Paul Scholes and Michael Owen have slammed Michael Keane for his defending during Everton’s 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
The Manchester United legend stated that Keane, who was once again starting ahead of Conor Coady, didn’t know what to do for Forest’s opening goal of the game.
Morgan Gibbs-White dazzled on the edge of the box, before a low shot was parried by Jordan Pickford and Brennan Johnson, who would equalise again in the second half, added his first of the match.
In midweek, when Everton travelled to the Emirates to take on Arsenal, Keane was also criticised for his performance against the Premier League leaders.
And whilst the £30 million star (BBC Sport) hasn’t played much this season, he can’t afford to warm up with the Toffees right in the thick of a relegation dogfight.
Nonetheless, both Scholes and Owen shared their thoughts on Keane’s defending yesterday, as they told Premier League Productions (05/03/23).
“It wasn’t great defending,” said Scholes. “But, Michael Keane, especially, he comes out to Morgan Gibbs-White. You can actually say it’s good play from them, I suppose. It’s a brilliant one-two and a shot at goal.
“Michael comes out and he gets caught out in between really. He doesn’t really know what to do. Gibbs-White, with the one-two. The keeper possibly could do better. I think he places it perfectly into the path of Brennan Johnson.”
Owen added: “Yes, it is a big call (to start Keane over Coady). Gibbs-White just pulls off to a certain space, as a defender you have a dilemma, don’t you?! You either go out and mark your man, then make sure he can’t turn or you stand back.
Read Related Also: Paris Hilton shocks fans by announcing arrival of newborn via surrogate
“The only reason for you to stand back is to protect the danger area. You have to trust your fullback and you have to trust your centre-half that they will stick on their men as well.
“Once you decide you are going to stay back. One thing you can’t do is go halfway house and almost let a one-two get past you or get beaten and leave that massive gap. Eventually, his men try to salvage the situation and do his work for him. But it’s too late. Keane is to blame for that goal.”
A POSITIVE RESULT FOR EVERTON
A point and two goals away from home. Everton have to look at that Forest result as a positive. They can also add in the fact that they didn’t lose to a relegation rival.
Their only issue is that they are still in the drop zone, although, it’s very, very tight down the bottom.
Crystal Palace were beaten 1-0 at Aston Villa recently and the 12th-placed side are now only six points ahead of bottom-of-the-table, Bournemouth.
All in all, it wouldn’t be a surprise if around five teams are battling it out for the drop during the final few weeks of the season.
In other news, ‘Can’t’: Stan Collymore says striker won’t join Chelsea; Aston Villa linked
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘677672980820926’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
