Roy still as Keane as ever
After Roy Keane’s monumental effort at Old Trafford on Saturday, the Man Utd boss might look to add a scientist to that list.
Over the past couple of years there have been plenty of critics lining up to condemn Keane as yesterday’s man. The major knee and hip operations, they argued, have finally taken their toll and it is time for the most influential player of his generation to stand gracefully aside.
If a court of law was forced to hear a case for Keane’s departure based on the evidence of his performances over the last month, all charges would be dropped immediately with a counter-claim of wasting police time.
Three weeks after rampaging over Steven Gerrard at Anfield and five days after fronting up Patrick Vieira on behalf of his team in the Highbury tunnel, Keane turned his attentions to Birmingham. All around him team-mates struggled, the exertions of their win over Arsenal clearly taking their toll. Where he saw a problem, Keane fixed it, where he saw a fault, he corrected it. At times Steve Bruce’s side must have thought they were facing more than 11 players.
“Human beings are strange things,” said Ferguson. “You get someone like Roy, at 33, who is capable of playing like he did 10 years ago. He was everywhere. Fighting for possession, winning tackles, pounding forward. That was a truly great performance. I just hope someone invents something that can keep him going. Until then, we just pray.”
Ferguson can do his own little bit to prolong his captain’s immense contribution and, with United’s next three fixtures taking them to Eastlands for a Manchester derby, Goodison Park for an FA Cup tie with Everton and back to Old Trafford for a titanic Champions League clash with AC Milan, pulling him out of Ireland’s friendly with Portugal was an obvious move.
“You don’t captain this club unless you have something about you,” said Bruce, half in jest, waiting for someone to point out he was the United skipper when Keane arrived for a bargain £3m from Notts Forest in 1993.
“We all know Roy Keane is a class act. He is still an incredible driving force at this club, a proper captain. We saw what he did at Highbury and we have seen what he has done against us. He leads by example and that will play a huge part in what Manchester United are looking to achieve over the next few weeks. One day he will go, but he will be a hard act to follow that is for sure.”
Typically, Keane assesses his recent contribution to the United cause as ‘not too bad’. “There is always room for improvement,” he added.
From this distance, the only area where Keane could contribute much more than he does already is in the goalscoring department.
He had been stuck on 49 since November 2003 and although he has continued to insist the personal milestone means little to him, he admitted it was “about time” he reached it.
The bad news for the anti-United brigade, rubbing their hands at the prospect of Ferguson, Keane, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes all leaving at roughly the same time, is that a new team is emerging underneath.
Rio Ferdinand, Alan Smith, Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo could easily supply a decade of service and in Wayne Rooney, Ferguson reckons United have a player capable of achieving as much for the club as Keane has.
“When you are talking about Manchester United in 50 or 500 years’ from now, Roy Keane will still be regarded as one of the greatest players ever at this club,” said Ferguson. “But Wayne Rooney is in that mould too. He is turning into such an influential player for us. That is 12 goals this season for us now. The boy is a winner, no doubt about that.”
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