The 2018 Word Cup, please don’t leave.
Of all the thrills and spills and love and hate and drama and beauty thrown up from one of the finest tournaments of all time, Roy Keane on ITV will still prevail as a lasting memory too.
From the very first week, he was sat in a room with English pundits looking for a reason to get overexcited and, after a win against Panama, he was perplexed as the panel debated about whether or not they should just choose to beat Belgium.
“Just win the next game,” he said, exasperated.
So when he brought up that mindset again on Wednesday night, this time at the side of England’s death bed, it didn’t draw as much laughter. It drew a reaction.
Ian Wright shouted an incoherent defence back at him and a lot of the internet picked him apart rather than actually pick holes in his arguments.
They talked about Ireland fans getting carried away – they don’t. Ireland fans don’t expect to win any game. They just celebrate mediocrity – which Keane has complained about before.
They talked about how a team that has Keane as part of the coaching staff being hammered by Denmark. It didn’t really mean anything in the actual context of what Keane was saying but, if anything, that example fitted perfectly into what Keane’s point was about how hard it is to win any game.
Keane wasn’t cruel on England either and he never said that they hadn’t done well. He was simply asking why on earth anyone was looking past tough games to come.
All Roy Keane was saying is that it's really hard to win a game – especially at this level – so why look past the next game
All he got in response was his accent mimicked, he's too negative, shit manager, 5-1, Saipan
No-one is taking on Keane's argument. Keane wins the argument
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) July 13, 2018
Ahead of the 3rd place playoff with Belgium, Keane was on ITV once more – alongside Neville and Wright again – and he proved that he didn’t have a problem with the team. His problem was those looking beyond the next challenge.
Asked about England’s inability to keep the ball, the Manchester United legend gave a fair answer.
“It’s not about 60 or 70 per cent possession,” he said.
“There were just times in the game, particularly when they were under the cosh, they could’ve looked after the ball a little bit better.
“That will come from experience.
“You can nit-pick and say where they need to improve – yeah, there are areas – but you also have to say that they’ve done very well. And it was a very tight game.
“There certainly were parts of the game – whether they don’t have the players at the moment or maybe they lacked that bit of composure – there are certain parts of the game where you need somebody to put their foot on the ball and look after the ball and they probably lacked that the other night.”
Not exactly dancing on their grave. Nor was he the last day either.
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