Richards slams ‘ridiculous’ Man Utd boss Ten Hag for Southgate criticism: ‘Glass houses’
Micah Richards has hit out at Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag for criticising England boss Gareth Southgate’s tactics during the Three Lions win over Serbia on Sunday.
England defeated Serbia in their opening Group C match at Euro 2024 thanks to a good first-half performance, with a Jude Bellingham header giving Southgate’s side a narrow lead at the break.
The Three Lions held on in the second half after surrendering some control of the game to the Serbians but they could’ve extended their lead if Harry Kane had converted a brilliant Jarrod Bowen cross.
Speaking about England’s performance, Man Utd boss Ten Hag said: “England were playing very passive.
“I actually saw them moving backwards, they kept Serbia coming at them. It’s the vision of the manager [Southgate].
“England will take a 1-0 lead, then he [Southgate] decides to start gambling with making his team compact and relying on moments for the remaining minutes of the game.”
But former Man City defender Richards thinks Ten Hag should think about criticising another manager after his comments about the media over the course of the season.
“Glass houses, to start with,” Richards said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
“We basically had this conversational in the FA Cup final and now he’s being a pundit talking about how managers are playing in a negative fashion.
“When we talk about Man United and they’ve not had a good season because of where they’ve finished in the league, he bites at us!
“It’s ridiculous! We’ve backed him so many times, saying the way he’s been treated has not been great and now he’s talking about other managers, it’s a lack of respect. It’s a lack of respect.”
Former England striker Alan Shearer thought England were “really poor” in the second half of their 1-0 win over Serbia but has acknowledged the Three Lions’ usually start slowly in tournaments.
Shearer added: “I was surprised in the second half how far we went back.
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“It wouldn’t have surprised me for 10 or 15 minutes because it’s international football and at times you’re going to have to suffer out of possession, you’re going to have to defend well, you might need your goalkeeper, you might need a bit of luck.
“But I thought we were really poor. We lacked energy, we lacked spark.
“We lacked a little bit of know-how as well because you’ve got to play the game a little bit. When we were getting free-kicks we were trying to take quick free-kicks and I’m thinking: “Hang on, f***inghell! Just kill the game! We’re under huge pressure here. We’re winning 1-0, keep the ball frustrate them”.
“It was really poor I thought in the second half, but it’s an opening game of a European Championships and England notoriously have s*** records in opening games. Before yesterday, we won one in the last ten.”
