Manchester United were well beaten by Manchester City on Sunday and the biggest concern for Erik ten Hag will be that long-term problems continued to surface.
United started relatively well on Sunday but were quickly pinned back by their Manchester rivals, helped in no part by a controversial penalty decision that allowed Erling Haaland to open the scoring. From that point, City controlled the game and attacked at will.
Pep Guardiola’s side were imperious at Old Trafford but life was made easy for them, with United once again looking leggy. Sofyan Amrabat was hooked at half-time after a torrid 45 minutes, with Scott McTominay – moved into the deeper role upon Christian Eriksen’s introduction – faring little better.
That lack of bite in midfield has been a constant issue for Ten Hag this season, whose main enforcer Casemiro has been off the pace. In the first two games of the season, both Wolves and Tottenham built their performances on dominating in that area and Keane was quick to point the issue out.
“I said before the game they were poor vs Wolves but got the result and would be better today. They weren’t,” Keane told Sky Sports after the 2-0 defeat at Tottenham. “We made the point that they were fine in the first half hour, but the game is over 90 minutes. Obviously you’re not going to dominate that long but you have to show some belief, desire, fight.
“You’re looking at our captain tonight, the senior players who are established, international players. It’s easy to play against them, that’s the biggest insult I can give to these United players.
“They just looked lightweight. You look at the six players high up the pitch, when you’re out of possession, they’re giving you absolutely nothing.
“You can almost carry one or two that don’t give you much but can be match-winners, but United are carrying too many players who are not really at it. When these players think ‘okay I’ll forgive you for not doing the defensive stuff but you better be really good when you’re getting on it’, and they’re not doing that.”
Keane’s comments could have been made on Sunday evening and would have been equally applicable, which suggests Ten Hag is unable to fix the issue with his current squad. United have suffered with a number of injuries this season but as of Sunday, Casemiro was the only major absence in midfield – and the Brazilian has been some way off his best anyway.
It is why central midfield remains a key area for Ten Hag to strengthen over the next two transfer windows, as the Dutchman attempts to add more youthful energy into that area. Eriksen and Casemiro will both be 32 in February, with the former entering the final 12 months of his contract next summer.
