Ten Hag fires brutal jibe at Carragher after criticism from Man Utd on Sky Sports
ERIK TEN HAG has hit back at Jamie Carragher for his criticism of Manchester United, suggesting he has a bias towards them.
The leading pundit grilled the Red Devils with his assessment of their performance in the defeat to Fulham on the Monday Night Football show on Sky.
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Carragher said: “Twenty seconds into the game against Fulham this has been the problem for Manchester United all season, there is space between the back four and the midfield.
“We look at why they are poor defensively and cannot handle counter-attacks: they have no pace at the back and a lack of legs in midfield.
“People say: ‘There are no playing patterns at Manchester United, how do they play and what is the philosophy?’
But Ten Hag says the former Liverpool Champions League winner has been against United from the start and is not objective in his views.
Ten Hag said: “First of all, some analysts are very objective in their comments, very good advice, some are very subjective.
“Jamie Carragher has been critical from the start and now he wants to make his point clear.”
Yet the under-fire United boss agreed with some of Carragher’s assessments, particularly in the manner in which United started Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat.
He said: “He probably had a point in the first half hour.
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“The way Fulham set up their midfield was a surprise and then we have to find the solutions.
“After half an hour we found the solutions.”
But Ten Hag even admitted that his team lacked the necessary ‘passion’ in the first half.
“I wasn’t happy with the defense’s performance, especially on the left side, how we pressed because they came out,” he said.
“Especially in the first half hour several times on the left side and that is not possible and that has to do with willingness, spirit, passion.
“That has been very good for this team in recent weeks and that is why we have won football matches.
“I know that footballers are not robots, sometimes they have bad days. But that cannot be the case, it is unacceptable. We have to do better tomorrow, but in the weeks before we did very well.”
United take on Nottingham Forest in the fifth round of the FA Cup at the City Ground tomorrow.