Manchester United’s win over Liverpool vindicates Roy Keane’s passionate defence of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

A video of Roy Keane urging Manchester United to give coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer “one more year” after their defeat by Liverpool last January resurfaced on Monday in the wake of the Red Devils’ FA Cup win over their rivals.

In January 2020, Liverpool were 2-0 winners over United in the Premier League. One year and five days later, it was United who came out on top as the teams met in the FA Cup.

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Solskjaer’s side were 3-2 winners in the fourth round as Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes netted at Old Trafford – the latter scoring the deciding goal with a well-placed free-kick into the bottom corner of Alisson’s goal.

The result went some way to vindicating former United midfielder Keane, who staunchly defended former team-mate Solskjaer after the club’s defeat by the Reds 12 months prior.

Following Liverpool’s 2-0 league win last January, former Reds centre-back Jamie Carragher hit out at Solskjaer, leading Keane to respond: “What about the previous managers over the past few years – are you saying they’re all bad managers?”

“Do you think they’d done good jobs?“ Carragher replied. “You slaughtered [Jose] Mourinho when he was in the job.”

"But he needed more time,” Keane insisted, adding: “We question Ole – ‘he’s not up to it, look at his CV’ – yet for some reason other managers go to clubs and they’re given the benefit of the doubt.

“Give Ole time. Give the man a chance. The three previous managers before Ole, are you telling me they don’t know what the game is about? They know what the game is about,” Keane said, referencing Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes.

“David Moyes was given a six-year contract, Alex Ferguson is on the pitch going: ‘Get behind the manager, back him.’ Give him a bit more time, not eight months, and I wouldn’t have sacked him on Twitter. Are you telling me David Moyes didn’t deserve more than eight months?”

“I think he did, yeah. So you’d still have him there in the job?” Carragher asked. “Okay, but how long would you give Ole?”

“I’d give Ole certainly another year,” said Keane. “One hundred per cent, another year.”

Liverpool went on to win the Premier League last season, but twelve months on United have the superiority in the top flight as well as in the cup.

Solskjaer’s team are top of the table with 40 points, six clear of fourth-placed Liverpool. Both sides have played 19 games in the division so far this term.

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