'Peaked at the right time': Roy Keane puts 'kiss of death' on 30-year-old Newcastle United star ahead of Brighton clash

The commentator's curse isn't just limited to commentators while the game is underway, pundits can put the kibosh on a player's performance in the pre-game build-up up it seems.

That's what happened yesterday as Sky Sports had Roy Keane in the studio ahead of the game between Brighton and Hove Albion and Newcastle United.

The former Sunderland manager was being unusually complimentary about Newcastle, specifically Magpies winger Jacob Murphy.

We should have known what he was up to, the voodoo shaman that he is!

Roy Keane's Jacob Murphy compliments came before a poor Murphy performance

Speaking about Murphy's recent form, Keane claimed that Murphy had peaked late in his career.

“It’s just like he’s peaked at the right time, isn’t it?

“Some players peak younger. Obviously, he’s always been a good player no doubt about it but the last 6-12 months, I think he’s been amazing.”

We got a glimpse of the Murphy of old against Brighton

Those very complimentary words from Keane came ahead of Murphy's worst performance of 2025.

The 30-year-old had a slight regression in the hammering by Aston Villa, but nobody really had a good game in that one, but yesterday, Murphy was awful and was rightly the first player hooked in the second half.

It was a very timely reminder of why we must find a new right winger this summer to compete for the place in the starting lineup. Murphy has been brilliant for us in the second half of this season, and we don't want to take that away from him at all, but we do need more options out wide on the right, nobody can deny that.