Roy Keane has lavished praise on Alejandro Garnacho and feels the Manchester United winger 'is going to create problems' after his goal against Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday.
The 20-year-old started the fixture on the bench, with Marcus Rashford preferred on the left wing instead.
With United looking to win the showdown, however, Erik ten Hag decided to bring Garnacho on with roughly half an hour of the match remaining.
The Argentina international immediately made the most of his opportunity, scoring in the 82nd minute to spark wild celebrations around the red half of Wembley.
Roy Keane has delivered his verdict on Man Utd after their Community Shield defeat to Man City
ITV
City would later win the match 7-6 on penalties, with Bernardo Silva's header at the death forcing the dreaded shootout.
Keane is notoriously hard to please but, speaking to ITV, lavished praise on Garnacho.
“If you are a defender, you don’t want to mark him,” he said. “Because you know he is going to create problems.”
He also said: “[Garnacho does] what all the really good players do. The really, really good players impact the game. And every time he is on the pitch, he impacts it.
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“When he comes onto the pitch, I kind of expect that of him now. You know he was going to create something.”
United had gone into the match against City with many fans unsure what to expect.
They performed well during May's FA Cup final win over the same opponents and also impressed in the Community Shield as well.
Keane fears for United, however, saying their constant injury issues could scupper their chances of a successful campaign.
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"Manchester United’s squad is pretty strong but the problem is they pick up a lot of injuries," Keane said.
"If they keep most players fit then I’d be pretty upbeat for the start of the season. If you were Erik ten Hag, you’d be upbeat, on the evidence of that.
"Just not strong enough in the end, and they’ll need a bit more steel to avoid conceding late goals like the one they did today."
United boss Ten Hag, meanwhile, has urged his players to use the pain from the defeat as a motivator for the rest of the season.
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Roy Keane has hailed Alejandro Garnacho after his goal for Man Utd against Man City on Saturday
PA
"You have to feel the pain," he said.
"You have to get fuel from it to make it a successful season but also take the positives that we can bring, against a very good ball-playing team, press on the ball and we can, against a very good pressing team, outplay them.
"I was very pleased. After half an hour we were very competitive and we came in the fight and we were passionate in the fight and that is what we demand from our players.
"It was very good and we can take this into next week [against Fulham]."
Roy Keane believes Erik ten Hag will be happy with Man Utd's performance in their Community Shield defeat to Man City
REUTERS
As for Pep Guardiola, the City boss was pleased with the result.
“I enjoyed starting the season against our rival in Manchester - and to win a title is good. We are really pleased. We could have lost today," he said.
"We were close to losing with minutes left. I saw many things today that I liked. The first 35 minutes were beyond excellent. "Many players are still on holidays so we are far from our best. But it is better starting by winning a trophy.”
