Roy Keane has criticised Manchester United‘s substitutes for “bringing down the level” and suggested that Mason Mount resembled a “schoolboy” when he entered the pitch from the bench against West Ham. The Red Devils once again disappointed their home supporters for the second occasion in 10 days as they were held by the struggling Hammers, who remain in the bottom three. Despite opening the scoring, they were pulled back and had to accept another draw.
Amorim continued to make substitutions in a bid to capitalise on United’s advantage, but they failed to make an impact on the match. Following Dalot’s opening goal, Amorim introduced a raft of changes, which saw Mount and Manuel Ugarte replace Matheus Cunha and Joshua Zirkzee. Mount had emerged as the match winner on Sunday as United fought back to defeat Crystal Palace, but the former Chelsea player failed to replicate that influence, with Keane particularly frustrated.
The Irishman told Sky Sports: “When you look at the squad, considering the money that has been spent, they lack strength in depth. Particularly in the attacking areas.
“When you are trying to see a game off, I look at Mason Mount when he came on, some players take longer to get up to speed but he was like a schoolboy out there. You’re looking for players to come on with presence. If anything they brought the levels down at United. That seemed to be the case tonight.”
The stalemate at Old Trafford means United have secured victory in just one of their previous five top-flight matches – though only one of those fixtures resulted in a loss. Keane extended his criticism by expressing worry about the squad’s failure to handle challenging circumstances.
“The reason you are playing for Man Utd is that you deal with these situations,” he said. “You try and deal better being one up against a team in the bottom three and Everton with 10 men. If you can’t deal with that, how can you deal with being a team in the top of the table?
Boos rang out at the final whistle, yet United remain in eighth place and are just two points adrift of the top four. Their upcoming fixture sees them travel to winless Wolves, who sit rock-bottom of the division, and anything short of three points will be deemed unacceptable.