Manchester United lack characters and some players not good enough, says Roy Keane

By Lyall Thomas

Thursday 10 December 2015 09:11, UK

Roy Keane has laid into Manchester United's players after they crashed out of the Champions League, stating they are "not good enough" for the club.

The former United midfielder, currently assistant manager of Republic of Ireland, believes Louis van Gaal's side are in desperate need of characters and leaders.

The fourth-placed Premier League team were dumped out after their final Group B match against Wolfsburg ended in a 3-2 defeat on Tuesday.

Keane told ITV: "They lack real quality, a few characters, and a few leaders.

"I think they have a lot of good players, there's no getting away from that.You look at the recruitment and they have thrown decent money at it.

"But I don't think they are good enough for Manchester United. There are no special players at the moment. Think of Manchester United and you've always associated one or two special players who can produce.

"You can look at the goals they conceded and that their league form hasn't been too bad - they've kept plenty of clean sheets. But they are certainly lacking some characters."

Van Gaal has come under fire this season from former United players, including Paul Scholes who called his style of play "boring", but Keane heaped blame on the players instead.

"The manager is getting a lot of criticism and the players are hiding behind that," the 44-year-old said.

"I just think sometimes managers get too much credit when things are going well and they get too much criticism when things aren't going so well.

"People are talking about tactics and systems but it's about the players as well. The goals they conceded on Tuesday night were from set-pieces. That's not about tactics or systems, that's about doing your job.

"Okay, I know they would love to win the game, but make sure we don't lose it. They are almost robotic. They should display a bit of passion, desire. They are Manchester United players.

"Michael Carrick, the guy just walked off the back of him for their third goal, is an experienced player. Get a hold of him and say 'we are not conceding'.

"There are a lot of experienced players in the team. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Carrick, the goalkeeper David de Gea, are all experienced international players. It's up to them to help the younger players."