Man Utd boss Ten Hag hits back at ‘very subjective’ Carragher after Liverpool legend slams his tactics
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag has had a dig at Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher over his “very subjective” analysis of the Red Devils’ tactics in recent matches.
The Red Devils have won six, draw one and lost one of their last eight matches in all competitions with Ten Hag turning around their form after a poor December.
Man Utd are out of the Champions League and have been struggling for consistency in the Premier League for most of the season but recent form had given fans some hope for the rest of the season.
However, a 2-1 defeat at home to Fulham on Saturday has knocked some belief that Man Utd had turned a bit of a corner under Ten Hag and Carragher has explained that recent good results have been “very fortunate”.
Carragher said in his analysis on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football: “Over the last few weeks, Manchester United have been in great form but still the underlying numbers have been really poor.
“They’ve been very fortunate, so we’re not talking about them now just because they lost to Fulham. It’s about performance. They defend like a team I’ve never seen before. They like to press high with a deep block.
“It’s impossible. They like to do two things at the same time. You can only do one or the other. We’re all pressing high or we’re all defending deep. They’re trying to do both.”
On a potential lack of understanding of Ten Hag’s tactics, Carragher added: “I’ve chosen clips against Fulham, but I could have chosen clips from where they’ve won games like against Aston Villa. It’s still the same problem.
“I want to highlight a problem from the very kick-off. If I highlight Kobbie Mainoo, this is not a criticism of him, it’s more of what are his instructions before the game?
“He’s not sure if he should be looking after the holding midfielder or watching the No 10. He’s caught in between.
“It’s straight from the kick-off. You should know your job from kick-off. That’s down to the coaching staff.
“You can see the big problem then had just 20 seconds into the game against Fulham. It’s been the problem for Manchester United all season.
“They’ve shown they’re a poor side at handling counter-attacks. They’ve got no pace at the back and they’ve got a lack of legs in midfield.”
Carragher continued: “Another big problem for them is when they’ve got the ball. Some people say there’s no patterns of play with Manchester United.
“What’s their philosophy? I tell you one of the reasons why there’s no patterns of play and another reason why they get done on the counter-attack… Look at the positions the players find themselves in when Raphael Varane is on the ball.
“You look where the right-back is [Diogo Dalot] and he can’t receive a pass. Mainoo is on the last line. His position can’t be right. Bruno Fernandes, your No 10 is playing like a striker, and on the other side, Victor Lindelof can’t receive the ball.
“It leads to a turnover and how many times have you seen Manchester United players having to run 40 yards back to their own goal this season?
“Look at the ones who are sprinting. The ones who took up wrong positions. Dalot, Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and Lindelof. They’re sprinting 30, 40, 50 yards five or six times in a game – hence why they get so many injuries in a game.
“With Fulham’s winning goal, we see that Marcus Rashford won’t run while Harry Maguire and Christian Eriksen can’t run. That’s a massive problem for them.”
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But Man Utd boss Ten Hag fired back at Carragher ahead of their FA Cup fifth round clash with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, he said: “Some analysts are objective in their comments, [offer] very good advices, some are very subjective – Jamie Carragher is one of them.
“For the first moment he is criticising and now he wants to make his point. In the first half an hour [vs Fulham] he had a point. Fulham surprised with their midfield setup and we had to find a solution. We did after half an hour.
“I wasn’t pleased with the defensive performance, especially down the left side and that has everything to do with willingness, spirit and passion. That was good in previous weeks, therefore we won football games.
“Footballers are not robots, sometimes they have bad days. It was unacceptable and we have to do better tomorrow.”
