A furious rant from Roy Keane has resurfaced after Manchester United limped to an early exit from the Champions League in midweek to compound another miserable season.
United's campaign is effectively over after they were edged out by Atletico Madrid over two legs, with the Spanish giants advancing to the quarter-finals courtesy of a 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Tuesday night. Although United dominated the majority of the match, they failed to muster up an adequate response after Renan Lodi had struck for the visitors.
Not for the first time under Ralf Rangnick, there were some key fundamental elements missing from United's performance. And the majority of those flaws were highlighted by Keane almost three years ago during the early days of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tenure.
After a chastening 2-0 defeat to West Ham back in September 2019, Keane raged: "You go back to the basics of football, closing people down and sprinting to people and we didn't see that today. That sums United up, for all their lack of quality and goal threat."
While Solskjaer may be long gone, the three areas that Keane accused Manchester United of lacking were evident once again during Tuesday night's defeat. Alarmingly, United's performances haven't improved since Rangnick took the reins on an interim basis - despite a lot of early hype over the German's aggressive, pressing ideology.
While United only installed Rangnick on an interim basis while they sourced an elite coach to oversee a rebuilding job at Old Trafford, they may struggle to attract their primary targets after their European elimination. United are now facing up to the prospect of missing out on the Champions League altogether next year, with Arsenal currently in pole position to clinch a top-four finish.
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The Old Trafford hierarchy are reportedly considering Mauricio Pochettino, Erik ten Hag, Thomas Tuchel and Julen Lopetegui for the top job at United - although it remains to be seen if a lack of Champions League football could deter any potential candidates from taking the job. There may also be concerns over Pochettino and Ten Hag, who have both also crashed out of Europe prematurely in the past week.
Tuchel has done a remarkable job at Chelsea over the past year, with United keen to exploit the turmoil that has engulfed the Blues over the past couple of weeks after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government. Meanwhile, Lopetegui has emerged as a contender after rebuilding his reputation in Spain with Sevilla.
Despite another lacklustre performance - and another mediocre campaign - Keane's former team-mate, Paul Scholes, insisted in midweek that United are just "an elite coach away" from challenging for titles again.
He told BT Sport: "I think they’re an elite coach away from challenging for trophies again. They’ve got a good squad with some top players, but for the last three or four years, they’ve not had an elite coach."
And Scholes admitted that he'd target Tuchel, adding: "I would have gone for Conte or Tuchel. It looks like one might be available at the end of the season. Those are two top class coaches that strike fear into players and win, which is the most important thing. United, with either one of those managers, would be much better off.
"You need a manager that strikes fear into players, Sir Alex Ferguson had that, have any of the managers since him had that? I don’t think so. It’s a special talent to have as a coach."
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