In a heated interview, former Republic of Irish captain and Cork native Roy Keane has defended England boss Fabian Capello’s performance in the World Cup and said that the English players “get away with murder” by deflecting blame onto their scapegoat manager.
 
The Corkman’s comments were made during an interview with SkySports during which the Ipswich Town boss criticised the English media for criticizing the manager when it was really the players who were deserving of blame.
 
"To keep criticising and questioning the manager is crazy. He didn't do anything wrong in the qualifying campaign and now, all of a sudden, he's not the top man any more," said the Irishman.
 
"The goals they conceded against Germany, particularly the first couple, had nothing to do with Capello's choice of system or tactics. It wasn't a case of getting overrun in midfield. It was just very bad defending."
 
"They should just leave him to get on with the job. He is absolutely brilliant and England are lucky to have him."
 
Keane re-iterated his long held belief that good players don’t necessarily make good teams, and also criticized the English media for baselessly turning blame onto the manager, who he said was very capable.
 
Keane also questioned just how great England’s players really are after the defeat: "I wasn't really surprised by the Germany defeat. I keep saying it – good players don't necessarily make good teams. People keep talking about world class players but who are they?"
 
Keane said that only Wayne Rooney stood out in his mind as a world-class player, and went on to question a series of other English stars’ performance during the unsuccessful campaign.