Man Utd 'failed to protect our legacy' as legend fumes at Erik ten Hag's squad

26 December 2023 , 07:55

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Man Utd 'failed to protect our legacy' as legend fumes at Erik ten Hag's squad

Dwight Yorke insists he "hasn't recovered" from Manchester United's failure to halt Manchester City's treble charge last season.

Those on the blue half of the city became only the second English side to scoop the iconic treble - 24 years after Sir Alex Ferguson's class of 1999 became the first team to ever do it. United's triumph had stood alone in history as their dramatic victories took them to the pinnacle of club football.

Last season though City managed to pull off a repeat, completing it with victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final. One week earlier they'd beaten United at Wembley in the FA Cup with Yorke claiming the players "didn't do what they were supposed to do" as they lost 2-1.

He told the Daily Mail : "Watching United has been a struggle. There's no two ways about that. I'm not going to lie, I've walked away from the game: refused to watch for a bit, and just try to catch up on highlights rather than sit through the 90 minutes. Worse still is that City are sweeping all before them, including United in last season's all-Manchester FA Cup final.

"I still haven't forgotten the fact that we allowed City to repeat history, winning our Treble, because we had a chance to stop them at Wembley and we didn't. The players didn't do what they were supposed to do to protect the biggest legacy of the football club. So I'm a bit miffed by that and I haven't really recovered from it."

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City hammered United in the league en route to their third title in a row, although Erik ten Hag's side did gain some revenge with a victory at Old Trafford later in the season. This term though they've massively declined and face another year outside the top four.

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Yorke, who was one of the team's main attacking weapons during his stint in Manchester, has criticised the decision to spend big on Rasmus Hojlund given his lack of experience and is surprised the club did pursue the likes of Harry Kane, who left Tottenham in the summer.

"I think they should have paid £150m for (Erling) Haaland. Harry Kane is an obvious choice. And (Victor) Osimhen is another I would have tried for," he added.

"I feel sorry for the kid Rasmus, he's suffering all around. I didn't know anything about him until he came to United for such a huge fee. He's 20 years of age, never had top-level experience, and you can see he's in that development stage. You can't bring a rookie in to do a man's job. It just doesn't work. He's making the game look a little bit difficult. But who is he learning from?"

Samuel Meade