Roy Keane doubled down on his criticism of David de Gea at Manchester United prior to the Reds’ game at Southampton on Sunday, but refused to criticise him too heavily for Southampton’s second goal in the encounter. De Gea was beaten by a James Ward-Prowse free-kick at St. Mary’s but Keane was more critical of Fred for giving away a foul on the edge of United’s area, although he didn’t totally absolve De Gea of all blame, saying he ‘would’nt expect his goalkeeper to be beaten from there’. Speaking prior to kick-off, Keane said De Gea has improved of late but said he still isn’t a big fan of the Spaniard.
Roy Keane said “They’ve been a little bit better, I think it’s helped with Dean Henderson coming back to the club. I think he’s got proper competition there, going to training every day, they can look each other in the eye. He knows if he makes too many mistakes – as many as he’s made in the last few years – then Henderson will be in. His form has been a little bit better. I’m still not his biggest fan. He doesn’t do enough, for me, he’s done a lot of talking there about stats and playing the games. He’s on a huge contract, he’s made huge mistakes that have cost United big points, I think he’s got one league title in 10 years – that’s not a great stat. Sometimes he’s played in front of a really poor back four. That’s his job, he’s on a big contract. Some of the saves he makes, I think people get carried away. I always look at some of the goalkeepers I played with, when they make saves, and people give them credit – that is their job, that is what they’re supposed to do. When someone says someone is a good shot-stopper – that is their job! It’s all the parts of the game; commanding the area, communication sometimes, he doesn’t do that many interviews. He talks about his time at the club being consistent, but he needs to be more consistent, that’s why you’re playing for the big clubs. When he does make a mistake, then you’re going to get criticised, but when he does play well, then yeah say he’s done well. I think some of the mistakes have been unacceptable… I don’t think I’ve been too harsh. The games I seem to cover when I’m on TV, I think he’s made far too many mistakes and the stats will tell you that as well.”
