talkSPORT pundit slams ‘pathetic’ Michael Keane for Everton amid Tottenham vs Arsenal tirade
Michael Keane’s defending was “pathetic” as Ollie Watkins started Aston Villa’s comeback against Everton, according to Simon Jordan.
The talkSPORT pundit blasted the Toffees defender live on air (16 September), turning his ire on the 31-year-old during a discussion with Martin Keown about Arsenal’s winner against Tottenham in the North London derby.
While criticising Cristian Romero for being outmuscled by Gabriel Magalhães the former Crystal Palace owner suddenly rounded on Keane for being out-jumped by the Villa star to pull one back on 36 minutes, on the way to overturning a two-goal deficit to beat Everton 3-2 on 14 September.
Jordan said (10.15am): “I’m not sure there’s a lot [Ange Postecoglou] can do about Romero in that situation because he was weak. He was weak. Everything Gabriel was he wasn’t in a defensive capacity.
“A bit like Michael Keane was weak against Ollie Watkins for Everton when Aston Villa scored. Pathetic defending.
“I think if I was Martin I’d have been looking at that going, ‘What the hell was that?'”
Ollie Watkins sparked Aston Villa revival vs Everton
It’s easy to pile on to individuals when the overall Toffees situation has been so worrying but Keane had to do better against Watkins.
James Garner was nowhere near closing down Lucas Digne’s cross and Jordan Pickford might have done better with his attempted save, while the striker had the momentum while the ball was in the air.
But the centre-back somehow managed to jump and duck at the same time, giving Watkins an easy finish when Keane looked to be well positioned.
Sean Dyche is said to be ready to drop his star keeper thanks to a run of poor form [Alan Nixon, 15 September] but questions have to be asked why Keane hasn’t missed a minute this term when around £17million was spent on Jake O’Brien this summer [Guardian, 29 July].
Maybe Villa would have come back to win either way but at six foot six [Sky Sports, 31 July] the Irish internationl likely would have been more formidable in the air against Watkins.
It’s a measure of how the Toffees are an easy target for criticism that Keane found himself in the firing line during a debut about Spurs defending against Arsenal but four defeats from four will do that.
Dyche tends to go on runs of bad form then reel off a series of strong results so he could badly do with some of the latter right now.
His job is now being debated, and whether the current administration have the ability or the appetite to make a change or not [The Telegraph, 13 September], the manager needs to change something.
Trying some of the new signings instead of those who have been found wanting in the past might be a good place to start, otherwise all the effort of the transfer window will have been a waste.
In other Everton news, Dyche wants to sign a key man from a Premier League rival and he could be available to land.
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