Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has taken issue with the club and Bruno Fernandes’ emphasis on his Premier League assist record against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Roy Keane furious at the actions of United’s stars (Image: Stick to Football)
Manager Roy Keane has launched a scathing attack on Manchester United players and Bruno Fernandes for prioritizing his captain’s assist record over simply winning games. The United icon took aim at his old club and questioned their mentality, given how much emphasis was placed on Fernandes breaking records rather than the team simply winning.
Fernandes equaled the Premier League assist record with his 20th assist of the season against Nottingham Forest, alongside Brian Mbeumo. The Portugal international matched the numbers previously recorded by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
Keane was in disbelief at the attitude shown by the United team, insisting they should only pay attention to the “sideshow” after their success.
“In the position he plays he will get assists. 20 assists would be better to win trophies,” Keane said on Stick to Football.
“When you’re the captain of the club and you have to take the club forward, you don’t have to worry about your role in the team, you just have to assist. I think I was furious with the words I heard at United at the weekend.”
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“There was chatter about his assists and the players were talking about assists. After the game he was interviewed and I was watching and everyone was talking about assists. The game was about his assists. After the game he was interviewed and in that interview the Man United captain said: ‘I should have shot a couple of times but I made a pass’ (actually Fernandes said he should have passed instead of shot).”
“How do you think about football, going into a game and talking about personal records? He’s going to get all the stats anyway, but to be the main point of Manchester United’s performance at the weekend, I was tired of all that.
“And when he got an assist, all the players went to him. What about the guy who scored the goal?”
Bruno Fernandes equaled the Premier League assist record against Nottingham Forest (Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United FC)
Manager Gary Neville interjected: “There was nothing in the game. United finished in the Champions League, but Forest were already up.”
But Keane said: “If that’s the mindset you go into a game, what can you say that’s not the case for other games? You say there’s nothing in a game, but there’s always something in a game. There were 70,000 people at yesterday’s game.
“What I want to say is that even though we haven’t won anything, all the players are talking about Bruno’s assist. If you’re winning something and the players are winning individual awards, that’s great. Golden Boot, we appreciate that, Player of the Year is fine. But it goes further.”
“The priority is the team. Man United’s priority this weekend was for Bruno to get assists. It’s not about winning football matches. It’s not about strikers scoring goals, defenders scoring goals, being good at set-pieces or keeping clean sheets. Other parts of football are really important, so when one player gets stuck with assists and the team doesn’t win anything, that’s my problem.”
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“It’s going to happen anyway. Bruno will get a lot of assists in the position he plays and they’ll have runners in front of them.
“What’s the point? What’s the point? You’re part of the team’s game. What’s the team’s priority? Trying to win. Of course he’s doing his job, he’s a great player, he’s player of the year, he’s getting paid. And in the summer he’s threatening to go to Saudi Arabia, so he’ll probably sign a new contract.”
“We’ve been down this road before, he’s been through it before. So when a player gets an assist and that becomes a priority, it will come at a time when the team is focused on winning big prizes and keeping clean sheets.”
“If the team wins the league next year and he gets 20 assists, he’ll say, ‘Well done Man United for winning the league and well done Bruno.’ It’s a bit of a sideshow. It can’t be the main show.
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“Isn’t he contributing to a team trying to get clean sheets? That’s part of his job,” Keane continued.
“If you’re in a game and it’s influencing your decision-making, listen to his post-game interview.
“Yesterday, especially in the second half, he had chances to shoot, but everyone was stuck on the assist. When he got the assist, everyone ran, forgetting about the scorer. The assist should be the backup for everything else. The assist became the story. How can an assist be the story at Manchester United?”
“Look at the second half, he admitted it himself. He had a few shots in the first half, but after that it was all assists.”
“What do you get out of it? Why play for Man United? What are your top priorities when you play for Man United?”
Neville claimed Fernandes wanted to win trophies with United and that was the reason he stayed.
But Keane gushed: “And he’s not going to win trophies. That’s not the mindset of the team yesterday. We conceded two goals and everyone is going crazy because he equaled the assist record. It’s mind-boggling. It’s a circus.”
However, the Irishman still managed to elicit some laughs during the debate. Continuing his assessment, he said: “It was great to see the players win awards at United, but that wasn’t the main story.
“You’re talking about winning player of the year, I won player of the year once and no one came to dinner. That’s not my priority. My priority is winning trophies.”
“We had a game that week,” Nebily said with a laugh. Ian Wright said, leaning over the table and laughing. “It still resonates deeply with me.”
Keene said with a wry smile, “I’m not the kind of person who would hold a grudge against Ian.”
In any case, while Keane may not be convinced, Fernandes was actually delighted with the three points against Forest and said he probably should have played more passes rather than chasing goal glory. Keane seems to have misheard Fernandes’ words.
“Everyone knew it was important for me to get at least one more assist,” Fernandes said after the game. “They did everything they could to score from my passes.”
“There were moments today where I probably should have passed instead of shot. I’m very happy with the assist, but more than that I’m happy with the win and ending the season on a good note.”
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