Keane has been 'waiting' to tear into Maguire as childish England celebration blasted

Keane let rip at the centre-back when he appeared to send a message to his critics after scoring the opening goal of the Three Lions' World Cup qualifying win over Albania.

Maguire was defiant after rising to nod in England's opener of a 5-0 thrashing at Wembley, sliding on his knees with his fingers in his ears, sending a message to those who have given him a hard time for his dreadful form at club level, with the 28-year-old singled out for criticism following back-to-back home defeats to Liverpool and Man City.

But it only incensed Keane even more as the Irishman, a pundit for ITV at the Home of Football, unleashed a tirade against the Red Devils captain.

Many have questioned just why Maguire thought scoring a goal against a team ranked 63 in the world empowered him to perform such a celebration. His job is not to score, after all, and it's fair to say he has not been at his best at the back in a United shirt this season.

In fact, Algeria almost mustered an immediate reply just minutes after Maguire's opener, after the defender allowed winger Myrto Uzuni to run across him and break through on goal, with Jordan Pickford getting the defender out of trouble with a smart one-on-one save.

Maguire insisted after the game that his celebration was 'not directed at anyone', but it appears few are buying it.

Keane branded his celebration 'embarrassing' and a 'disgrace'.

talkSPORT pundit Cascarino was not so scathing, but agreed it was the wrong thing to do and revealed why he thinks former Ireland teammate Kane was so angered by Maguire's actions.

"If you play badly, and you have a bad time, you're going to get stick - plain and simple," said the Weekend Sports Breakfast host.

"It is what it is. People are going to criticise you if you make mistakes.

"If you play for Manchester United and you don't play to a certain standard, it's not good enough for Man United and it's not good enough for England.

"I thought it was a bit childish. I thought, 'Really?' You've got stick, but you haven't played well enough not to get stick."

On Keane's outburst, his ex-Republic of Ireland teammate added: "When he goes for you, he really goes for you. I always laugh.

"When they [Republic of Ireland] had the problem in 2002 and he left the World Cup, the meeting between Mick McCarthy and the lads, the lads were actually shocked by the machine gun tongue showed at that time.

"Things sit with Roy. You think you've got away with it - and he'll sit. He'll store it up. It can go over a year or two years, then suddenly it comes out.

"Unfortunately for Harry, Roy has only had a few months of watching him play badly. He's probably thought, 'If you do something like you just did, I'm going to give it to you'."

However, Maguire did get some sympathy on talkSPORT on Friday night, with former Premier League striker and matchday pundit Dean Ashton insisting Keane's criticism was too 'harsh'.

"It was a little bit tongue-and-cheek from Maguire," said the ex-West Ham and Norwich star.

"He's had his critics, plenty of them, Keane being one of them, and rightly so because of his performances.

"Then when you do score a goal and put in a performance, you have every right to make a gesture to your critics.

"Yes, he has to go on and do that consistently for his club side, but I certainly wouldn't have said it was an embarrassment."