Bryan Robson says he was impressed with Hannibal after late performance
When it comes to midfield greats, few have worn the Manchester United shirt with as much conviction as Bryan Robson.
The Red Devils legend was in the MUTV studio reacting to United’s embarrassing defeat to Liverpool last night, and he gave his view on young midfielder Hannibal’s late cameo.
The teenager came on for the final few minutes and made an impact with a couple of late bruising tackles.
Gary Neville had told Sky Sports he was proud of the teenager setting an example to his senior teammates, who did not show enough fight.
Thumbs up for Hannibal
Robson was encouraged by Hannibal’s commitment. He said: “You have to have control, and Hannibal took that right to the edge. I quite liked it.
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“The fans want to see someone who cares. The kid only had five mins so at least he showed some pride.”
Robson’s comments were backed up by former United midfielder Quinton Fortune, who praised the 19-year-old for trying to ‘disrupt’ Liverpool’s rhythm.
Fortune said: “That’s what you want from a Manchester United player, he’s got the talent. he made more tackles than anyone in 10 minutes. You want to see that, make it hard for the other players.
“He’s a talented player, got a nasty side of his game which is not bad to have. You want to see that.
“You have to do something like Hannibal did, disrupt Liverpool. They were having it their own way; put the tackles in.”
Liverpool certainly seemed rattled by the teenager’s late impact, and it would have been better if his more senior teammates had showed the same conviction in the first 80 minutes.
The youngster picked up a yellow card, which interim boss Ralf Rangnick felt was the right decision from the referee.
Rangnick told the club website: “Normally it’s better to give a player like him a debut when you’re 3-0 up but we haven’t been 3-0 up so often this season. That’s why I decided to play him for the last 10 minutes.
“He was a little maybe overly motivated in those two moments but I think the referee had the right feeling not to send him off.”
Speaking about the tackle which Hannibal received a yellow card for, club legend Robson dismissed, “It was a nothing tackle.”
