Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown(Image: Getty Images)

What Arsenal legend secretly loved about Ruud van Nistelrooy's Man United moment

31 Oct 2024, 17:30 by Josh Holland · football.london

Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has poked fun at Ruud van Nistelrooy after the former Manchester United striker won his first game in interim charge of the club.

Following Erik ten Hag's sacking on Monday, the former United striker has been placed in temporary charge for the next four games before Ruben Amorim is appointed. On Wednesday, United were back to their best as they dispatched Leicester. Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes both scored braces with Alejandro Garnacho also netting.

Van Nistelrooy will take charge of the two Premier League fixtures with Chelsea and Leicester, as well as the Europa League clash with PAOK. Keown has an illustrious history with the Dutchman after their famous encounter in 2003.

Keown celebrated in front of Van Nistelrooy after the former striker smashed his penalty against the crossbar in injury time. However, after the game Keown congratulated his former rival by insisting he would send him a gift.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said: "Nice to see Ruud jumping around for a change [winking emoji]. Think I'll send him my book to congratulate him. It's released tomorrow."

It comes after Keown previously questioned Van Nistelrooy's commitment to Ten Hag. Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “I’m looking at Van Nistelrooy. Is he giving everything to this manager? This manager looks very lonely on the sideline. Is Van Nistelrooy waiting to take over? Because it looks as if there’s going to be change taking place there.

Martin Keown and Ruud van Nistelrooy famously clashed in 2003(Image: PAUL BARKER)

“Is everyone adding to the group? I’m not seeing that from Van Nistelrooy. Ten Hag is just sitting there, nothing going on, no conversation.

“Pep [Guardiola] goes back and speaks to the gurus next to him. Is everybody looking in the mirror at themselves giving their best? It doesn’t look like the players are committed, it doesn’t look like the staff are particularly committed. It’s a lone man in the dugout.

“You hope that that group of players is there in the dressing room right now and maybe tries to police it because it’s not unusual. It wouldn’t have been [unusual] in our dressing room to have the occasional meeting where we had to try to bash out where things were wrong, where things weren’t going well.”

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