Roy Keane has slammed Harry Maguire for missing a glorious late chance to beat Liverpool at Anfield in Sunday’s Premier League clash.
The Red Devils battled to a 2-2 draw on Sunday afternoon – Lisandro Martinez, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah and Amad all exchanging strikes throughout the 90 minutes. But Ruben Amorim’s men had a golden opportunity to secure victory.
Heading into the final seconds, Joshua Zirkzee was played in down the right and squared the ball to Maguire. But the defender blazed the ball over the crossbar of an unguarded net.
Former Liverpool star Daniel Sturridge believed the miss was more down to Zirkzee’s poor pass, something that Keane did not agree with. He claimed Maguire should have scored regardless.
Speaking on Sky Sports (via Mirror) he said: “I don’t care, Daniel’s saying you could have given him a better pass. Listen, know your players, his [Zirkzee] confidence isn’t sky-high.”
Sturridge replied: “Just don’t bobble it into him, you’ve got all the time in the world to cut the ball back. You’re Premier League footballers playing for Manchester United.”
But Keane remained unconvinced. He added: “He’s passing it to a Premier League footballer. You’re passing to an England international player. Know your players, you know he’s not going to give you the perfect pass. Expect a bobble into you. But what you have to do, obviously he’s Harry Maguire, get over there.”
After Sturridge continued to claim that Maguire would not have been expecting a bobble, Keane doubled down on his assessment. He said: “I would from him, you’d have to. It’s called knowing your players. He’s not going to zip it into you perfectly is he?
“You’ve got to hit the target Harry, no problem. We saw players earlier today, you said it ‘hit the target’. If it gets blocked, no problem.”
“If that ball came to you, would you fancy your chances of hitting the target?!,” Keane then asked. “Some of it has to go on Harry Maguire a little bit.
“You’re not going to get the perfect pass last kick of the game. If you get that in training you’re saying ‘just hit the target’. I don’t care if it’s Harry Maguire, he’s an England international player. With Harry sitting here we say ‘what you think Harry?’ He’d go ‘I should’ve hit the target’. 100%. Whatever about the pass not being 100%.”
