Alan Shearer told his Erik ten Hag war of words has been vindicated - 'It's getting worse'

Micah Richards believes that Alan Shearer's criticism of Erik ten Hag has been justified following Manchester United's crushing defeat to Tottenham.

The Red Devils suffered their third Premier League loss of the season, falling victim to Ange Postecoglou's team in front of over 70,000 disgruntled United fans at Old Trafford on Sunday. Goals from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke secured a 3-0 victory for the visitors, pushing United out of the top half and leaving Ten Hag teetering on the edge of dismissal.

The former Ajax coach has received considerable criticism for United's performances over the past year or so, particularly from Shearer, with whom he had a verbal spat earlier this month. Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Richards, 36, said he feels his colleague's critique of Ten Hag, 54, was entirely warranted and even suggested that the players had lost faith in the Dutchman.

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"On the training ground they must be working on something, but I don't know if it's a lack of confidence or a lack of belief in the manager, but something is not right," said the former Manchester City star. "When Ten Hag had a pop at you [Shearer], you had every right to [say what you said]… and we're still talking about the same problems this season that we were last season... it's getting worse!".

Shearer responded: "They [United] have won some cups, but in terms of being a force in the league, they're miles away. They've got no identity. They've spending absolute fortunes," at which point Gary Lineker interjected, saying: "And they look like lost souls."

Continuing, Richards said he though United's stars have little faith in Ten Hag's ideas, drawing comparisons to the current situation at Old Trafford to one he found himself in at Aston Villa. "It's not that [the players] aren't trying, I promise you they're trying. There's a breakdown between the players and the manager, the methods he's trying teach," he said.

"The players aren't buying into what the manager's been saying at this moment. The manager is finding it hard to get his point across and is then defensive in interviews. Then it's like people start questioning whether the manager is right for the job, and then you go to the training ground and everything is flat."

Following United's similarly humiliating 3-0 defeat by Liverpool at the start of September, Shearer, 54, drew the ire of Ten Hag after slamming Marcus Rashford for his poor performance on the day. He was labelled "stupid" by the United boss, who insisted the Newcastle legend was wrong to assume he'd hooked Rashford during the match because he wasn't happy with how he'd played.

"Everyone gets criticism from you guys, it doesn't matter what we are doing, if we are winning if we are losing. If I take a player off, the conclusion is I was not happy with him," Ten Hag said, clearly frustrated by the scrutiny of his decisions.

"It is not why I took him off because his performances or level were not right - no, we had to rotate and we have good players on the bench as well, you bring new energy. There will be rotation and if then there is the conclusion the player is not performing. Can be sometimes, definitely it wasn't in this case. Stupid analysis in this case from the pundit."

In response, Shearer retorted on The Rest Is Football podcast: "I totally get why he's trying to protect his player, he couldn't say anything different... but I think the truth be known at Man United nothing much has changed over the summer, has it? Certainly not in the performances we've seen."

Weeks later, the sentiment on The Rest Is Football podcast remained unchanged. "What is [United's] plan?" asked Lineker, 63, echoing long-standing doubts. "We've been saying this for most of last season, 'Give them time, they've brought in new players', but nothing seems to make any difference.

"Obviously they've got a different setup at the top with Jim Ratcliffe and his team... but there's no real improvement. It must be pretty grim being a Man United fan at the moment... it's getting gradually worse."

"You look at other teams, even like Bournemouth and Brighton, you can see the way they play and see the organisation, the planning, the high press. You might look at Brighton and say, 'That's crazy that high line', but it is a way of playing."

"It's the same with Tottenham. They were brilliant today, they play that risk-and-reward style that Ange Postecoglou likes - they've got an identity, and you look at Manchester United... they're miles off it."

The result leaves United 12th in the table, and eight points behind league-leaders Liverpool. Up next is a Europa League trip to Porto on Thursday before a clash with a high-flying Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday, with both ties feeling like must-wins for Ten Hag.

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