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27th February 2024
03:34pm GMT
Jamie Carragher ripped Man United's coaching staff to shreds in a clinical analysis of their team's tactics on Monday Night Football.
United lost to Fulham at the weekend, meaning that they have suffered 15 defeats this season in all competitions, and have been widely inconsistent with their performances.
The Erik ten Hag era seems to be a running series of false dawns as they suffer some terrible losses, seemingly pull it together for a while, and then crumble once again.
The former Liverpool defender dissected their latest embarrassment on Sky Sports and firmly pointed the finger at the management and coaching staff.
"I want to highlight (Kobbie) Mainoo, who has been fantastic since he came in, but the problem I have - it's not a criticism of him - what are his instructions before the game?" He began.
"This is straight from kick-off, he is not sure whether he should close down the holding midfield player or looking at the number 10, he's caught, straight from kick-off - you should know your jobs straight from kick-off and that's down to the coaching staff.
"Twenty seconds into the game against Fulham, it's been the problem for Manchester United all season, there's space between the back four and the midfield. We go to the reason why they're poor defensively and can't cope with counter-attacks, they've got no pace at the back and a lack of legs in midfield."
When United brought in Ten Hag from Ajax, there was an expectation that he would be bringing the Dutch's club's philosophy to Old Trafford, and play a brand of beautiful, possession-based football that his country and former club are famed for.
However, the Red Devil's are instead one of the toughest teams to understand when it comes to defining their style of play, something which Carragher has criticised in the past.
"People say: 'there's no patterns of play at Manchester United, how do they play and what's the philosophy?' I'll tell you why there's no patterns of play and why they get done on the counter-attack - the positions they find themselves in.
"When Varane is on the ball, you've got you right-back, he can't receive a pass, Mainoo - your central midfield player - he's on the last line, that can't be right - it's not right.
"Bruno Fernandes, on the last line, playing like a striker, he's a number 10, Victor Lindelof can't receive the ball, the players can't receive the ball in the positions they pick. There's a massive problem for Manchester United when they're on the ball... how many times do you see players running back 40 yards towards goal."
Ten Hag accused Carragher of being biased against his side, saying: “First of all, some analysts are very objective in their comments, very good advice, some are very subjective.
“Jamie Carragher is one of them. From the first moment on he has criticised and now he wants to make his point.
“Probably in the first half an hour, yeah, he had a point. Fulham in their midfield set-up a little bit surprised us and then we have to find the solutions. After half an hour we found the solutions.
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“And that has everything to do with willingness, spirit and passion. That was in the previous weeks very good from this team and therefore we won football games.
“I was not pleased with the performance in defending, especially with the left side, how we did the pressing because they came out, especially in the first half an hour, several times on the left side and that can’t happen.
“I know footballers are not robots, sometimes they have bad days. But it can’t be, it’s unacceptable and we have to do better tomorrow. But in the weeks before we have done very well."
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