Man United suffered their second Premier League loss of the week, this time going down 2-4 at the hands of Liverpool at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils took an early lead in the first half thanks to an error from Nat Phillips but the away side managed to force their way back into the match and in the end, it was a pretty comfortable win for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Man United looked weary and devoid of that cutting-edge for most of the game and pundit Roy Keane has chosen to put a large part of the blame on Man United’s average midfielders and also on their goalkeeper.
Keane believes Manchester United made some really schoolboy errors during the match and players like Fred did not add any significant value to the side.
The pundit said on Sky Sports: “I know Ole perseveres with Fred, but I can’t see it. How they think Fred is going to get Man Utd back to winning titles is beyond me.
“The goalkeeper didn’t look great tonight either. There was mistake after mistake. Poor, poor night for United. Maguire is a loss, but these are schoolboy errors… It’s nothing to do with missing Maguire.
“The performance tonight was nowhere near good enough. All of United’s shortcomings have been shown up in the last couple of days. Tonight there wasn’t enough quality. Liverpool could have scored six or seven.
“This squad is so short of competing against Man City to win the title. Man City are so far ahead of this squad it is scary. I think Ole will reflect on the last few days and think ‘we need three or four big players to come into this club this summer’.
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“Look at the performance of the two midfielders. McTominay is a good, honest player. And they’ve got Fred. As long as those two players are in midfield for Manchester United, they will not be winning any big trophies.
“I can’t believe how short Manchester United are.”
Fred and McTominay have been the first-choice midfield pairing for Man United this season but both of them provide very little creativity while going forward. They are great at holding back and providing cover for the defenders but as soon as they are asked to join in on attacks, the duo crumbles under pressure.
And this was one of the main reasons why Liverpool managed to come back into the match since players like Wijnaldum, Fabinho and Thiago managed to out-muscle their midfield rivals.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is expected to bring in a few new signings at the end of this season and after looking at this game, the manager is sure to put the acquisition of a central midfielder very high on his priority list.
