Roy Keane delivers scathing Man United Erik ten Hag sack assessment with players slammed

Roy Keane has offered his thoughts on Manchester United's decision to sack Erik ten Hag. Having been heavily critical of the club he represented for over 12 years, Keane delivered a reflective analysis of the situation.

Despite signing a new contract over the summer, Ten Hag lasted just nine league games into his third full season. It comes following the worst Premier League finish in the club's history and a failed managerial replacement search at the end of last term.

Under new sporting control since the start of the year, Ten Hag faced a challenge to impress Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Ineos-implemented hierarchy in place at Old Trafford. Things haven't started well for those in charge alongside the Glazers, though, and United's methods as a whole remain under the microscope for Keane.

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Taking to Instagram, he wrote: "In good teams, coaches hold players accountable. In great teams, players hold players accountable." Alongside an image of the former midfielder on a walk during a rainy day, hood up, glum-looking, Keane seems to have taken the holistic approach to United's problems.

For the 53-year-old, who won seven league titles at United as well as the Champions League, and four FA Cups, culture is just as important as anything. Far from simply slating Ten Hag, who many pundits have come out to express sympathy for, Keane's words are introspective and indicative of the wider troubles at play.

If United were a good team, Ten Hag may well be able to do more to elevate matters and deal with disciplinary and performance issues, Keane suggests. They most certainly are not a great team right now, though, and players are not in a position to stand over their manager either.

Speaking earlier this season, Keane vented his frustration at the way things were unfolding under Ineos and Ratcliffe. "To me, United was always about good people and good characters, and people who could play for Man United, and deal with it, but I don't see that now," he said after a board meeting in the October international break in which Ten Hag's future was discussed. "I don't recognise this team, I don't recognise the club.

"A couple of months ago everyone was saying, 'they've got new people coming on board, they'll have all the answers', more money on recruitment and United have gone backwards."

Keane also said: "I'm not saying he's not a good manager or he hasn't got good coaching staff, but in the summer they changed all the coaching staff! So you're on about a manager having a bit of power and control of the football club. I'll bet you Ten Hag's got none of that!

"So players will look at the manager and go, 'well, all your staff went in the summer. I didn't see you fighting for any of them. You're bringing more staff in.' I just think it looks chaotic, doesn't it?"