‘Partying too much’ – Roy Keane peddles ‘bad champions’ narrative yet again in swipe at Liverpool
Roy Keane has reached into his cupboard of ‘Here’s one I made before’ on Sunday evening by yet again dismissing Liverpool as ‘bad champions’.
A line he first peddled during the Reds’ abortive title defence in 2020/21, he whipped it out again after the defeat to Manchester City last month and was seemingly just waiting for the next opportunity to indulge in it once more.
That came after the 1-1 draw at home to struggling Tottenham Hotspur yesterday as Arne Slot’s side spurned yet another opportunity to capitalise on dropped points for their rivals in the race for Champions League football.
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Keane calls Liverpool ‘bad champions’ who were ‘partying too much’
Speaking on punditry duty for Sky Sports, Keane bemoaned: “I’ve said it before and I’ve said it a number of times – Liverpool are bad champions, and they were bad champions a few years ago. They’re now 21 points behind Arsenal – what a drop-off that is. That is so bad.
“When you win league titles, sometimes the challenge is the following year. Can you back it up? You can have a drop-off; City have had a drop-off recently by their high standards but they’re still competing in second or third. They’re not 20-30 points behind the team who’s winning the league. That’s a drop-off.”
Keane felt that the root of the Reds’ current problems stemmed back to the tail end of last season, when he criticised Slot and the players for going on holidays after the Premier League title had been won.
The pundit said: “I was critical of Liverpool towards the end of last season. I thought they were almost partying too much. They were partying with four weeks to go and there were celebrations after every home game and you’re going, ‘You’re Liverpool Football Club. Are you not expected to win league titles?’
“Enjoy it, don’t get me wrong, but let’s back it up next year. That’s why you’re playing for the big clubs.”
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The same old, same old from Keane
There’s no disputing that Liverpool have suffered an abysmal defence of their top-flight crown, which realistically had ended by November, but Keane’s ‘bad champions’ narrative is just getting tiresome now.
The Reds are fifth with a 21-point gap to Arsenal. That’s poor, but it’s far from the worst title defence put up by a defending champion in the Premier League era.
Where was the same energy from Keane when Chelsea finished 10th in 2015/16, 31 points behind Leicester? Or when the Foxes plummeted to 12th the following year and were 49 points off the pace set by Chelsea? Or even his beloved Manchester United in 2013/14 when they were seventh and 22 points adrift of Manchester City.
Also, we’re not having this accusation that Liverpool were wrong to switch off towards the end of last season after winning the title. The players had earned the right to enjoy the final month of the campaign, a rarity in an ever-intensifying football calendar which leaves minimal room to breathe.
The Sky Sports pundit could point to multiple facets of the Reds’ play which are legitimate grounds for criticism – poor finishing, lack of penetration in attack, slow build-up play, weak set-piece defending, the lack of a killer mindset when leading, late lapses in concentration – but instead he goes for the clichéd cheap shot that we’ve heard before.
Liverpool have two months of the season left to prove Keane wrong and show that they can salvage something from a hitherto dreadful campaign.
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