Roy Keane insists it’s Ange Postecoglou’s “time to suffer” in response to the Tottenham manager’s complaints before having a pop at one of his players.
Postecoglou under huge pressure after his side were knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in the space of four days.
They’re currently 14th in the Premier league having won just eight of their 24 games this season, with the Europa League their only remaining chance of a trophy this term after Postecoglou insisted he would land them a gong in his second season.
Postecoglou has consistently pointed to their admittedly significant injury crisis in a packed schedule in defence of his side’s awful results, and for now the club chiefs are sticking by the Australian, but for how much longer?
Keane insists Postecoglou will have had little “sympathy” for the managers of smaller clubs while he was in charge of Celtic, so needs to take his medicine.
Roy Keane told Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet: “[On Ange Postecoglou] When [a club] signs a big contract with the manager – imagine if the manager is sitting with whoever he’s negotiating with and goes, ‘I want 20 million and I’ll be really good with no midweek games’.
“If a manager was fresh going into the job every time, then it would be a fantastic job. However, it does take its toll with the fatigue, the travelling and the European games.
“When Ange [Postecoglou] was manager at Celtic and he was playing the likes of Dundee and Hibs every week – with the smallest squads – I don’t think Ange was feeling sorry for them. It’s now Ange’s time to suffer – like lots of other managers.
“Celtic had the biggest budget and the best players, and do you think he had sympathy at Dundee when he was winning 7,8,9-0? He won there one day, 9-0 – he didn’t care less.”
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Keane also doubts whether Spurs will enjoy the uptick in form Postecoglou is banking on when some of his players return to fitness, insisting if he thinks James Maddison is the answer then he’s “in cuckoo land”.
He added: “Which players [are we] talking about coming back that can help Spurs? I agree with [Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario] – that’s two. [Destiny] Udogie is not bad.
“We saw James Maddison at Tamworth, he was taken off! Tamworth are non-league. People say, ‘Maddison’s the man’, but when is he going to step up to the plate?
“He got relegated with Leicester [City] and [looks like] with Spurs. Maddison isn’t bad but if you think he’s going to come back and get Spurs top six, you’re in cuckoo land.
“He’s a talented player, but if you’re a player in the Spurs dressing room and he’s back in the squad, you wouldn’t be looking and going, ‘James is back today – we’re going to be fine!’.
“I saw him James Maddison at [Manchester] City when they won that game 4-0 and I thought he blended the quality of his attacking with actually being good in his defensive duties. I actually said that he set a standard that night that he’s got to continue to keep. He’s not consistent – that’s the problem with him.”