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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Roy Keane slams Wales in brutal review of England defeat: 'Like a lower league team'

Roy Keane was not impressed with Wales’ first half performance at Wembley - (X/@itvfootball)

Roy Keane compared Wales to a lower league team after conceding three first half goals against England.

Wales arrived at Wembley Stadium hoping to bounce back from a 1-0 loss to Canada during the September international break, and end a run of seven straight defeats against the Three Lions.

Furthermore, with a big game at home to Belgium on the horizon, Craig Bellamy’s side were aiming to build some confidence ahead of the World Cup qualifier.

However, Wales found themselves 3-0 down after 20 minutes against a rampant England side as Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka took advantage of some poor defending.

Speaking during the interval, Keane did not hold back on with his verdict on the first half showing from Wales.

On ITV’s coverage, the former Republic of Ireland midfielder said: “They are just not competing, Wales. They obviously had a poor start and never recovered from it.

“England have dominated in every aspect, quality-wise and physicality-wise.

“It’s like they are shell-shocked, I don’t want to be too harsh on them but it’s like they are a lower league team that have gone to play a Premier League team in the FA Cup, they just can’t compete.”

To their credit, Wales did improve after the break and went close to scoring through Liam Cullen and substitutes Mark Harris and Chris Mepham.

The Dragons now turn their attention to Monday’s World Cup qualifier in Cardiff, where a win will keep them right in the hunt to seal a place at next summer’s tournament.

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