Keane: Title Arsenal's For The Taking
20/2/04 9:30 AM
Reds skipper Roy Keane says the Premiership title is Arsenal's for the
taking, and would be surprised if Arsene Wenger's side pass up the
opportunity.
Keane believes United have given themselves too great a task in
recovering from five league defeats, while Arsenal remain unbeaten.
"We fell behind last year and put ourselves under a lot of pressure,"
Keane told MUTV. "But if I am being honest, I can’t see Arsenal slipping
up like they did last year.
"Of course I am worried that we have lost five times and Arsenal
haven’t lost at all. If you want to win any championship, the fewer
games you lose the better. We are just putting ourselves under so much
pressure.
"I have been critical of our defence recently but I would have to say
it is the whole team. You defend and attack as a team."
“We fell behind last year and put ourselves under a lot of pressure.
But if I am being honest, I can't see Arsenal slipping up like they
did last year."
With a third of the season still remaining, however, experience tells
that United are not out of the title race yet. But, Keane knows winning
the championship means going all out to beat the top teams, and with
that comes a risk.
"Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea — we have to be winning these matches.
"When we play the other top teams, we are basically going to have to
win and that leaves you vulnerable at the back, because you have to
go gung-ho in attack."
When United went down to ten men against Manchester City in the FA Cup
last weekend, it was perhaps expected that the game would become
stretched and the possibility of conceding goals would become more
apparent.
But Roy, a self-confessed United critic, says the team still gifted
City too many chances.
"We didn’t improve our defending that much because City still had
chances," points out Roy. "Tim Howard, for instance, got man of the match.
"We gave them too many chances. Obviously they were going to gamble
a little bit and they had an extra man but it is still the same
principles of defending and they were getting too many crosses in and
a few free headers which wasn’t very pleasing
"There is loads of room for improvement. I would say that most days
anyway. I am our biggest critic."
Report by Ben Hibbs.
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