As the team news filtered through ahead of Manchester United’s trip to Aston Villa, Roy Keane was as baffled as most Red Devils fans.
Staring as his phone screen wondering if his very eyes had deceived him, the former Manchester United captain could not believe that Lisandro Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt had been dropped in favour of Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans.
Yes, Martinez and De Ligt endured a pretty miserable evening as Andre Onana saved Manchester United from further humiliation at FC Porto.
But, still, going to Villa Park with a 36-year-old veteran and a player Ten Hag was determined to sell back in 2023 and whom he stripped off the captain’s armband?
This was a decision Keane – even after Maguire and Man of the Match Evans helped keep a creditable clean sheet away to Aston Villa – still cannot fathom.
Roy Keane critical of Harry Maguire’s Manchester United role
“[Ten Hag] has been chopping and changing even during games!,” Keane sighs. “He doesn’t sit on a settled back four.
“He will maybe say ‘[Martinez and De Ligt] had a tough game in Europe’. But, surely, part of the demands of playing for any big club is that you can play two or three games a week and cope with it.
“If you’re going back to Harry Maguire, you’re in trouble. Just look at his defending for the equaliser against FC Twente. Just look at him. Forget everybody else, just look at him for that goal.
“And if you think he’s the answer…”
Maguire has enjoyed a rather unexpected revival at Old Trafford over the last 12 months.
Stepping up as Martinez missed the majority of the 2023/24 campaign, the England international was no longer a walking meme or a figure of ridicule, but instead a reliable, commanding centre-half befitting of the Manchester United shirt.
It was quite the turnaround.
But as Man United threw away a lead to draw with FC Twente in the Europa League, Maguire’s old weaknesses were exposed. Diving into an ill-advised challenge, he was miles out of position as Sam Lammers equalised against the run of play.
It was Christian Eriksen, meanwhile, who lost the ball in the build up to Lammers’ strike.
And Keane feels that, after spending handsome sums on the likes of De Ligt and Manuel Ugarte, the sight of Maguire and Eriksen back in Ten Hag’s XI at the expense of those new signings is a little confusing.
Keane says Man United need to give Matthijs de Ligt time
“You can’t keep going back to Maguire and Eriksen!” Keane argues.
“The last few years, [Man United] have made lots of changes. They’ve got rid of Fred, they’ve got rid of [Scott] McTominay, changes at centre-half…
“But Maguire and Eriksen have been back in the team. You’ve gone back to the lads who were part of the problem! If you think Maguire is the answer…”
De Ligt has endured a mixed start to life at Old Trafford, even if any criticism over the Dutchman’s performances should be quantified by the fact Ten Hag’s tactics often leave a vulnerable backline exposed.
Either way, Keane feels that De Ligt’s adaptation will not be helped by Ten Hag rotating him in and out of the XI before he has had the chance to really make the centre-back spot his own.
“The new lads need to get a chance!” says the former skipper, a seven-time Premier League champion under Sir Alex Ferguson.
“They need to get a couple of games, a couple of months, to build up relationships.”
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