Keane refutes bust-up rumours

Mar 17 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

ROY Keane has angrily rejected suggestions he left two of his most expensive signings out of the side to face Chelsea for ill-discipline, arguing he had simply taken advantage of a near full-strength squad.

Keane talked before the game about finally seeing his first-choice team start a match. But Kieran Richardson and Michael Chopra – signed this summer for around £11.5m – were notable by their absence even from the bench as Sunderland performed impressively in a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.

With Daryl Murphy, Anthony Stokes and Danny Higginbotham also not in the 16 there were rumours the team had been selected on disciplinary grounds but their manager was adamant it was down to nothing more than others out-performing them in training.

“It’s absolute nonsense,” Keane said of the rumours. “If they had been disciplined I’d be the first to tell you, like when I put Liam Miller on the transfer list, like I left three players behind last season.

“They were just unfortunate to be left out, but trust me they’ve got every chance of being involved next weekend.” Keane has always set great store by players treating training as they would matches, but injuries have limited his options this term.

“It’s the first time this season I’ve had a squad of 20 to pick from,” he said. “That’s why I’ve had to leave three or four out and hopefully they’ll give me a headache next weekend. It’s a nice problem to have, because sometimes we’ve gone into games with 13 or 14 players to pick from.

“This week in training there’s been a good edge because people have known there’s a battle for places. Maybe the last months people have thought they’re always going to be in the team. I try and pick my team on what I see week in and week out on the training pitch, not what I hear from people, or agents or fathers or girlfriends. The squad of 16 were the players who didn’t give me a choice. They had to be involved. The other four or five will be back training and then maybe they’ll be involved next week and others will slack off, or not have that intensity I’m looking for.

“Top, top players, the people who become big world stars, work their socks off. The French lads at (Manchester) United told me Zinedine Zidane was the best trainer every day. He trained harder than anybody throughout his career. You can’t just have an easy Monday, easy Tuesday, day off Wednesday, easy Thursday and Friday’s the day before the game so it’s just a bit of banter.” Keane had said on Friday Stokes would not play having only just returned to training after a virus but the absence of Richardson in particular was surprising. The Irishman stopped short of criticising those overlooked, however.

“I wouldn’t say they were slacking, they were just the ones to miss out,” he said. “The beauty is I can only pick 16. The team has been picking itself, it’s the first time and a great time for me to have that headache. Andy Reid was left out against Everton and he was absolutely brilliant on the training pitch last week. Andy got himself in the team because of that.”

Despite losing to John Terry’s 10th-minute header, Keane was delighted with his team’s performance, though he reminded them they must maintain that standard at the Academy of Light this week. “The way the players performed against Chelsea, they’ll have to do that again in training and there’s a good chance it’ll be the same 16 (against Aston Villa on Saturday). If the other players who are disappointed have anything about them, they’ll show me what they’re about. It’s very straightforward.”