On Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher had put United under the microscope following their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Fulham over the weekend. The ex-Liverpool star spent a significant period of time breaking down the weaknesses in Ten Hag’s team and highlighting the tactical tweaks that needed to be made.
Ten Hag was then quizzed on the matter, to which he replied: “First of all, some analysts are very objective in their comments, [give] very good advice, some are very subjective. Jamie Carragher from the first moment on has criticised and now he wants to make his point.”
The comments from the ex-Ajax boss indicated that he was unhappy with how his team were criticised, though Neville and Keane had very different views on the response from the United boss when speaking on The Overlap.
Whilst discussing Ten Hag’s remarks, Neville revealed that he felt that Carragher should have been ignored, saying: “I must admit that when I saw it appear yesterday, my heart sank a little, from a Manchester United perspective, that he was getting involved in that.
“The reality is that he might be secretly or privately annoyed and think there are some points you [Jamie Carragher] made that are wrong, 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.”
Keane felt that Ten Hag was right to address the claims though, but thought the under-fire Dutchman should have attempted to sweep the comments under the carpet rather than biting back. He explained: “I’d have the mindset, if I came in [to a press conference] and someone said that [Jamie Carragher’s criticism on Manchester United’s midfield], I’d say Jamie has played the game, he’s entitled to his opinion and leave it at that. We’ve seen loads of managers react to questions.”
Asked whether the response from Ten Hag indicated that he was feeling the heat in the Old Trafford dugout, Keane continued: “He seems to be with that reaction of course, but that’s where the pressure comes. It’s off the back of a poor result, managers do so many press conferences, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. They are getting asked questions and every now and again they will [react].
“We see Pep [Guardiola] sometimes and think he needs to cheer up, but he’s in the zone, these managers are under huge pressure. They are going to react to questions sometimes that we feel are straightforward. He didn’t lose his head, he just said that he disagreed, and he’s entitled to do that. I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
