It is thought the veteran Corkman, currently sidelined with a broken foot, offered his usual blunt assessment of United’s tepid performance, widely acknowledged by supporters to be the worst since the 3-1 defeat at Manchester City four years ago after which Alex Ferguson famously threatened to throw open the dressing room doors so fans could tell his players what they thought.

But it appears Keane’s condemnation was too vicious for some senior members of the Red Devils’ hierarchy, who ordered the half-hour programme to be scrapped.

Instead, MUTV executives were forced to show academy action, offering no explanation for the precise reason behind the swift programme change.

United officials offered no comment either, while sources close to Keane claimed no knowledge of the editorial decision.

Other than criticising Ferguson or new owner Malcolm Glazer, it is difficult to imagine what ground Keane could have covered which he has not done before.

He has previously used the MUTV platform to condemn the attitude of some younger members of the United squad, while in a recent live phone-in, he stated his belief this season would be his last at Old Trafford.

Such an obvious silencing is not likely to enhance the prospects of Ferguson persuading his influential skipper to sign a one-year extension to his current deal, which expires in the summer.

Instead, it was left to Dutch duo Ruud van Nistelrooy and Edwin van der Sar to offer their verdict on the miserable performance on Teesside, which came just four days before the Champions League encounter with Lille and eight days ahead of the crucial Old Trafford showdown with runaway leaders Chelsea.

“There is a very negative feeling after Saturday,” Van Nistelrooy told MUTV.

“You could talk for hours about what went wrong. It was a bad performance and we didn’t do ourselves or the fans justice.

“We have to try and look at things in a realistic way. In my first season here, we lost the derby at home. That was also a low point. But it was an unusual occurrence. We have not conceded four in how many years.

“What we have to do is go out on Wednesday and prove ourselves again.”

Meanwhile, van der Sar accepted responsibility for Gaizka Mendieta’s second minute opener, which the 35-year-old admitted gave Boro the launch pad to inflict what would have been United’s biggest Premiership defeat since 1999 had it not been for Cristiano Ronaldo’s late consolation.

“The ball swirled a little but I should have saved it,” said Van der Sar.

“That is not a good situation to start with and it all started to go wrong from that goal.”

Although he has not been at Old Trafford long, Van der Sar knows far more is expected of United than they produced at the weekend and the ashen looks on the faces of the players as they began their long journey home told its own story.

“It hurts quite a lot,” he said.

“It is a team game but we made a lot of individual errors and that cost us dear. There is not much we can say, and I don’t have to tell you what the manager was like after the game. It is quite obvious how he and the players feel.

“We are not in the greatest spirit at the moment but we have to analyse what went wrong and somehow start to focus on Wednesday’s game against Lille.

“Hopefully we can pick up something from that game which we can take into the Chelsea match.”