Roy Keane says Manchester United would not have tolerated Steven Gerrard's behaviour
"We wouldn’t have tolerated that at United."
Roy Keane has claimed that his Manchester United teammates would not have tolerated the behaviour of Steven Gerrard had he played for the club.
Liverpool icon Gerrard is beloved by the Anfield faithful. However, he did toy with the idea of leaving the club when he was in his prime under Rafa Benítez, with Chelsea often cited as a team which Gerrard had his eye on.
On the latest episode of Stick to football brought to you by Sky Bet, Keane discussed rumours of Gerrard's behaviour at the time and insisted that his actions would not have been accepted at United.
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“[To Jamie Carragher] Jamie you’re a Liverpool lad," began Keane, "With Gerrard, sometimes a player wants to leave a club. But when they refuse to play, I’m surprised players don’t turn on them when they are gone.
"We wouldn’t have tolerated that at United. [To Rafa Benítez] I know managers can have a disagreement with the player and the player wants to leave. It is straightforward for managers, to deal with a player who is not doing what he is supposed to be doing, when everyone is mates with him.”
Despite their issues in the past, Benítez still names Steven Gerrard as the best player that he has ever coached.
“Steven [Gerrard] is the best player I have ever coached. In Madrid I couldn’t say that, but now I can! It was very clear, he has everything. What he was missing was the tactical knowledge that a foreign player has because they play in this position. He was so good, and he had so much energy. He would get into the box, go as a fullback and do whatever he wanted to do. But he needed to understand the position.
“With [Xabi] Alonso he could be fine, but he wasn’t the quickest. So, we had a gap when Steve was going which was a problem. I didn’t know his best position exactly. I put Stevie on the right against Chelsea. When Capello came, Stevie told me we would win something with this manager because he was very strict. They put him on the left and then the right, and he has freedom to go inside and create problems. Therefore, it was difficult to find a place. Gerrard was so good technically and could pass the ball with pace. Torres especially, was very fast and could receive the ball straight away. Then we just find the balance.”
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