Manchester United legend Roy Keane has given his verdict on the club’s dismissal of Erik ten Hag this week, suggesting that players need to hold each other more accountable for results.

The Red Devils hierarchy made the decision to part ways with Ten Hag on Monday morning, the day after a 2-1 Premier League defeat at the hands of West Ham United.

Ten Hag’s side were stung by a controversial late penalty awarded following a VAR review, but the United players had been guilty of missing a string of chances in the first half.

It had been a similar story in a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace last month, with United overall squandering 22 big chances across nine Premier League games. That is the joint-most of all 20 clubs in the division, alongside Tottenham Hotspur.

United have had an uncomfortable reputation since Sir Alex Ferguson retired when it comes to underperforming players not giving their all, knowing that managers will usually be the ones thrown to the wolves before being willing to hold themselves and others to the standards expected.

That appeared to be what Keane, who was famously demanding of himself and teammates during his own United career, was getting at when he took to Instagram on Monday afternoon.

“In good teams, coaches hold players accountable. In great teams, players hold players accountable,” he wrote as a caption alongside a stern-looking selfie.

Keane’s 2005 exit from the club followed his shock criticism of colleagues and their standards during an appearance on an in-house MUTV programme, analysing a heavy defeat to Middlesbrough.

The culture of demanding only the best and accepting nothing less was prominent under Ferguson and driven as much by senior players, which came to include Keane, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and others, as it was by the manager and coaching staff.

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