Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by West Ham at Old Trafford, with Roy Keane slamming Mason Mount's substitute performance
Roy Keane has blasted Mason Mount's Manchester United display off the bench against West Ham
Roy Keane has blasted Mason Mount's Manchester United display off the bench against West Ham
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Roy Keane has suggested that Mason Mount appeared like a "schoolboy" when he was brought on from the bench for Manchester United. Ruben Amorim's side once again failed to impress their home crowd despite going in front through Diogo Dalot with a Soungoutou Magassa West Ham equaliser meaning they had to settle for a point.
Amorim made several substitutions in an attempt to capitalise on United's lead, but these changes did not impact the game as hoped. After Dalot scored the opening goal, Amorim introduced Mount and Manuel Ugarte to replace Matheus Cunha and Joshua Zirkzee.
Mount had been the hero on Sunday, scoring the winning goal as United came from behind to defeat Crystal Palace. However, the former Chelsea player could not replicate this performance, much to Keane's annoyance.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "When you look at the squad, considering the money that has been spent, they lack strength in depth. Particularly in the attacking areas. When you are trying to see a game off, I look at Mason Mount when he came on, some players take longer to get up to speed but he was like a schoolboy out there.
"You're looking for players to come on with presence. If anything they brought the levels down at United. That seemed to be the case tonight."
The stalemate at Old Trafford means United have secured just one victory from their previous five league matches - though only one of those fixtures resulted in a loss. Keane went on to express his frustration with the squad's failure to handle pressure situations.
"The reason you are playing for Man Utd is that you deal with these situations," he said. "You try and deal better being one up against a team in the bottom three and Everton with 10 men.
"If you can't deal with that, how can you deal with being a team in the top of the table?".
Keane's old teammate Gary Neville was also particularly critical of United's display and their lack of intensity. Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, he said: "We lost games here and we drew games here. We drew big games and sometimes what would be considered lesser games, but I don't think we drew or lost games in that way.
"I think we'd throw the kitchen sink at it, you'd see both full-backs flying forward, centre-backs in the box, goalkeeper coming up for corners.
(Image: (Photo by Matt West/Shutterstock))
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"You'd see mayhem and there would be a real massive urge to not lose or draw this game and I don't see that, why? You may as well lose.
"I just don't see the appetite to throw your whole life at the game, [give] everything you've got and take risks.
"I have to say it does look like Bruno does that. At the end, it seemed like he was trying to get everywhere. I had to see that little bit of panic in him that we can't draw this game. I don't see it in enough of the others.
Boos rang out from the stands when the final whistle blew, yet United remain eighth in the table, just two points adrift of the Champions League places. Up next is a journey to Wolves, who are yet to register a win and languish at the foot of the division - anything short of three points simply won't do.