Roy Keane thinks that Harry Maguire’s dramatic goal celebration against Albania is embarrassing
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has been roundly criticized for celebrating his first-half goal against Albania in Friday’s World Cup qualifying match. The United skipper opened the scoring for England, heading in a Reece James cross in the ninth minute, en route to a convincing 5-0 victory for the Three Lions.
However, pundits on ITV’s coverage of the match were not impressed by the 28-year-old’s mode of celebration; cupping his hands behind his ears and wheeling away towards the corner flag. Led by former United defender Roy Keane, the pundits agreed that Maguire’s celebration was unnecessary and an embarrassment.
Keane referred to Maguire’s recent horrendous performances for Manchester United, alluding to the defender’s celebration as an attempt at ‘shutting his critics up.’ The Irishman however feels this is embarrassing.
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“When a player scores put his hands to his ears he’s like shutting the critics up, but I think that’s embarrassing, he’s been a disgrace to Man United. He thinks he scores there he’s shut his critics up, embarrassing,” Keane said.
Former Tottenham striker, Jermaine Defoe thinks that the United man might have just opened up himself to more criticism if he turns in a bad performance later.
Defoe said: “You don’t need to do it, he’s scored the goal, it’s a good goal. What it does do is put a sour taste in people’s mouths, they don’t like that. What it does is give them an opportunity to wait for that bad performance to have a go at him.”
England were 5-0 victors over Albania on Friday night with first-half goals from Maguire, Jordan Henderson, and a Harry Kane hat-trick putting the game to bed before the interval. The Three Lions sit top of Group I with 23 points from nine games, needing just a point from their final World Cup qualifying match against San Marino to secure their place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
