Man Utd had Roy Keane 2.0, now Goldbridge thinks he’s a “waste of time”
da realsbet： Manchester United have been in disarray for some time now, struggling to find any consistency, suffering from poor recruitment strategy and leaving the fans with a sour taste in their mouths.
da dobrowin： The Red Devils currently sit 15th in the Premier League after 25 games played, just 12 points off of 18th place Ipswich and 15 points off of fourth place Manchester City.
Ruben Amorim’s side are averaging 53.6% possession (sixth highest in the division), taking 13.4 shots per game (12th highest in the division) and are conceding 11.4 shots against them per game (seventh fewest in the division).
When things really aren’t going your way, you sometimes need the big characters in the dressing room to step up, lead the team, lead by example and get you out of a bad spot. The main issue with this, is Man Utd don’t seem to have many of these characters at the club anymore.
Roy Keane's record Manchester United
Roy Keane, perhaps one of the biggest types of this character, made 479 appearances for Manchester United, scoring 51 goals, providing 41 assists and totalling 40,275 minutes played.
First Impressions
In this time, Keane captained a historic United side to the famous treble, winning the Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 1998/99.
Whilst the Irishman was hot-headed, his teammates clearly respected him, giving their all on the pitch, being led by Keane, with many regarding the United legend as the “best captain they have ever seen”.
Manchester United did sign a midfielder who was compared to Keane in the 2022/23 campaign, with Teddy Sheringham comparing the two players, but since having a brilliant first season at the club, his rapid demise has been clear for all to see.
Man Utd's new Roy Keane
Casemiro was signed for a fee of around £60m plus £10m in add-ons from Real Madrid in 2022 and has made 108 appearances for the Red Devils since joining the club, scoring 15 goals, providing nine assists and totalling 8,020 minutes played.
In his first campaign at Old Trafford, the experienced Brazilian was hugely influential – notably scoring in the club’s Carabao Cup triumph – with Sheringham highlighting the likeness between him and the talismanic Keane:
Casemiro’s Manchester United demise
Stats (per 90 mins)
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
Goals + Assists
0.32
0.28
0.18
Progressive Carries
0.78
0.54
0.28
Progressive Passes
6.69
5.15
4.82
Passes into Final Third
6.20
5.52
5.11
Tackles
3.46
3.72
3.97
Blocks
2.48
3.22
2.48
Interceptions
1.51
0.94
0.94
Ball Recoveries
8.82
6.32
6.17
Aerial Duels Won
2.59
1.76
1.42
Stats taken from FBref
You can see in Casemiro’s three years at the club, the gradual decline in all areas. The only metric Casemiro ranks higher in this season than either of his previous two seasons is tackles per 90, and that is with far fewer minutes played, slightly skewing the data.
It has gotten to the point where Casemiro’s legs are seemingly gone, the United system is becoming more and more reliant on ground covering and physical qualities, and content creator Mark Goldbridge has now labelled the Brazilian a “total waste of time”, following the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United clearly need to get rid of players before they can buy, and not only getting the right profile but also the right mentality of players will be key if the Red Devils want to have any chance of returning to the top.
Casemiro may have indicated his desire to see out his contract – which runs out in 2026 – yet Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co need to do all they can to shift the £350k-per-week star from the wage bill.
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