Roy Keane criticized Liverpool's poor first-half performance against Manchester United, describing them as a 'bad 5-a-side team'. The match saw Liverpool concede two early goals at Old Trafford.
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âBad 5-a-side teamâ â Roy Keane eviscerates Liverpool with scathing on-air assessment
Roy Keane was typically scathing in his assessment of Liverpoolâs first-half performance against Manchester United this afternoon.
The home side raced into a 2-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes at Old Trafford through goals from Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, with Jamie Carragher decrying the manner in which the Reds conceded to the Slovenian.
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Whilst there was an element of controversy to the second goal, with the ball appearing to hit the strikerâs fingertips before crossing the line, the half-time score was a fair reflection of how the opening 45 minutes played out overall.
Speaking on punditry duty for Sky Sports at half-time, Keane cut loose in his criticism of Liverpoolâs performance, singling out for criticism.
Roy Keane described Liverpool's performance as that of a 'bad 5-a-side team' during their match against Manchester United.
Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko scored the two goals for Manchester United in the first 15 minutes of the match.
Jamie Carragher lamented the manner in which Liverpool conceded the goals, particularly criticizing the defense against the Slovenian player.
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He said of Arne Slotâs side: âThey look frightened to death. Theyâve started slow, theyâve given up two goals. Defensively, the second goal â Robertson getting beaten at the back post. Robertson defending so far and going forward⊠itâs been dreadful.
âLiverpool are like a five-a-side team, but a bad five-a-side team â not athletic, giving away the ball cheaply. United look like they can score every time they go forward.â
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Keane is no stranger to whipping out cheap soundbytes to condemn Liverpool, thatâs for sure, but itâs hard to disagree with his assessment of how the Reds played in the first half.
The Merseysiders were all too ponderous in possession and, when the ball got turned over, United were able to cut through them all too easily, as we witnessed with the second goal.
Itâs one thing to be outclassed by a better team, but LFC were inexcusably timid in the opening 45 minutes against their fiercest rivals, almost as if they didnât recognise the gravity of this fixture.
Thankfully, they came out after half-time with greater intent and had wiped out Unitedâs lead within 10 minutes of the restart, even if Cody Gakpoâs equaliser was laid on a plate by some atrocious playing out from the back from the home side.
Itâs 2-2 at the time of writing, and while the outlook has improved significantly for Liverpool since half-time, they canât afford to slip back into their error-stren ways of the first half.