Roy Keane delivers brutal ‘schoolboy’ verdict on…

Roy Keane delivers brutal ‘schoolboy’ verdict on Nottingham Forest vs Man Utd

Former Nottingham Forest midfielder Roy Keane has described the team’s defending for Manchester United’s opening goal as ‘schoolboy’.

The Reds were left with a mountain to climb at half-time of the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Erik ten Hag’s men. On form Marcus Rashford opened the scoring in just the sixth minute of the game in what was a difficult opening for Forest.

The England man ran from the halfway line and made no mistake in putting the ball past Hennessey to give United the advantage. Pundit Gary Neville, who is on commentary, pointed out the mistakes that Forest made for the goal, but Keane has gone one step further in criticising the tactics.

“It’s been too open, particularly from Forest’s point of view, and from United also, it was just a bit sloppy,” he told Sky Sports at half-time. “Forest have defended so badly, particularly for the two goals, when you think of the start of the game going down after five or six minutes, and then to concede just on half-time is a hammer blow for them. United haven’t had to work hard for both, Forest have been too open.

“The way I look at it, if that happened in training you would stop training and say ‘look, lads, can you concentrate properly?’ Talk about schoolboy defending after five or six minutes - shocking.”

Forest did think that they had levelled the score in the first half when Sam Surridge found a way past David De Gea following a pass from Morgan Gibbs-White. But as both players and the crowd at the City Ground celebrated, VAR intervened to show that the Forest man had just strayed offside.

It’s a situation that Keane said the former Bournemouth striker shouldn’t have found himself in.

“They’ve had a few opportunities and we’re seeing them leave two or three players up there, they’ve taken a gamble, but listen, here he [Surridge] can’t be offside. He doesn’t have to be offside - just stall his run.”

Things got worse for Forest just before half-time when Wout Weghorst doubled United’s lead. The striker pounced on the loose ball following Wayne Hennessey’s save from Antony to leave the Reds with a lot of work to do in both the second half and second leg.

What did you think of the two goals Forest conceded in the first half? Tell us in the comments section

READ NEXT:

Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.

Already a member? Sign in here