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Roy Keane is at his best on the Gary Neville ‘Stick to Football’ podcast when he has time and the right environment to be considered. Too often his offerings for Sky on a Sunday are of the ‘shock jock’ variety.
That being said, he was right to the heart of it on Sunday with his succinct comments about Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.
Every player is allowed a poor game and Van Dijk certainly had one against Manchester United. At one point I wondered if he had given his shirt and boots to his twin brother.
But it was Keane’s comments about ‘looking in the mirror’ that struck a chord with me.
One of the key facets of true leadership is ownership and admitting culpability. On Sunday at Anfield, Van Dijk was throwing blame around like confetti.
His role in United’s opening goal was twofold. First, he smashed his own team-mate Alexis MacAllister in the head with a leap he didn’t have to make and then failed to track scorer Bryan Mbeumo in to the penalty area.
Roy Keane is often knee-jerk on Sky Sports but his verdict on Van Dijk was spot on
The Liverpool captain pointed the finger at everybody else but himself on Sunday
Yet his reaction was to turn and shout at defensive partner Ibrahima Konate.
Later, in the second half, Van Dijk wobbled yet again, somehow managing to divert a routine cross from his knee up into the face of left-back Milos Kerkez. It was car crash defending once again yet Van Dijk immediately looked to shift responsibility, yelling at Kerkez for seemingly not letting him know that he was there.
Van Dijk is captain and the team’s senior player. He simply needs to be better than that, in every way. If this was United skipper Bruno Fernandes, we would be suggesting he wasn’t fit to wear the armband.
UNITED STILL NEED TO REWRITE MORE HISTORY
It was former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal who said the English media look only at results and not performances. His time at Old Trafford wasn’t good enough by either metric but he did also have a point.
The truth is that Liverpool were not quite as bad as the world is making out at Anfield on Sunday, nor should we yet look at United’s impressive performance as some kind of huge turning point for Ruben Amorim.
It is far too soon to suggest United's impressive win represents a turning point for Amorim
Last January, United arguably played better than they did on Sunday in drawing 2-2 at Anfield. They really were good that day. They followed it by knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup at the Emirates with only ten men.
That really did feel like a shift in momentum, but it lasted just seven days. They faced Brighton at home a week later and lost 3-1.
Brighton, of course, are at Old Trafford this weekend.
SLOT'S BIG MISTAKE
Not all of Arne Slot’s summer signings have flopped. The French forward Hugo Ekitike has been terrific since the opening game of the season and Slot erred hugely in not starting him against United.
At Brentford this weekend, someone – whether it be Alexander Isak or Mo Salah – simply must make way.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot is under the spotlight, and he must now start Hugo Ekitike
FINALLY A BRAVE REFEREE
Centre forward performance of the weekend came from another Frenchman, Crystal Palace’s striker Jean Philippe-Mateta. It was impossible to take your eyes off the 28-year-old as he scored a hat-trick and somehow managed to contribute the miss of the season in the very last minute against Bournemouth.
Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Selhurst Park was just as notable, however, for what should be – and won’t be – a landmark refereeing moment by Jarred Gillett.
Encouraged by VAR officials to take a look at the screen after deciding that Marcos Senesi’s trip on Ismaila Sarr was worthy of only a yellow card, Gillett had the strength of mind to stick with his original call which – as it happened – was exactly the right one.
Gillett had a miserable day as Arsenal beat Newcastle at St James’ Park last month but the Australian got this call exactly right. If only other referees would be this strong.
DYCHE ALREADY ON REFS' RADAR
With Gillett’s compatriot Ange Postecoglou now an ex-Nottingham Forest manager the club are on the verge of giving Sean Dyche the gig on a short-term basis so it’s time to resurrect an old one.
While at Everton Dyche and his two assistants Steve Stone and Ian Woan – all ex-Forest players of course – developed something of a reputation among the Premier League refereeing community for their voluble and occasionally volatile touchline behaviour.
‘Stone, Woan and Moan’ was how they were known.
Referees are prepared for Sean Dyche's impending Premier League return
RODGERS READY TO COME BACK
Postecoglou was hugely successful at Celtic, of course, and it seems certain there will be a vacancy at Parkhead once again come the end of the season.
Current Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers is out of contract in Glasgow in the summer and has started to do what he often does when he has his eyes on the next posting – he has started talking.
In an interview with the BBC at the weekend, Rodgers described working at some Premier League clubs as ‘like a holiday’ compared to Celtic and he may have a point. Then, after a shock defeat to Dundee on Sunday he compared his squad to a ‘Honda Civic’.
So Rodgers will be on his way south again this summer and it’s overdue. He should never have gone back to Celtic in the first place.
Where will he land? If Forest are on the look-out again at the season’s end, they could do a lot worse.
CHELSEA TAKING OVER THE WORLD?
One of the great mistakes we make in this country is to judge a manager’s worth solely through the prism of Premier League results.
The truth – that will doubtless be scoffed at now at places like Stamford Bridge and the London Stadium - is that Graham Potter remains one of the English game's most gifted coaches and as such it’s a shame that we have now lost him to the Swedish national team.
It was always possible Potter would find refuge and work in a country where did so well as coach of Ostersund between 2010 and 2018 and that has turned out to be the case.
Axed Chelsea bosses are going global after Graham Potter was unveiled by Sweden
Only a hard heart wouldn’t wish him well as he tries to get Sweden to next summer’s World Cup.
If he does he will join two other former Chelsea managers - Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino will be there with England and the USA – and indeed his predecessor at West Ham. Julen Lopetegui will be at the tournament with Qatar
IS WATKINS REALLY BETTER THAN WELBECK?
Given that England have qualified for the World Cup already Tuchel now has two remaining qualifying games – against Serbia and Albania - to have a look at other players if he so wishes.
What chance, then, that Danny Welbeck gets an opportunity after his two goals helped Brighton down Newcastle at the weekend?
Welbeck is 35 next month and the last of his 42 caps came in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Yet his instinct for goals remains sharp.
He has scored 14 goals from 29 league starts since the start of last season as compared to Ollie Watkins’ tally of 17 from 38.
So the two men are pretty much neck and neck. Watkins is always in Tuchel’s squad, though, whereas when the England coach was making calls to all and sundry last January to tell them they were in his thoughts, Welbeck’s failed to ring.
At 35, Danny Welbeck is making a compelling case for a return to the England squad
ARSENAL QUIETEN THE NONSENSE
At the other end of the field, Arsenal have made the best defensive start to a season in their history.
Mikel Arteta’s team have shipped just three goals in eleven games in all competitions which is the best effort of any team in Europe and beats a previous record of four set by Arsene Wenger’s team in 2007/08.
Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday night was scrappy but the Premier League leaders have just played back to back games without the opposition even having a shot.
Remember when, after losing 1-0 at Liverpool in August, Arsenal were being hammered by the TV pundits for not being adventurous enough?
I do. It sounded like nonsense at the time and so it has proved.
Arsenal are going about their business in a quiet yet impressive manner after Fulham win
SAVAGE TAKES A BEATING - TWICE!
Down the pyramid, the battle of the two Welsh firebrands went Mark Hughes’ way as his Carlisle team beat Robbie Savage’s Forest Green 4-2 to sit second in the National League.
Hughes and Savage were close during their time together at Blackburn and indeed for the Wales national team and that is a friendship that will endure whatever happens this season.
Savage wasn’t happy with the abuse he was copping from some of the fans by the dugout at Brunton Park, though.
‘It’s unacceptable but nothing will be done,’ said Savage in a frank post-match chat with DAZN.
Savage – whose own team sit fifth in the table – is right on both counts.
