Roy Keane slammed Manchester United after their FA Cup scare (Picture: ITV)
Roy Keane disagreed with Harry Maguire’s assertion that Manchester United showed ‘great character’ during their dramatic FA Cup semi-final victory over Coventry City.
United appeared to be strolling into a successive FA Cup final after going 3-0 up against Championship side Coventry at Wembley, Maguire, Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes with the goals.
But Coventry produced a stunning fightback to score three goals in the final 20 minutes and take the tie to extra-time.
Ellis Simms began the comeback before Callum O’Hare scored with a deflected strike and Haji Wright converted a 95th-minute penalty.
The score remained 3-3 after extra-time after VAR intervened to deny Coventry a late and stunning winner, Victor Torp’s effort ruled out for a tight offside.
Even in the penalty shootout Manchester United were on the ropes after Casemiro missed with their opening effort, but O’Hare and Ben Sheaf also failed to convert before Rasmus Hojlund scored the decisive spot-kick.
Speaking after the win, that ensures a repeat of the 2023 FA Cup final between Manchester rivals United and City, Maguire praised his team-mates for showing ‘great character’ and progressing to back-to-back finals.
United beat Coventry City on penalties to reach the final (Picture: Getty)
‘We found a way,’ the England defender said. ‘We started the game really well and then conceded a sloppy goal. We were unfortunate to concede the second goal.
‘I think the penalty was so hard but all credit to Coventry. They made it tough for us in the second half of extra time.
‘It sums up our season, we had great control and played well for 60 minutes but then we conceded out of nothing.
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‘Then I don’t know, it seems like the world wanted Coventry to go on and do it. We showed great character to stick with it and it was important to win the shootout.’
Assessing Manchester United’s performance and responding to Maguire’s comments, Keane said on ITV: ‘We have the same conversation about United every week. All they do is play in moments. They concede so many chances.
‘Maguire got interviewed at the end there and said they showed great character, I don’t see character in this group of players, I really don’t.
‘It’s getting to the stage that I’m almost disliking them. I see a group with bad habits, they were almost frightened to win the game.
‘There’s huge problems for Manchester United going forward but they got the job done.
‘In extra-time Coventry looked like a Premier League team and Manchester United looked like a Championship side.’
While Manchester United battled past Coventry, Manchester City booked their place in yet another Wembley final with 1-0 win over Chelsea yesterday.
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