Keane Tears Into Ugarte and Casemiro as Manchester United Crumble Against Leeds

Manchester United's midfield partnership crumbled when it mattered most on Monday evening, according to Roy Keane, as the Red Devils slipped to a 2-1 loss against Leeds at Old Trafford.

Noah Okafor opened the scoring inside five minutes for the visitors, before the Swiss forward doubled his tally just 24 minutes later to hand Leeds a commanding advantage. United's evening took a further turn for the worse when Lisandro Martinez received his marching orders following a VAR review for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin's hair.

A Casemiro header on 69 minutes sparked hopes of a dramatic comeback and set up a tense finale, but Leeds held firm to secure a memorable victory.

The defeat prompted a withering assessment from United legend Keane, who reserved particular criticism for the midfield duo. Having featured in just one winning performance across his ten league starts this season, Ugarte bore the brunt of Keane's scrutiny alongside Casemiro.

"The midfield was non-existent – the two of them, particularly in the first half," Keane told Sky Sports. "No energy, no quality. That's the fundamental problem here."

The former United captain went on to dissect the broader issues with his old club's display. "The way they started the match made it almost impossible to recover," he explained. "You need to get after your opponent from the first whistle. United weren't sprinting, they were jogging. By the time they woke up, Leeds had already put the game to bed. What you saw in the second half was too little, too late. Manchester City demonstrated yesterday how you actually win these games – you run."

Keane did acknowledge Leeds' quality, describing their start as sharp and their overall performance as "fantastic," but the lion's share of his commentary focused on United's failings during a period when the club had enjoyed recent momentum and received widespread praise for their manager.

Michael Carrick, the United boss, offered his own perspective on the setback. He pointed to the opening moments as pivotal, noting that Leny Yoro had suffered a forearm blow to the back of his head before the Okafor goal – an incident officials declined to review. "We didn't quite have the rhythm and we didn't click," Carrick reflected. "There were moments, but large parts of the first half simply weren't there."

The United manager did praise his players' resilience in the second period, particularly after Martinez's red card, which Carrick described as "one of the worst decisions I've seen." He also highlighted that this marked the second consecutive match where contentious VAR decisions had gone against his side.