Roy Keane says Harry Maguire’s lack of pace is hindering Manchester United (Getty)
Roy Keane believes Harry Maguire is preventing his Manchester United teammates from pressing opponents.
United’s defensive frailties were exposed again last Saturday as Erik ten Hag’s side slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Fulham.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher subsequently described United’s tactics as ‘impossible’ to implement, pointing out that Ten Hag’s players are unable to press opposition defences with such a deep back line.
And former United captain Keane believes Ten Hag’s squad are ‘frightened to death’ of moving up the pitch due to Maguire’s lack of pace in defence.
‘They aren’t pressing up,’ Keane said on The Overlap’s Stick to Football show.
Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes are not leading Manchester United’s press, claims Roy Keane (Action Images via Reuters)
‘I don’t want to be just pinning it on [Harry] Maguire, but there’s always that worry with Maguire coming up and squeezing the pitch, like all the other top teams are doing.
‘There’s that worry with him all the time – that’s where there is gaps. They are frightened to death to come all the way up because they’re thinking, ‘anything over the top, he’d be in trouble’.
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Keane also believes Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford are failing to lead United’s press in attack.
‘Manchester United haven’t got the players to [press],’ Keane said.
‘Fernandes is not going to do it. Rashford won’t do it.
‘They might do it for five or ten minutes, so if you’ve got a team that’s not going to press – we’re talking about leopards and spots.
‘Man United are never really going to be good at that pressing side of it.’
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