“I can't see Arsenal slipping up like they did last year. The gap
is five points now and we cannot afford to let it get any
wider. It worries me that we have lost five times and
Arsenal haven't lost at all because if you want to win
the championship, the fewer games you lose the better. We
are putting ourselves under a lot of pressure, especially
against the other big teams we have still to face.

“It basically means that when we play Arsenal, Liverpool and
Chelsea we will have to win. We will have to attack them
and that leaves us vulnerable at the back. We did it last
year and hopefully it will be the same again but I would
prefer not to be in that position.”

Speaking of the defeat to Middlesbrough, Keane said:

“You could spend a long time looking at what went wrong in that
game but ultimately, it wasn't good enough. The players
did brilliantly just to get back into it but you can't
continually give yourself mountains to climb. Every so
often, you will be able to come back but generally, good
teams will punish you.”

Keane didn’t play in that match, but understands when Fergie
decides to rest him:

“Any player finds it frustrating missing games, especially when
you are fit and feel quite good. I want to play in every
game but there are other players in the same position and
I have to accept the manager's decision. He will always
look at what is best for Manchester United and I am no
different to anyone else.”

The Times looks at Keane’s comments as the beginning of the now
annual mind games:

‘It was almost exactly this time last year, with Manchester
United five points off the lead at the top of the
Barclaycard Premiership table, that Sir Alex Ferguson
called a team meeting at which he instructed his players
to “go out and get at Arsenal”, not only by winning
matches but also by publicly questioning their resolve.
It worked well, with Arsenal losing their nerve and the
title over the weeks that followed, but this time
United’s mind games have a more deferential tone, to
judge from Roy Keane’s remarks.

‘Keane is renowned for speaking his mind, but he could also have
been attempting to transfer the pressure of the title
race from United to Arsenal, whose unbeaten record will
be severely tested by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tomorrow
in a 12.30pm kick-off. United, whose match at home to
Leeds United starts at the same time, may view this
weekend as an opportunity to reduce the gap at the top,
but an improvement in form, particularly in defence, is
crucial.’

Keano also hinted that he may return to International football:

"A lot's changed in a year. I've been very fortunate in that
time, especially with my hip injury, that's really
settled down a bit. A lot of that is down to me getting
more rest. I still miss international football, of course
I do. But I think it's important to move on. I did an
interview with the United magazine a few months ago and I
said I missed playing for Ireland and everyone got
carried away with it.

"People talk about me coming back but I think it's important to
move on. But I don't think it's as simple as me saying:
'Roy Keane says he would like to go back to international
football'. That would be down to [the Ireland manager]
Brian Kerr. I said when I retired, after speaking to the
surgeon, that I just felt there was part of me that had
unfinished business and I suppose that will always be
with me.

"It would probably be unfair on Brian Kerr and the team because
they seem to be going along pretty nicely. If Roy Keane
was to come back it might upset things a little bit."

Keane repeated his criticism of the attitude of some of the young
players at United:

“You can't slacken off in training then turn up at Old Trafford
and produce a performance as though you were flicking a
light switch. You have to prepare all week. One or two of
the younger players have slackened off in training.
People on the outside obviously don't see it and maybe
the coaches don't notice it either but I am on the
training pitch with them and I don't like what I see.

“I have mentioned it to the players concerned but sometimes it
goes in one ear and out of the other, so you have to do
it in a more public way. They think they have done it all
when they have done nothing. What happened last season is
history. There are people connected to this club who have
achieved success for 10 years, there are hundreds of
players all over who have had one good season and think
they have arrived.

"[They should] focus on what they're doing in training, in the
gym, what they're eating, who they're hanging around
with, whether they're resting enough. They lose five per
cent but that's enough because it's such a fine line
between winning trophies and not.

“All you are doing is trying to do is help these players to help
themselves. No-one ever pulled me to one side and told me
to buck up my ideas. I have had great examples down the
years with the likes of Stuart Pearce and Des Walker at
Forest and Denis Irwin, Bryan Robson and Ryan Giggs at
United.

“Unfortunately, after 10 or 15 matches, young players these days
get themselves a decent contract and an agent and can
slacken off. It only takes five percent. There is a fine
line between winning trophies and not and that can be the
difference. Manchester United players should be focused
on the club 24 hours a day, nothing should get in the way
of that.”