29 February 2024 , 11:22
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Gary Neville has criticised Erik ten Hag after the Dutchman used a press conference to hit out at Jamie Carragher for his analysis of Manchester United.
Carragher picked apart United's defensive issues in the wake of their dreadful defeat to Fulham on Saturday. The Red Devils have conceded 36 goals this season, the second-most out of the teams currently occuping the top six positions in the Premier League.
The criticism Carragher aimed at his side drew an angry response from Ten Hag, who insisted the pundit was being "subjective". Though he admitted the Liverpool legend was right to point out the problems in the opening half-hour, the United boss insisted they quickly found solutions.
During his press conference previewing the FA Cup clash with Nottingham Forest, Ten Hag took the chance to respond to Carragher. But legendary United skipper Neville has insisted that was the wrong move.
The pundit believes that the United boss should have kept his thoughts to himself. Instead Neville claimed Ten Hag should have turned down the chance to respond to Carragher and focus on the Forest game.
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“I must admit that when I saw it appear, my heart sank a little, from a Manchester United perspective, that he was getting involved in that. He might be secretly or privately annoyed and think there are some points you made that are wrong," he told the Stick to Football podcast.
"But [he has to think], 'We have conceded a lot of chances, I’m not going to win this one, we’ve just lost a game, got a big game against Nottingham Forest, let’s not look like I’m even interested in that'. That was my thinking.”
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Ten Hag blasted Carragher after the pundit analysed Manchester United's defending in their defeat to Fulham (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)Carragher also defended his comments, insisting United's performance against Fulham was not unusual. While he had planned to analyse a United win, Carragher claimed he did not have to change his analysis too much after the loss came about instead.
“I didn’t say anything too different to what I’ve said this season, and I wanted to discuss this on Monday Night Football two weeks ago. United had won four games on the bounce, and I came into the show thinking that I’d like to analyse Man United when they’ve won," he said.
“What I was going to say was, ‘this is not sustainable’. They were being a little bit lucky winning these games. The reason I chose United this weekend wasn’t because of the result – it was more the performance that I wanted to analyse.
"They’ve got Nottingham Forest in the cup, and Manchester City in the league. They’re tough games for them – if they lose them, everyone will be saying ‘Ten Hag out’. I thought let’s do it before everyone else does it. It was basically what we’ve been seeing all season.
"Teams now press from the front, press high and everyone is on the halfway line. Man United are trying to do two different things; the front six were going man-to-man pressing, and the back four were miles behind them. You’re either one or the other.”
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