Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has responded to Jamie Carragher’s criticism of the Red Devils.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has hit back at Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher following his analysis of their 2-1 defeat to Fulham.
Although the Dutchman conceded that the 46-year-old has a “point” over his review of their 30-minute showing against the Cottagers, Ten Hag highlighted Carragher as one of the analysts who are “very objective” in their thoughts on his club. The Red Devils slipped to their 15th defeat of the season in all competitions after Alex Iwobi’s 97th-minute winner.
Carragher slammed United during their segment of Monday Night Football, prior to West Ham United’s win over Brentford. The defeat for Ten Hag’s side saw them miss the opportunity to go within a point of Tottenham Hotspur in fifth place in the Premier League, which would have reaffirmed their Champions League qualification ambitions.
The Reds legend took aim at the coaching of the squad, highlighting Kobbie Mainoo’s showing in the first passage of play at Old Trafford on Saturday. “I want to highlight (Kobbie) Mainoo, who has been fantastic since he came in, but the problem I have – it’s not a criticism of him – what are his instructions before the game?” Carragher said.
“This is straight from kick-off, he is not sure whether he should close down the holding midfield player or looking at the number 10, he’s caught, straight from kick-off – you should know your jobs straight from kick-off and that’s down to the coaching staff. Twenty seconds into the game against Fulham, it’s been the problem for Manchester United all season, there’s space between the back four and the midfield. We go to the reason why they’re poor defensively and can’t cope with counter-attacks, they’ve got no pace at the back and a lack of legs in midfield.
“People say ‘there’s no patterns of play at Manchester United, how do they play and what’s the philosophy?’ I’ll tell you why there’s no patterns of play and why they get done on the counter-attack, the positions they find themselves in. When Varane is on the ball, you’ve got your right-back, he can’t receive a pass, Mainoo – your central midfield player – he’s on the last line, that can’t be right – it’s not right.
“Bruno Fernandes, on the last line, playing like a striker, he’s a number 10, Victor Lindelof can’t receive the ball, the players can’t receive the ball in the positions they pick. There’s a massive problem for Manchester United when they’re on the ball… how many times do you see players running back 40 yards towards goal?”
Ten Hag is under pressure to deliver a satisfactory conclusion to what has been an underwhelming season for the Red Devils. The surprise defeat to Fulham ended a run of four successive league wins leaving United eight points adrift of Aston Villa, who currently occupy the final Champions League qualification spot.
United are still in the FA Cup and will travel Nottingham Forest on Wednesday evening for their fifth round tie. During his pre-match press conference Ten Hag took the opportunity to hit back at Carragher, following the pundit’s scathing analysis.
“First of all, some analysts are very objective in their comments,” Ten Hag said, “very good advice, some are very subjective. Jamie Carragher from the first moment on has criticised and now he wants to make his point. Probably in the first half an hour, yeah, he had a point. Fulham in their midfield set up surprised us a little bit and then we have to find the solutions. After half an hour we found the solutions.
“I was not pleased with the performance with the defending, especially on the left side, how we did the pressing because they came out, especially in the first half an hour. Several times on the left side and that can’t happen and that has to do with willingness, spirit, passion. That was in the previous weeks very good for this team and therefore, we won football games.
“I know footballers are not robots, sometimes they have bad days. But it can’t be, it’s unacceptable, we have to do better tomorrow but in the weeks before we have done very well.”
