Republic of Ireland players be warned, Roy Keane is not currently in a mood to be trifled with.
Earlier this week he was on radio bemoaning the standard of tea at English football grounds and the fact his job as Martin O’Neill’s assistant requires him to make small talk with people.
Thursday night he was doing a job he prefers – sitting on the ITV punditry couch.
Arsenal may be gone out of Europe but his former club Manchester United are still in the Europa League and their manager is still giving the former captain things to complain about.
When asked for his opinion on Jose Mourinho’s complaints about Manchester United’s fixture congestion, Keane was never not going to speak his mind.
After watching his side book their place in the last eight of the Europa League with a 1-0 second leg victory over FC Rostov, Mourinho used a post-match interview to express his frustration that United would be in action again at noon on Sunday. To illustrate his point, Mourinho pointed to other European leagues which moved domestic fixtures to make life easier for those clubs in European competition.
Keane wasn’t having any of this, making this perfectly clear right from the off when speaking on ITV’s Europa League highlights programme.
“I’ve never heard so much rubbish in my life,” he began. “Why do we have to listen to that garbage? It’s utter nonsense what he’s talking about.
“He’s the manager of Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs on the planet.
“The squad he’s got, the players… and he keeps moaning about fixtures and fatigue.”
And the former United skipper wasn’t done there, either.
“We were just looking at some of the cup fixtures they’ve had. They’ve had an easy ride in the cups, some good draws, a lot of home draws.
“The guy’s talking absolute nonsense and I’ve never heard so much rubbish in my life.
“Maybe the club’s too big for him? He can’t deal with these demands at the match – what matches? Man United reserves could’ve won that game tonight.”
