Keane tips United dominance

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has tipped his old team to retain the English Premier League title with ease in 2011/12.

United won a record 19th English league championship by nine points from Chelsea last season.

They have recruited actively in the off-season, bringing in goalkeeper David de Gea, defender Phil Jones and winger Ashley Young.

And despite the retirement of some experienced players, Keane expects the title to stay at Old Trafford come May 2012.

“Even Sir Alex Ferguson said the other day the league’s getting tougher. But I don’t think so,” Keane said in The Sun, referring to his old boss.

“If United are really at it, which they will be, they’ll win it comfortably.”

“Even last year when United were slipping up, no team was strong enough to take advantage of it.”

“United have bought well. People talk about losing experience and I appreciate that (Edwin) Van der Sar, (Gary) Neville and(Paul) Scholes have all retired.”

“But they have good young players coming through – and Wayne Rooney can play better than he did last season.”

“When you look at the players they have left behind, they have (Nemanja) Vidic, Rio (Ferdinand), Darren Fletcher – these are all international players.”

“And Giggsy (Ryan Giggs) is still there, too. United don’t let players go unless they know they have players coming through to replace them.”

Keane doubts the ability of Chelsea to challenge under new manager Andre Villas-Boas, questioning the unity of the squad at Stamford Bridge.

“Everybody is on about this new young manager (Villas-Boas) – but I don’t think the manager will be the problem,” Keane said.

“It’s always the players down there, they all seem to self-destruct.”

“They’re big pals one minute and the next you hear they’re all bickering with each other and players aren’t happy if someone else scores.”

And the man who lifted seven Premier League titles with United discounted Liverpool as a threat, despite how active manager Kenny Dalglish has been in the transfer market.

“Liverpool have bought good attacking players but I think it’s actually defenders that they need,” Keane said.

“I think we’ve seen that a little bit in pre-season. Don’t get carried away, Liverpool are in no position to win the league, nowhere near.”

“Kenny Dalglish is the right man for the job. They’ve spent big money and bought good players … But to improve your team and to win the Premiership are two different things.”