'Weak physically and mentally' - Roy Keane blasts Man Utd's performance in Newcastle thrashing as he fails to see signs of progress under Ruben Amorim and urges Red Devils to 'show some fight'

The former United captain was thoroughly unimpressed with the way Ruben Amorim's side performed against Newcastle but he was also not surprised with what he saw as he never believed the general consensus that the Red Devils had been improving in recent weeks.

"Manchester United are physically and mentally a weak team," Keane told Sky Sports. "It wasn't good enough in the second half from Manchester United. That's 14 league defeats now and we keep making excuses for the team. There aren't enough players that can run in the team and that want to run. They are not enough of a goal threat either. There was talk before the game on there being good signs for Manchester United and that they are getting better, but I can't see it. I just saw another poor performance, especially in the second half. It's not good enough and I worry for this group of players. they don't look like a strong group mentally.”

Amorim made five changes to his line-up from last week's derby against Manchester City and it was clear that he had next week's Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon on his mind. But Keane had no sympathy with the coach or his players for focusing on the European game over the fixture with Newcastle. He added: "Do they pick and choose their games? Your mindset playing for Man United should be every game is a big game and you go and give your all. You don't want to be a cup team, you want to turn up week in, week out and compete for the biggest prizes. All we heard before the game was about next Thursday. What about today's match? Does that mean anything to anybody?"

United slipped down to 14th in the Premier League table, putting them on track for their worst league finish since being relegated in 1974. They have now lost 14 games all season, as many as in the entirety of the last campaign, with six more games to play.

Keane, rather like Paul Scholes, believes that Amorim is not happy with the level of quality in his squad and he took aim at the club's recruitment in the last few years. He added: "I bet he can't believe how bad the United team is. This group of players, the mistakes they're making, they can't seem to get around the pitch. They've got an experienced right-back letting players run past him. I think he's gone in there and I think he's been shocked at how bad this group of players are. You don't know a group of players until you start working with them. Over the last couple of years a lot of the recruitment was bringing players in who haven't played in the Premier League."