Rio Ferdinand disagrees with Roy Keane regarding Arsenal goal against Manchester United
Rio Ferdinand has defended Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka after Roy Keane criticized him for allowing Eddie Nketiah to get Arsenal off to a fast start during Sunday’s Premier League match.
Marcus Rashford and Lisandro Martinez scored for the losing side, while Nketiah assisted in settling the score for the league-leading Gunners with two goals sandwiched around a superb strike from Bukayo Saka.
It was a victory that kept Arsenal five points ahead of Manchester City with a game in hand.
United, meanwhile, gained insight into the steps they must take to launch their own title challenge in future seasons. This prompted Keane to criticize Wan-Bissaka and others while serving as a Sky Sports pundit at the Emirates Stadium.
Gary Neville, another former Manchester United player, questioned Wan-Bissaka after Nketiah brushed past him at the far post to score in the 24th minute. Nketiah went on to score the game-winning goal after the former Crystal Palace right back played him onside.
Keane, evaluating the first goal, stated: “It’s just his lack of awareness. It’s as if he can’t believe someone’s coming around the back of him, because he can see him, he just dozes off. A silly lack of concentration, considering we praise him saying he’s a good defender. Of course he sees him. You have to be aware of him, that’s his job, this is big boy stuff and these are big moments. Do your job, go and attack the ball.”
Neville, commentating on the game, described the confusion as “madness” and suggested that goalkeeper David de Gea could have done more. However, their former teammate Ferdinand does not necessarily agree that the behavior was criminal.
On his podcast FIVE, Ferdinand stated: “Gary Neville was the best at this as a full-back, he was the best at marking the opposite side when the ball was coming in so if their winger was crossing the ball, the Gary Neville gets himself inside the post so that anything that beats me, he’s going to get.
“But also he’s going to attach himself to that winger, get hold of them. Sometimes he’s not as big as those guys but they’ve got to do alot to get away from them and he would just stand in their way.
“This [the Arsenal goal] is all about awareness and seeing that bigger picture and that comes from reps in training.
“For Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and all full-backs, it’s a really hard skill to master by the way. The way the guys were talking about it yesterday was like it was easy. It’s not easy. That is one way that 33-year-olds get unpicked at the end of their career when they are meant to know it back to front.
“It’s about being switched on and having concentration for the full 90. If you switch off in those moments, you get punished because you’re six yards out so it’s a goal.
“He has to attach himself. Feel him. Or he has got to turn and face, but that is the hardest thing to do, to do that and see the crosser and the man. You can’t turn your back like he did. When you do that, you have got no idea where he is. He didn’t know where he was.”
Rio Ferdinand disagrees with Roy Keane regarding Arsenal goal against Manchester United
