Keane: It’s Ten Hag’s final shot at proving he belongs at elite level
ROY KEANE has challenged Erik ten Hag to prove he is a “great manager” by leading Manchester United to FA Cup glory.
Ten Hag is facing an uncertain future at United, with today’s Wembley showdown against Manchester City potentially his final game in charge.
Jim Ratcliffe and his football operations team have yet to make public their decision on the future of the
Dutchman, who has a year of his contract to run.
Gareth Southgate, former Chelsea and
Tottenham coach
Mauricio Pochettino and ex-Bayern
Munich coach
Thomas Tuchel are all in the frame to succeed him should the axe fall.
But Ten Hag has one last chance to remind Ratcliffe and his team of his managerial and coaching pedigree, by beating favourites City to deny them a second successive Double.
Former Old Trafford captain Keane said the United boss must find a way to win, as all great managers have done in the past.
“That’s the biggest worry,” said the Corkman. “You still have to produce moments, you sit in that dressing room before the game, and you still have to look at your manager and the players around you.
Belief
“If you haven’t got that belief, and you’re playing for United — huge respect for City, they are brilliant and their record is fantastic, and they could win the Double, almost as a consolation prize to last year.
“But if you’re a United player, this is my worry, looking at the manager and the staff.
“You’re talking about great managers — great managers produce moments in cup finals and get their teams over the line.
“All these managers, I don’t think they’ve been favourites in every cup final they’ve been in, but you manage to find a way or a system, or you get a player just back from injury, and it’s a cup final. You get us over this line. It can be done.
“I look at this City team over the past few weeks — are they favourites? Of course, but you’ve still got to believe. You have to have some belief in United and that they can turn up at Wembley and produce a performance.”
Noise
Keane added: “The noise coming out from United last year, after losing the final, was that they were almost patting themselves on the back for getting there. Cut that crap out.
“You have to turn up and put in a performance. Don’t go down after 15 seconds. Give yourself a bit of a chance. The game was over after that — City toyed with them, took their eyes off for a little bit and gave them a little bit of encouragement.”
Meanwhile, Keane criticised Gary Neville after he revealed he would not be attending the FA Cup final.
Neville remains a staunch United fan, having represented his boyhood club for 19 years as a player, but he won’t be going to support them today.
When asked why he wouldn’t go, Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast:
“Do you know something, I went last year, I didn’t enjoy it. It was hard work getting into the stadium, it was hard work getting out to the car park, I ran into a couple of City fans on the way out and I just thought ‘nah’.”
That excuse did not cut it with his former team-mate Keane, who tore into him. “You’re saying you’ll be behind the sofa? That’s a sad state of affairs if you feel you can’t watch United in a cup final. Listen, there’s always a hope they will turn up and produce some sort of performance or moment. I think they have
moments.”