Roy Keane has accused Manchester United’s dressing room leaders of being too busy podcasting to enforce dressing room discipline.
The Red Devils legend thinks Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes don’t have the nerve to chastise Lisandro Martinez after his explosive outburst about the club.
Martinez criticised the club’s bosses and claimed they should have signed more players over the summer after their 2-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.
For Keane it is symptomatic of a club culture where players air their grievances instead of working hard to improve – a mentality set by the senior players.
‘Bruno, Maguire… they’re probably busy doing podcasts, I can’t imagine them pulling him (Martinez). Bruno’s body language, he doesn’t seem a happy lad at the moment. They’re pulling nobody,’ he told the Stick to Football podcast.
‘This reflects where Manchester United are and where this dressing room is. Maguire gets left out of the England squad – he’s all upset with that. Instead of rolling his sleeves up during the summer, “I’m going to go to New York and do a podcast for a few weeks”. That’s his mindset.
Roy Keane has claimed Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire are ‘too busy doing podcasts’ to discipline Lisandro Martinez (YouTube: The Overlap)
The duo both went on podcasts over the summer to talk about their grievances
Martinez hit out at the club’s hierarchy and hinted the squad was too weak in an explosive rant
‘I made a mistake with Bruno (Fernandes) on this programme. Bruno goes on a podcast with (Steven Bartlett), this is the Man United captain, he goes on there, has a little dig at me, no problem, he’s entitled to respond.
‘That’s the mindset of a Man United player, I’m going to start doing these little gigs instead of getting Man United competing at the very top.
‘So this idea, when I see a player have a little b**** the last few days, I’d be more annoyed at Maguire and Bruno for getting things off their chests on podcasts. You get your priorities in place as a footballer.
‘Back in our day it was more magazines than podcasts, but if a player went off and said something, even silly, he’d come in the dressing room, and lads would say: “What are you talking about?” You’d put him in his place in that sense – not a big bust-up.
‘Man United is a circus. If you can, try and do your talking on the pitch. If you have to let off a bit of steam, ok, but try and do it on the back of some victories, or when you’ve won a league title or something like that.
‘These players have done nothing for the last few years at Man United. Two years ago we were finishing 13th (15th) or whatever, getting knocked out by Grimsby, and they’re coming up with all these comments.’
The panel of Keane, Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard, Ian Wright, and Jill Scott agreed that Martinez calling for more signings could upset members of the dressing room.
The Argentinian had said on Tuesday: ‘I expect more (investment) 100 per cent. I expect more from our technical director. I have to be honest, as players we have to do more but it is also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night.
Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett was caught in the crossfire of Keane’s comments
‘We did a fantastic season last season and now we expect more from the top, more players to compete because many teams bring many players as well.’
And Neville hit back: ‘What he says is right, they should have brought in more defenders. However, you can’t say that as a player.
‘If you say that publicly as a player, you’re effectively saying that the players I’m playing with are not good enough. That’s where the players have to pick him up.
‘If you’re Leny Yoro or Ayden Heaven, and you’ve got a little doubt about settling into the first-team, and you’re a young player, you’re thinking: “My World Cup-winning centre-back has said we should have brought more players in so I don’t play”, you’re really feeling nervous and anxious.’
Keane argued it was a matter of semantics: ‘I’m sure we said it back in the day. Big clubs, new players help you improve. You’d say it in certain ways – “we need competition for places”.
‘”We had a fantastic season last year” – there you go. That’s where he’s coming from. He actually thinks they had a fantastic season. Fine him two weeks’ wages for saying that!’
Martinez has not covered himself in glory as of late, scoring a comical own goal against Fulham and arguably being at fault for Dominic Solanke’s goal in the 1-1 draw with Tottenham last weekend.
Daily Mail Sport’s Nathan Salt handed him a rating of five for his performance against Atletico, writing that it was an improvement on his Spurs showing but still with ‘hairy moments’.
Gary Neville hit out at martinez, asking how his comments would make young players feel
The £120,000-per-week centre-back, whose contract expires in the summer, has acknowledged he spoke ‘with anger and frustration’ but refused to apologise for his blistering comments.
He said: ‘When I talk about wanting more, I’m talking about the ambition we must all have as part of this club.
‘To keep growing, to become stronger and to have everything we need to compete at the highest level. These are standards we must all hold ourselves to, starting with me.’
He added: ‘We need to demand even more of ourselves and work together to take Manchester United back to the top. I believe in my team-mates, our manager and everyone working to help this club move forward.
‘I’m convinced that the way forward is to keep working together, with ambition and commitment. My goal has been the same since day one, to win, to compete at the highest level and to give everything I have for this badge.’
The impact of Martinez’s initial statement is still likely to be felt through until Sunday’s trip to face Leeds United at Elland Road, while team-mate Amad Diallo is also in the spotlight after he added more fuel to the fire with a message on social media which read ‘f***ing disgrace, I have no words’, although it’s unclear what the Ivorian was referring to.
Wayne Rooney had been unimpressed with Martinez voicing his dissatisfaction at the squad, saying: ‘If you’re Baleba or Tielemans, you’re going to want to speak to Lisandro as it’s disrespectful to them. Only Bruno can come out and say that.
‘It looks like a player trying to look after himself. It’s sad because you need players to stick together or something like that can rip the dressing-room apart.’
