Martin Keown has explained the reason he doesn't think Manchester United's Carabao Cup win on Sunday is actually that impressive.
United finally ended six years without a trophy, beating Newcastle United at Wembley thanks to goals from Casemiro and Marcus Rashford, after the latter was adjudged not to be an own goal from Sven Botman.
It was a huge relief to those fans who have seen their club go through a tough spell, after years of success, and a number of failed managers.
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Erik ten Hag was given all the plaudits, as he danced with Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro, with his incredible planning, down to what the players wore pre match, also praised.
United are still in with an outside chance of winning four trophies this season, which would land one punter a huge payout on a bet, but Arsenal legend Keown isn't convinced by them.
Speaking to Jim White on talkSPORT, the former Gunners' defender explained that the teams Ten Hag's side beat on the way to Wembley meant it wasn't an impressive victory.
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"A lot of people raving about Manchester United, and United fans are going to say, ‘oh that’s typical of Martin Keown, coming on here,'" he started.
"But let’s look at the League Cup, look who they’ve beaten, they’ve beaten Burnley at home, Charlton at home, a Nottingham Forest, who are kind of like bottom, way bottom of the table, not the best of teams, and now they’re champions, they’ve won the Carling Cup. [Close Martin but not quite.]
"So Jim, people are now talking about a quadruples, all sorts of things, but let’s have a look at this in six weeks time.
"If they keep winning like they are, no doubt that they can push for the title, and we can see they’ve got a difficult game against West Ham [in the FA Cup on Wednesday]."
White argued that no one saw the win coming, especially after losing their first two games of the season, and being bottom of the table, Keown answered, "No I think those games are winnable, aren’t they?
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"Against Burnley, against Charlton, against Forest, and then everything went exceptionally well for them yesterday."
Once again the host pointed out that under the new manager, the Old Trafford side now felt that every game was 'winnable,' and that's why the games felt that way.
At this point the man who once famously jumped all over Ruud van Nistelrooy, when the then United star missed a penalty, did concede that United were a good side.
"Yes of course, they’ve turned things around," Keown replied.
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" They’ve got a manager who knows what he wants, he’s sending good messages to the players, the cultures changing, Rashford is irresistible right now, the form he’s in.
"They’re a team and they looked really together, the team spirit, there’s leaders forming.
"You can see the character in the side, but it’s only one trophy, it’s only the League Cup."
You'd have a hard time imagining the 56-year-old saying 'only the League Cup' if it was Mikel Arteta's side lifting the trophy with three handles on it.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy/talkSPORTTopics: Football, Manchester United, Martin Keown, Newcastle United, Premier League, Arsenal, Carabao Cup
