Man Utd stars ‘joked with Liverpool staff’ as Keane explodes in anger

Roy Keane has expressed his fury after he witnessed some of Manchester United’s players ‘laughing and joking’ with Liverpool’s staff during the half-time interval, just moments before they were blown away by Jurgen Klopp’s ruthless Reds. Erik ten Hag’s side were caught napping after the break as Liverpool capitalised on their hesitance before running riot – scoring seven goals courtesy of Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah (all scored twice) and Roberto Firmino.

It was an even encounter up until the break despite Gakpo’s mesmerising opener to put Liverpool ahead just before the half-time whistle.

And Keane believes United’s players were never truly ready for the second half as he spotted some of them engaging in banter with Anfield staff and Liverpool’s goalkeeper coach.

“If I was looking at United the thing I would be wary of is they won the cup last week, a lot of celebrations – of course, never begrudge a team,” he began, in a long-winded rant.

“They turn up against West Ham, I’m at that game, a lot of circuses back at Man United. I’m always wary of that when I was a player here, keeping an eye on people – don’t get carried away because you know what this game can do to you.

READ MORE: Graeme Souness confronts Man Utd icon Gary Neville over ‘daft’ off-air Liverpool remark

Keane was notorious for his hard-nosed approach to his football during his playing days and he has never packed any punches during his punditry work for Sky Sports and ITV.

That’s why it’s no surprise that he was quick to roast United’s players after the demolition job, although he was seemingly the only one to spot some of the ‘shameful’ antics from the United players at half-time.

Following the full-time whistle, Raphael Varane barked orders at his team-mates for failing to applaud the travelling Manchester United supporters.

The majority of the team attempted to head straight down the tunnel in a bid to escape their nightmare afternoon at Anfield but Varane was having none of it.

He was pictured screaming at his colleagues and they truly obliged, heading across the turf to clap the embarrassed United supporters, who could not believe what they had just witnessed.

United boss Ten Hag conceded that his players “lost their heads” during the spectacle as they were simply blown apart by the unstoppable Reds.

“Second half it was not us. It was not our standards. We didn’t play as a team,” said Ten Hag.

The Dutchman was then asked if he was angry with his side’s second-half display, to which he replied: “Yes, definitely, and surprised because I have seen the last weeks and months a team that is resilient and determined with a winning attitude.

“We didn’t stick to the plan, we lose our heads. We didn’t do our jobs. We didn’t track back and it was really unprofessional.”