Hargreaves criticises Ten Hag’s ‘crazy’ tactics after Man Utd send clear message over sacking

Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has criticised Erik ten Hag’s tactics during the Red Devils’ 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Liverpool were completely dominant thanks to a Luis Diaz double and a second-half goal from Mohamed Salah secured the three points for Arne Slot’s team and I saw Manchester United lose their second game in a row.

The Red Devils offered a one-year contract extension to Ten Hag in the summer, but only after considering alternatives following an eighth-place finish in the Premier League and an unexpected FA Cup success. beat Man City in the final.

And the Manchester United boss is already back under pressure after taking three points from their opening three Premier League games of the season and Hargreaves criticised the Dutchman for placing his full-backs, Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, too high up the pitch against Liverpool.

“The first goal was a bad pass from Casemiro and he gets all the criticism but full-backs can’t be there against Liverpool,” Hargreaves said on the Kelly and Wrighty Show.

“They find themselves in this crazy position where they are too high. Okay, it’s a bad ball but where are your two full-backs against Liverpool? It’s crazy!

“And it’s the manager’s fault. Mazroui should have been there at the far post, but Diaz ends up getting a tap-in.

“But again, it’s the manager’s fault because he says: ‘When you have the ball, you go high’. You only go high when you have good possession, and that’s not the case with all these goals.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slot revealed after the match that Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai had played a key role in exposing Man Utd’s weaknesses under Ten Hag.

Slot said after the game: “Last season they were doing man-marking in midfield and they had pressing with the number 7 and the number 11, so with the striker and one of the wingers jumping with him.

“This season they are more with a No. 9 and No. 10 pressing, so they are more in 4-4-2, so it is different of course.

“I see them, in my opinion, working harder if the ball passes between them, so they run more. At least that’s what I saw in their first games.

“Their style is the same as this season, maybe last season too, which I don’t remember very well, but their full-backs are, nine times out of ten, very high and then Casemiro comes in between, so if you win the ball back and you can keep Luis Diaz and Mo Salah high, then you are constantly in a one-v-one situation.

“You also need midfielders who can run, and we had three today who kept running and if they got into a duel, they were aggressive enough to win it. That’s, I think, one of the main reasons why we were able to win today.”

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Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada has insisted Erik ten Hag has his and the club’s backing and remains the right man to take the club forward.

Speaking alongside new sporting director Dan Ashworth shortly before kick-off against Liverpool, Berrada said it would take more than a few poor results to shake the club’s faith in their manager.

“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely,” he said. “We believe Erik is the right coach for us and we fully support him.”

Ten Hag’s contract was extended before Berrada or Ashworth took over this summer but both said they were happy with the decision.

Ashworth said: “I have really enjoyed working with Erik over the last eight weeks.

“I see my job as supporting him in every way I can, whether that’s operationally, whether that’s recruitment, whether that’s medically, whether that’s psychologically, whether that’s training, it’s just taking as much work off his shoulders as possible to allow him to focus fully on the training pitch and tactically in the game to make Manchester United successful.”