Roy Keane fired a cheeky warning at Erik ten Hag following Manchester United’s 1-0 victory over Fulham on Friday.
The Red Devils got their 2024/25 campaign underway with an important three points, despite struggling for significant periods of time. New signing Joshua Zirkzee came off of the bench to grab the winner, guiding a cute finish past Bernd Leno in the 87th minute.
With a fresh face bagging the all-important goal and United in the heart of a rebuild, there was an aura of optimism and positivity around Old Trafford once the full-time whistle sounded. However, Keane joked that he could be lured into raining on the parade soon.
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Ten Hag was in good spirits when talking to Sky Sports after his side’s victory, prompting him to poke the bear and question why Keane was markedly quieter than usual in the interview. The Dutchman remarked: “You’re quiet! You don’t want to spoil the vibes?”
Keane joked back: “Not tonight, not tonight. Next week! I’ll be waiting.” Ten Hag laughed off the remark before Keane continued: “Just keep winning. It’s easy. It’s so simple.”
Ten Hag is likely to come under immense pressure if United are unable to compete on all fronts for silverware this season, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe putting his faith in the Dutchman after a parting of ways was considered over the summer.
But the ex-Ajax boss is confident that his side will improve plenty for the performance against Fulham. He said: “I think one space we have to fill is to kill in the box. We saw it in the friendlies and last week against (Manchester) City.
“We create enough chances not to wait for a late winner. We have to be more composed and kill. Players have to come into full speed. We have enough players with scoring abilities. We have to be more composed and we have to kill and execute in front of the goal.”
Ten Hag also heaped praise on Zirkzee after his new arrival marked his debut with a crucial goal, saying: “It’s very good for a striker coming into Manchester United to score the winning goal in his first game. For him, it’s very pleasing. Very happy for him. Very encouraging for him, for the fans, for everyone. It’s a very good start.
“He has some attributes we didn’t have. Straight away, he showed it. He’s very good with linking up and combinations. He has to arrive in the box to score goals. He did. And if it’s the winner then it’s very pleasing for everyone.”
