Jamie Carragher calls Roy Keane the pundit ‘master’ after one-line takedown of Kyle Walker

The pair were club rivals in their playing days but have shared a studio for ITV and Sky

Jamie Carragher on Talksport (Talksport)

Jamie Carragher has praised fellow Sky Sports analyst Roy Keane as a “master” in delivering his withering take-downs of player and team performances.

The pair form a regular part of Sky’s live coverage, in the stadium and studio on matchday, with Keane noted for his lack of patience with those he perceives to be offering anything less than the requisite effort.

A recent scathing description of Manchester City’s Kyle Walker was typical in its delivery, with Keane calling the right-back an “idiot” for giving away a penalty against Liverpool with a poor challenge on Sadio Mane, while he also recently poured scorn on the entire Manchester United team, saying he wouldn’t trust the players with his career as a manager due to their lack of commitment to the cause.

That blunt-but-accurate approach makes him the “master” of brutal deliveries, according to Carragher, who says he was expecting a different person when he first met the former United captain.

“You hear stories about characters at different clubs and you don’t know what they’re like until they come to your club. Roy Keane was one when everyone said he was a hot-head, then he was fine," he told TalkSport.

“I think he’s one of the best pundits out there, he is the master at the one-liner, getting straight to the point.

“He’s the master with one lines. Kills someone, finishes someone off. That’s Roy Keane’s style and he’s the best at it."

Carragher says that the punditry team has a lot of different personality types and characters and while Keane is rather atypical in his own style, he remains true-to-form from his playing days in doing what is right for the group as a whole.

“When you work with people like that it keeps you on your toes. You have a team and everyone brings something different. That’s his style as a pundit and he’s the best at it, I love working with him.

“I would love to have a beer with him but he doesn’t drink. He came on the Christmas night [out] with Sky, he didn’t drink but he was still there, he didn’t shun what was going on. He’s a team man and he got involved.”