1
Roy Keane took exception to Gary Neville’s choice of Player of the Match in Manchester United’s crucial victory over Aston Villa on Sunday evening.
Working for Sky Sports, the English pundit claimed that Harry Maguire was the player deserving of the accolade, but the Irishman was having none of it.
“There was no surprise how many chances they gave up today they seem to do that every week” 👀
Roy Keane believes Manchester United’s forward players are still getting the club out of trouble 📤 pic.twitter.com/hywyeAPfVY
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 11, 2024
When hearing his fellow pundit’s choice, Keane claimed, “I thought he did alright today, obviously some lads give defenders Man of the Match because they’ve been defenders themselves – that type of scenario. It was definitely going to be a defender.”
Neville took the accusations of favouritism in good spirits, pretending he had been given a jab in the kidney by Keane’s response.
The former United right back then challenged Keane to label who he would have given the award to instead.
The Irishman responded, “no big deal about that but we’ve praised the defenders considered the amount of chances Villa had”.
“Winning Man of the Match the bottom line is it’s no big deal, what’s important for Maguire is he’s getting games under his belt and he’s getting back up to speed. He’s a good, solid, experienced defender. The problems are still there for Man United, they got away with it today because the attacking players are scoring goals.”
Nonetheless, the pundit was sympathetic to the situation the defence has found itself in, claiming they have had to handle a lot of injuries and adapt to a different goalkeeper this campaign.
This is not the first time that Keane and Neville have failed to see eye to eye on an issue live on television.
Both former United players are famed for their strong opinions and especially Keane for his wry sense of humour when delivering his verdict.
The two famously clashed in October 2022 on Sky Sports when Cristiano Ronaldo was left on the bench for United’s 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge versus Chelsea.
Neville backed Ten Hag’s decision to omit the player while Keane stood up for his former teammate claiming the Red Devils were a better side with the Portuguese player in the team.
Regardless, as long as United keep winning football matches, both pundits will likely not care who is named player of the match in the future.
This website aggregates and curates news articles, blog posts, and other content from a variety of external sources. While we aim to link back to the original source, this site does not own or claim ownership of any articles, posts, or other content indexed on this site. The views, opinions, and factual statements expressed in each piece of aggregated content belong solely to its respective author and publisher. We make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of aggregated content. Visitors are advised to verify facts and claims through the original source before reuse or redistribution.
