Pained Keane admits United not good enough

THE PAIN is increasing for Roy Keane as is the realisation that Manchester United might simply not be good enough to recapture their European crown.

As he assessed the fall-out from another Champions League campaign brought to a premature end at Old Trafford, the United skipper maintained the honesty which has characterised his career both on and off the pitch.

And even though the 6-5 quarter-final aggregate defeat to holders Real Madrid does not carry anywhere near the same shock value as the stunning semi-final exit at Bayer Leverkusen’s hands 12 months ago, Keane refused to claim the agony was not the same, quite the reverse if truth is told.

“I probably feel worse this time,” admitted the 31-year-old, who refuses to accept the medal he was awarded after the 1999 triumph over Bayern Munich as confirmation of being a European Cup winner because he did not actually play in the game.

“Every year you think you have a good chance of winning the competition but the seasons keep going by and we don’t do it.

“Football is all about winning and losing is something I find hard to accept. Last night’s game was probably enjoyable for the fans but that’s a small consolation.

“I have said many times before that getting to the quarter-finals is one thing. Once you are there you have to get over the final hurdle and we don’t seem able to do it.

“I’m not sure why we are not consistently getting beyond this stage. Maybe it’s just that we are not good enough.”

There is no time for a huge post-mortem just yet, with attention immediately switching to Sunday’s crucial Premiership encounter with Tottenham at White Hart Lane, by which time United will have lost their league leadership if Arsenal can record a win at Bolton tomorrow.

However, a decisive squad restructuring seems inevitable as Alex Ferguson plots the path ahead, and that would almost certainly see the Scot start to pick apart the home-bred backbone of his side.

Although Ryan Giggs had previously been seen as the most likely summer departure, Ferguson’s omission of David Beckham from the biggest game of the season was a telling indication of his current assessment of the England skipper’s talents and will intensify talk of a £38million switch to Real Madrid.

The addition of such a huge sum to the money already put aside for investments would allow flexibility for some serious negotiations to bring Damien Duff, Harry Kewel, or Paris St Germain’s Ronaldinho to Old Trafford, moves which would freshen up a squad likely to be bolstered by the relatively minor additions of previous transfer targets Julien Escude and David Bellion, who are both now available for free.

“You can admire the third goal but the first two were very disappointing,” said Keane. “When you concede goals like that against the best footballers in the world, it is very difficult to come back.

“It’s easy to say they have bought all these players but plenty of clubs have done that and not achieved anything.

“Without doubt they are the benchmark of Europe and we have lost to a fantastic team.” “If life was all highs it would be fantastic but everyone has lows as well and this is a big one.

“As professional players we have been down this road before and we have to bounce back.

“We will be fully focused on beating Tottenham and there is no doubt in my mind that we can win. If I said anything less I wouldn’t be here.”