Roy Keane explains how Manchester United 'found a way to lose' vs Middlesbrough

05.02.2022 - 03:19 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Former club captain Roy Keane put Manchester United's shock FA Cup fourth-round exit at the hands of Middlesbrough at Old Trafford on Friday evening down to wasteful finishing.

United bowed out of the competition at the fourth-round stage for the first time since 2012 after losing 8-7 on penalties at the end of a long-winded penalty shootout, which saw Anthony Elanga miss the one and only spot-kick.

The contest had ended 1-1 at the end of 120 minutes, following Matt Crooks' controversial equaliser for Middlesbrough to cancel out Jadon Sancho's first-half effort, meaning spot-kicks determined the outcome of the tie.

Middlesbrough successfully dispatched all eight of their penalties, but United failed to convert their eighth and final spot-kick, with Elanga blazing his effort over the bar.

United, though, had more than enough chances to win the contest in normal time and were guilty of squandering a lorry load of opportunities, especially in the first half, including a penalty miss from Cristiano Ronaldo.

With that in mind, Keane has pointed the finger at United's lack of a cutting edge in front of goal for bringing an end to their hopes of winning the FA Cup for the first time since 2016.

"One of his [Ralf Rangnick's] concerns will be over the last few home games they've only scored one goal and obviously just one tonight," Keane told ITV Sport.

"I was talking about Man United finding a way to win the game, but what they did was they found a way to lose the game and that's not a good sign."

Having performed so well in recent weeks and become a regular starter in the Premier League, Elanga started on the bench and was not called upon by Rangnick until the 82nd minute, replacing Marcus Rashford.

Had United taken the