European Leagues

Erik ten Hag hits back at Jamie Carragher’s analysis of Manchester United

Erik ten Hag has hit back at Jamie Carragher’s “subjective” analysis of Manchester United on Monday Night Football.

United’s four-game winning run in the Premier League ended on Saturday with a 2-1 home defeat to Fulham, keeping them eight points adrift of the Champions League places.

Sky Sports’ Carragher highlighted why recent results have masked the problems with Ten Hag’s system, which has left them so susceptible defensively even when winning games.

But Ten Hag fired back at Carragher’s analysis ahead of their FA Cup fifth-round tie at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, saying: “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.”

The FA Cup represents the last realistic chance of silverware for Manchester United this season and Ten Hag stressed the importance of the fixture at Forest.

“We were unbeaten in January and February and we lost one game. It was a poor performance and defeat, we are aware,” he said. “We want to stay in every competition. We have to win tomorrow. It doesn’t change our approach – that is for every game.

“I know the future. But I look at today, we work on the team development and try to win every game. We look forward to the longer term.”

Since Ten Hag joined the club in 2022, United have faced 20 or more shots in a Premier League game 12 times – already double that of Man City and Liverpool under Guardiola and Klopp, despite the pair having spent a combined 13 years longer with their clubs.

This season alone, Ten Hag has watched his side face 16 or more shots on 14 different occasions, a tally matched only by Luton and Sheffield United, who both sit in the relegation zone.

Carragher said: “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.”

Carragher said: “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 added: “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.”

Related Topics:EPL Erik Ten Hag Jamie Carragher

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European Leagues

Richard Keys Makes Pep Guardiola Sack Claim After Man City Draw v Everton

Richard Keys believes Pep Guardiola would have been sacked after the loss to Everton if he had not been the Manchester City manager.

Sean Dyche’s team held the Sky Blues to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad on Thursday [26 December], making it one win in nine Premier League matches for Pep Guardiola’s team.

Iliman Ndiaye equalised for the Blues to secure a point, and Keys believes the former Barcelona head coach would have been relieved of his duties had he been managing a team towards the bottom of the table.

Speaking on beIN SPORTS 1 [26 December, 17:11], the 67-year-old said: “It’s one win in 13 in all competitions for City now. Five points from 27 in the Premier League. If that’s a manager at the bottom, he gets the sack.”

Sean Dyche relieves Everton sack pressure after Manchester City draw

Guardiola has been arguably the finest manager anywhere in the world for more than a decade, and while calls for sacking him feel absurd, the Spaniard certainly needs to turn things around at the Sky Blues.

Dyche was under pressure at the Toffees not long ago after a poor start to the season, but the Englishman has turned things around in recent weeks.

The Blues were languishing close to the relation zone before a set of tricky fixtures in December, and many of the Goodison faithful were fearful.

However, Everton have gone up against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City in their last three games and have taken a point from each.

Dyche must be commended for the remarkable set of results, and his conservative approach to football has certainly been instrumental.

The 53-year-old head coach has quelled the noise around his future in the Goodison dugout, but it remains to be seen whether The Friedkin Group will pull the plug if things go sideways in the coming months.

With Nottingham Forest up next on Sunday [29 December], the Blues can’t rest on their laurels and must see off Nuno Espirito Santo’s unexpectedly successful team.

In other Everton news, an ESPN image shows what might have helped Jordan Pickford during the Erling Haaland penalty save.

European Leagues

Bruno Fernandes sees red as Manchester United slump to another Premier League defeat

Manchester United’s struggles continued in a bruising St Stephen’s Day defeat at Vitor Pereira’s resurgent Wolves as Matheus Cunha scored one and provided another shortly after Bruno Fernandes saw red.
Gary O’Neil’s successor followed up Sunday’s 3-0 victory at Leicester with another impressive win as the Portuguese’s first match at Molineux ended with a huge boost in their bid to stay up.

Wolves deserved their 2-0 win, exposing the set piece frailties of Ruben Amorim’s stumbling side as Cunha beat Andre Onana directly from a corner shortly after Fernandes’ third sending off the season.

Star man Cunha – whose availability had been in doubt with a Football Association misconduct charge hanging over him – teed up substitute Hwang Hee-chan to wrap things up at the death.

New boss Pereira punched the air after his perfect star continued, inflicting a fifth defeat in 10 matches in all competitions on Amorim.

This was an alarming United display four days on from a 3-0 home humbling by Bournemouth, leaving them languishing in 14th spot.

Cunha shone amid the Molineux fog from the outset, drawing fouls during the early exchanges that saw Leny Yoro and Fernandes booked. The latter decision would prove particularly costly.

European Leagues

Ola Aina And Taiwo Awoniyi Star As Nottingham Forest Execute Toothless Tottenham

Super Eagles stars Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi featured for Nottingham Forest as they defeated Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at the City Ground, Soccernet.ng reports.

Nottingham Forest returned to Premier League action with a fixture against Tottenham at home. The Tricky Trees have been impressive this season, claiming the scalps of Manchester United and Aston Villa recently, and they were looking to continue their run.

Super Eagles defender Aina kept his place on rhe starting XI, while Awoniyi started from the bench. Tottenham started the game on the front foot, with Mats Selz making some important saves in the first 25 minutes.

However, Nottingham Forest had a big chance in the 28th minute, and they took it. Sweden star Anthony Elanga produced an effort from inside the box to open the scoring.

Tottenham probed hard for the equalizer, but they failed to get it. In the second half, Nottingham Forest were solid and stopped Tottenham for getting good looks at goal. Super Eagles star Aina put in a great shift at right back, registering three clearances and one tackle. Despite facing a lightning-fast Brennan Johnson, he was dribbled past just once.

Awoniyi was introduced into the game in the 87th minute, and he had an opportunity just a minute after his introduction, but he dragged his shot wide.

Nottingham Forest had an easy end to the game, as Djed Spence got sent off in stoppage time. It eventually ended 1-0 to the Tricky Trees, as they won their 10th game of the season.