Roy Keane was on Sky Sports duty before Liverpool vs Man Utd (Image: Sky Sports)
believes players have disgraced themselves in recent weeks as struggles to steady the ship.
Keane’s former club head to Anfield this afternoon for a daunting clash against bitter rivals , who are gunning for the title. The situation could hardly be more different at Old Trafford, where a woeful run of three consecutive league defeats without scoring has left United 14th in the table with only six wins from 19 matches.
With improvements needed in virtually every area of the pitch, Keane is alarmed by the state of United’s squad. And the 53-year-old feels that, despite all the money they have spent in the transfer market, United do not have a single top-tier player to rely on.
“There has been literally no reaction [to Amorim’s appointment] from the players, which is a big concern,” Keane told before kick-off at Anfield. “They don’t look like a great group. They’ve got no world-class players.
“They haven’t got a striker that can get them out of jail. The goalkeeper is not great. The players have to be held accountable. I just want a bit of passion in their performance. It’s disgraceful what they’re doing week in, week out.”
The two wins and a draw which kicked off Amorim’s tenure now seems a long time ago. United have lost six out of eight since then, with late winners required in their other two.
Ruben Amorim fears Man Utd being dragged into a relegation battle (Image: Getty)
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The situation is so dire that Amorim fears United will be dragged into a full-scale relegation battle. Keane believes that comments of that nature could cause the dressing room’s belief to plummet even further.
“You want managers to be honest, of course,” he said. “You don’t want them to be full of nonsense and PR. But sometimes, that message from the manager… if I was a player I’d be going, ‘I’m not sure I’d like to hear that’.
“Sometimes you’ve got to fake it to make it and say there’s belief in the dressing room, we’re ready, we’re up against it but I believe in these players. He obviously hasn’t got that trust yet but just give them a bit of false hope sometimes.”
The former Republic of Ireland international added: “If they keep doing what they’ve been doing, they’re going to get ripped apart. I worry about the players who don’t want to run. You’ve got to run in this game.”