Keane verdict on Boro loss pulled from MUTV

Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane warms up before a training session, June 2005. A Roy Keane interview on Manchester United's sorry 4-1 loss to Middlesbrough has been pulled from the club's MUTV programme schedule.

A Roy Keane interview on Manchester United's sorry 4-1 loss to Middlesbrough has been pulled from the club's MUTV programme schedule.

The United captain carried out his brief to analyse the Riverside debacle in the regular Plays the Pundit' programme at the team's Carrington training ground on Monday.

The veteran Irishman, sidelined with a broken foot, is believed to have offered his usual blunt assessment of United's tepid performance, widely acknowledged by supporters to be the worst since the 3-1 defeat at Manchester City four years ago after which Sir Alex Ferguson famously threatened to throw open the dressing room doors so fans could tell his players what they thought.

But it appears Keane's condemnation was too vicious for some senior members of the United hierarchy, who ordered the half-hour programme to be scrapped.

Instead, MUTV executives were forced to show academy action, offering no explanation for the precise reason behind the swift programme change.

United officials offered no comment either, while sources close to Keane claimed no knowledge of the editorial decision.

It was left to Dutch duo Ruud van Nistelrooy and Edwin van der Sar to offer their verdict on the miserable performance on Teesside, which came just four days before the Champions League encounter with Lille and eight days ahead of the crucial Old Trafford showdown with runaway leaders Chelsea.

"There is a very negative feeling after Saturday," van Nistelrooy told MUTV.

"You could talk for hours about what went wrong. It was a bad performance and we didn't do ourselves or the fans justice.

"We have to try and look at things in a realistic way. In my first season here, we lost the derby at home. That was also a low point.

"But it was an unusual occurrence. We have not conceded four in how many years.

"What we have to do is go out on Wednesday and prove ourselves again."

Van der Sar accepted responsibility for Gaizka Mendieta's second minute opener, which the 35-year-old admitted gave Boro the launch pad to inflict what would have been United's biggest Premiership defeat since 1999 had it not been for Cristiano Ronaldo's late consolation.

"The ball swirled a little but I should have saved it," said van der Sar.

"That is not a good situation to start with and it all started to go wrong from that goal."