cup final success, but the club’s former captain has stressed that sitting in sixth position is not good enough for a club of United’s stature, with the manager’s decision to rest key players in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat by Arsenal all but ending their top four chances.
“I think he’s always coming up with plenty of excuses over the last few months,” Keane said on ITV.
“There’s no way United should shy away from dealing with these challenges. This idea that they are sixth in the league, I think it’s 19 points behind Chelsea, the manager and players should be embarrassed by that.”
Keane added that he believes United have enough to win the Europa League and subsequently qualify for the Champions League next season, but did not feel that success in Europe’s second-tier competition would quantify as a successful first campaign for Mourinho and his team.
“In terms of getting their hands on the Europa League, there’s no reason why they can’t do it,” he said. “I wouldn’t go that far. For a club like Manchester United, winning a League Cup and a Europa League, with the teams that are in it, you’d expect them to do that.
“To be so far behind in the league is nothing short of embarrassing. The players they have, the squad, the money they’ve spent it’s not good enough.”
United take a 1-0 advantage into their Europa League semi-final second leg against Celta Vigo, and will progress to the Stockholm final if they prevent Vigo from scoring to set-up a clash against the winner of the other semi-final between Ajax and Lyon, with the Dutch side leading the tie 4-1 on aggregate.
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