Roy Keane slams ‘arrogant’ England players and the ‘awful’ thing he spotted in win over Ireland
Roy Keane has slammed England’s players for showing “arrogance” in their win over the Republic of Ireland.
England got their UEFA Nations League campaign off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory over Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who both previously played for Ireland before switching their international allegiance to England, scored for the visitors to secure a promising victory for Lee Carsley in his first match as interim manager of the Three Lions.
Rice put England ahead in the 11th minute and refused to celebrate, but Grealish took the opposite approach when adding a second in the 26th minute – pumping his fist in front of the England supporters before holding his fingers in his ears in a defiant message to Ireland fans who had booed him prior to the goal.
England failed to kick on after the interval and wasted several chances late in the game to make the final score more convincing.
Speaking after the game, former Manchester United captain Keane criticised the visitors and said they had shown “arrogance” with their second-half performance.
“The frustrating thing today is Ireland were there for the taking,” Keane said on ITV.
“England dominated the first half. We praised them, their decision-making, their quality, their movement, but that was the opposite for the second half.
“I thought they were awful in the second half, players playing for themselves, taking too many touches, trying to play Roy of the Rovers passes.
“Ireland played with a lot of pride in the second half but as good as England were in the first half I thought they were just as bad in the second half.
“Players playing for themselves. Even the substitute players strolling on, strolling off, showing a bit of arrogance.
“There’s a team there for the taking, especially for attacking players, if you’re on that pitch you’re thinking, ‘I’ve got chances here to go and score a goal’.”
Keane’s outburst came after he had strongly criticised the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) during the half-time break.
Despite Keane’s comments, Carsley was pleased with his team’s performance and will look to build on it when they next face Finland at Wembley on Tuesday in another Nations League match.
Speaking after the win, he said: “I thought it was good in parts.
“You’ve seen some of the things we’ve tried to do. The lads have to take all of the credit.
“I think we’ve showed we’ve got some real talent and we can be really pleased with the clean sheet as well.”
