Roy Keane looks on
Roy Keane did not hold back in his assessment of Manchester United after their Europa League final defeat to Tottenham
Roy Keane has highlighted Manchester United's use of Harry Maguire as a striker in his assessment of where things have gone wrong at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim's side lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in Wednesday's Europa League final. The defeat in Bilbao means that United will have no European football next term, with their lowest ever Premier League finish already confirmed ahead of Sunday's final match of the campaign against Aston Villa.
The Reds have often used centre-back Maguire as a makeshift striker when chasing a game in the closing stages. The ex-Leicester City player famously scored the winning goal for United in their Europa League quarterfinal victory over Lyon last month.
Maguire was again put up front late on against Spurs on Wednesday, and former Reds midfielder Keane believes it is a sign of the times at United that they are relying on a moment of inspiration from their defender.
“If you're depending on Harry Maguire [as an emergency striker] to get you out of jail you're in trouble," he said on CBS Sport after the game.
“Just when you think things can't get any worse for Man United. It's been the story all year. They've been getting out of jail with European football and it's been covering the huge cracks at Man United.
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"All season they have been so easy to beat. They got lucky a few times in Europe and then tonight again, ultimately it's not good enough. They didn't show enough quality. Not enough options off the bench."
Amorim appeared crestfallen post-match as his disastrous brief tenure at United since arriving in November hit a new low.
He said: “I have nothing to show to the fans, so at this moment it's a little bit of faith. So let’s see. I'm always open. If the board and the fans feel I'm not the right guy, I will go the next day, without any conversation about compensation. But I will not quit.
“I'm still really confident in my job and, as you can see, I will not change anything in the way I do things. I am always really honest. But I'm not going to talk about the future - tonight we need to deal with the pain of losing this match.
“It was clear we were the better team, but we managed not to score again. The guys tried everything to win the game and I think we were better than the opponent.”
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