Roy Keane has accused Kyle Walker of being ‘lazy’ in the build-up to Senegal’s goal against England in their international friendly.
England were playing their final game before September at Nottingham Forest’s City ground on Tuesday night, taking on their African counterparts in Thomas Tuchel’s fourth game in charge.
The Three Lions had won their first three matches under the former Chelsea boss without conceding a goal, despite being underwhelming in their last outing against Andorra on Friday night.
Tuchel had torn into his players in the aftermath of the game, questioning their attitude, and was hoping for a better response on Tuesday evening in some of his players’ final matches of the season.
It had initially come. Despite being against the run of play, England took the lead through Harry Kane after seven minutes, when their captain poked home. Senegal, though, equalised before the break, with Ismaila Sarr capitalised on an error from Walker to score.
And, at half-time, former Manchester United captain Keane questioned the Manchester City defender’s desire in his analysis of the goal.
‘If this is a young right back, you’re thinking it’s inexperience,’ Keane said on ITV’s coverage of the game. ‘But I think he’s being lazy.
‘He almost can’t be bothered getting back. For a vastly experienced player, you can’t be making mistakes like that.’
Ian Wright added: ‘If Kyle gets in there, he probably clears that.’
England had initially appeared to be in control of the situation, which saw a through ball played over the top towards Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson.
The striker’s Blues team-mate Trevoh Chalobah shadowed his run, but the ball was played into the box over his head.
Walker, tasked with marking Sarr, was caught on his heels, and the Crystal Palace man crept in to poke home with Walker rolling on the floor.
Lee Dixon added on commentry: ‘As a defender, you have to think the worst is going to happen. The ball is going to be kept in, and you have got to be ahead of the game. Just look at Walker.
‘Sarr is goal side He has to expect the ball to come in. He just goes to sleep. Poor from Walker.’
The 35-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan with AC Milan in Italy after making his desire to leave Manchester City known after he fathered two children with Lauryn Goodman while being married to Annie Kilner.
