Ten Hag to have "sleepless nights" after watching Man Utd with Keane fuming

For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter

Roy Keane claimed that Erik ten Hag would have a "sleepless night" if he watched Manchester United limp to a 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Thursday night.

The Blues dominated the match at Old Trafford but failed to take their chances and ended up heading back to the capital with just a point. Marcos Alonso finally broke the deadlock on the hour mark with a sizzling strike, but Cristiano Ronaldo fired United level just two minutes later.

But Keane was adamant that United's lacklustre performance would have left United's incoming manager concerned. And the Irishman also predicted that he could be on a collision course with Ronaldo over the veteran's playing time after he bagged his 17th Premier League goal of the season against the Londoners.

Keane told Sky Sports after the match: "He (Ten Hag) will have been watching the game, probably having a sleepless night after watching the team, but I think if you have a player in your group that can score that many goals, they have to be involved. (Cristiano) Ronaldo will want to be involved, but that could be the problem when the new manager comes in because he might be wanting another striker.

"But Ronaldo won’t be holding on week in, week out. I think he won’t mind being rested for the odd league cup game or European game if they are already through, but we saw the disappointment against Chelsea and Manchester City, but he wants to play week in, week out and that could be a problem for the manager because he may have to rotate him in certain games."

Earlier in the night Keane had claimed that Ten Hag was a "good appointment" for United, but he conceded that the Ajax chief has to be given a "big say" in overhauling the current playing squad if the club are to stand any chance of turning their fortunes around.

Do you think that Ten Hag is the man to turn things around at Man Utd? Let us know in the comments section.

He said: “Look at the starting 11, it’s not a good team. It’s not good enough to be competing at the top. In terms of the skill level, technique, but certainly I think the biggest let down that we’ve seen in the last few months is the mentality.

"I think he can make slight improvements of course and we talk about recruitment and players who have come into Manchester United in the last year or two – Varane and Sancho – it’s been difficult for them. They’ve been coming into a team and there’s certainly not a good culture at the club. It’s not a good dressing room, you can tell that with the performances.

“It’s a case of rebuilding the club, getting lads in who will give their all week in and week out. We go back to recruitment, you hope the manager will have a big say in it because the previous managers have all come out and said their hands were tied a little bit and that’s a problem.”

• Roy Keane
• Manchester United FC
• Erik ten Hag
• Cristiano Ronaldo

Source: Read Full Article