Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane lent his support to the club’s Norwegian manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after their latest disappointing result left them with one point from Monday’s 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal.
United are in 10th place with just nine points, their worst start after seven games for 30 years, and they have won just one of their last six league games.
However, with youngsters introduced to the side this season, Irishman Keane, who won seven Premier League titles with United, believes his former teammate needs time to shape the team.
Photo: Reuters
“I think he has been brilliant, a good honest guy. It is hard work at the moment, but there are six or seven young players learning their way,” Keane said on Sky Sports.
“We’re all very impatient, we want success yesterday, but you have to give the man time. He is frustrated, under pressure, but dealing with it. He’s a classy guy but no doubt he will be disappointed at not winning enough games,” he added.
United beat Chelsea 4-0 in their opening game, but their only league victory since then was a 1-0 win over Leicester City.
Keane said Solskjaer deserved the chance to bring in new players.
“They have given him the job. Support him in a couple of transfer windows. Are there more tough days ahead? You bet your life, but you need to stick with it,” he said.
“There was a lack of quality from both teams tonight. Their lack of goals, the lack of opportunities they’re creating.”
Solskjaer said that despite some encouraging individual displays, United’s results were a concern.
“There are many things we look at and many things that give me loads of confidence,” he said. “We can talk about performances but it’s the results that matter. You can talk about the results, I can talk about the six out of seven games good performances.”
After Monday’s draw, midfielder Scott McTominay said that United must become more ruthless in front of the goal to kiskstart their league campaign.
Scotland international McTominay put the hosts in front on the stroke of halftime, but his well-taken strike was canceled out by Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a game that only highlighted the weaknesses of both teams.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have not scored two goals in a match since their 4-0 victory over Chelsea.
“There were a lot of different chances we had in the game and it’s about being more ruthless in front of goal now. I’ve said in previous weeks we have to get more opportunities... create more,” McTominay told the club’s Web site. “It’s a disappointment with different opportunities we had and the way we started in the first 45 minutes, because we were on the front foot and doing a lot of things right.”
“It’s little mistakes we have to start cutting out... They cost you games and points,” McTominay added. “Everyone in the dressing room knows it is a tough one to take because we were on top.”
United’s poor scoring form has not been helped by injuries to forwards Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, as well as the departure of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to Inter.
However, McTominay backed United to overcome their problems.
“We are Manchester United and everything is well-documented, but we have a real good bunch of players who are a tight-knit group and the team spirit is really good. We keep everything in house and it is all positive,” he said.
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