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7th December 2023
12:55pm GMT
The day after Pep Guardiola had a pop at football pundits for calling Manchester City being "complacent" and Man United banned four reporters from a press conference, Gary Neville, Roy Keane & Co. took part in a game that will ruffle more feathers.
On the latest offering of Stick to Football, the panel of Keane, Neville, Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright tackled a few of English football's burning issues before taking part in a game they would have hated to see, as players.
The show began with Neville and Carragher poking fun at Guardiola for calling City - now winless in four league matches - out for a fall-off in their usual high standards. The pair observed that Keane made similar comments but Guardiola was not about to bring him into his riposte.
Talk then turned to the latest mini crisis for Manchester United [the show was recorded before the club's 2-1 win over Chelsea], leaks to the press, the ban on reporters from four media outlets, and what players the club needs to keep, and move on.
Gary Neville introduced a segment to the show called 'Keep, Last Straw or Ditch'. Given that Manchester United are under-performing, so far, this season, it seemed the logical place to start.
"You can't get rid of everyone, can ya?" Roy Keane exclaimed, as he realised his old teammate was intent on going through each of United's senior players.
"Is he still there?!" cracked Jamie Carragher when Anthony Martial's name was called out. "It's one of the saddest things," said Ian Wright, "because of his emergence, and what he has done since then is nothing. The man has done nothing."
All four pundits agreed that midfielder Scott McTominay is a 'Last Straw' selection at United. Hours after this episode wrapped, the Scotland international fired in both goals as United defeated Chelsea to climb to sixth in the table.
Following that game, United boss Erik ten Hag told Match of the Day, "Scott did great. he had an important role to play. He is a very good player. He stopped Chelsea with Antony. In possession he was very dynamic. He scored two and could have had more."
While Gary Neville and Roy Keane did not agree on everything, these were the EIGHT players they agreed Manchester United should "ditch" - Victor Lindelof, Raphaël Varane, Diogo Dalot, Jonny Evans, Sofyan Amrabat, Antony, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial.
Here is how the game played out, with the opinion of Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright after each player's name was called out.
While Carragher felt Casemiro should leave and Wright said it was 'last straw' for the Brazilian, both Keane and Neville believe he should stay on.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag was first up - Wright wanted him out - followed by the senior squad.
ERIK TEN HAG: Keep (Neville), Keep (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Last Straw (Carragher)
ANDRÉ ONANA: Last Straw (Neville), Last Straw (Keane), Keep (Wright), Last Straw (Carragher)
VICTOR LINDELOF: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
HARRY MAGUIRE: Last Straw (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Last Straw (Carragher)
LISANDRO MARTINEZ: Keep (Neville), Keep (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
RAPHAËL VARANE: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
DIOGO DALOT: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Keep (Wright), Last Straw (Carragher)
LUKE SHAW: Keep (Neville), Last Straw (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
JONNY EVANS: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
AARON WAN-BISSAKA: Last Straw (Neville), Last Straw (Keane), Keep (Wright), Last Straw (Carragher)
SOFYAN AMRABAT: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
MASON MOUNT: Keep (Neville), Keep (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN: Did not answer (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
CASEMIRO: Last Straw (Neville), Keep (Keane), Keep (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
KOBBIE MAINOO: Keep (Neville), Keep (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
SCOTT MCTOMINAY: Last Straw (Neville), Last Straw (Keane), Last Straw (Wright), Last Straw (Carragher)
BRUNO FERNANDES: Keep (Neville), Keep (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
ANTONY: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
ANTHONY MARTIAL: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
MARCUS RASHFORD: Keep (Neville), "I wouldn't be sure... he's 26. When is the penny going to drop?" (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
JADON SANCHO: Ditch (Neville), Ditch (Keane), Ditch (Wright), Ditch (Carragher)
RASMUS HOJLUND: Keep (Neville), Keep (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
ALEJANDRO GARNACHO: Keep (Neville), Keep (Keane), Keep (Wright), Keep (Carragher)
Manchester United have Bournemouth at home, next up in the Premier League. If results, at the weekend, went in their favour, the team could be level on points with Manchester City, last season's treble winners, and six points off league leaders Arsenal.
All that considered, Roy Keane and Gary Neville still want the club to shift on eight players, sooner rather than later. Such is the ever-evolving drama at Manchester United football club.
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