Roy Keane has doubled down on his John McGinn stance, and this time Gary Neville was in the firing line.
The former Manchester United skipper could not resist bringing up Scotland’s World Cup hero again as he took aim at modern punditry during England’s 4-2 win over Croatia.
Neville had been discussing Nico O’Reilly’s display, saying: “I’m going 6.5 for Nico and I love him to bits, you know, what a player.”
But Keane cut in: “You know when you criticise a player, please let’s stop with this, the two of you. When we criticise a player, stop saying ‘but I love him’.
“We’re just analysing a game of football. We don’t have to say ‘we love him’.”
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Neville hit back, insisting pundits soften criticism to avoid it being seen as an attack. But Keane was not having it and pointed to McGinn as the perfect example. “They should all learn from John McGinn,” he said.
“He takes it properly. The yin and the yang. You don’t have to say you love somebody. Stop saying ‘I love him’.”
It comes after Keane’s recent “pub player” jibe at McGinn, where he claimed: “When he’s off it, he’s shocking… he does look like a pub player.”
But the Scotland star brushed it off, laughing: “I didn’t think what he said was that bad… I actually think the amount of games that I’m looking at a pub player is becoming less and less.”
McGinn then had the last word on the pitch, firing Scotland to a 1-0 World Cup win over Haiti.
