Jamie Carragher brutally dismisses Erik ten Hag's claim on Man Utd team changes
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag's decision to bench Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez for Sunday's match against against Aston Villa has been questioned by fans and pundits
by Dan Marsh · The MirrorJamie Carragher insists that Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez WERE dropped by Erik ten Hag for Sunday's seismic showdown with Aston Villa.
The Sky Sports commentator gave his verdict in the opening minutes of the game - even though the Manchester United manager had insisted that the duo, who both struggled in the midweek draw with FC Porto, weren't selected due to "rotation".
Ten Hag was questioned pre-match over De Ligt's absence given he only arrived at the club from Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window in August. He responded: “It's just rotation. We've so much games to cover, so we have to bring them all in.”
Carragher, though, was having none of it and retorted: “You don't rotate centre-backs. They've been dropped.”
Rio Ferdinand also seemed to question Ten Hag's explanation, which he also used in midweek when Marcus Rashford was controversially substituted at half-time against FC Porto despite a number of dangerous forays forward.
The former Manchester United defender posted cryptically on his X account before kick-off, saying: “Rotation.”
Ten Hag has been the subject of growing scrutiny in recent weeks as a result of United's poor start to the season. Prior to Sunday they had won just three of their opening nine matches in all competitions to ramp up the pressure on the Dutchman.
It's been speculated that a poor result against Aston Villa could bring his two-year tenure to an end - a theory that has only gained traction since it emerged that Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe would be in attendance at Villa Park.
The Ineos chief also refused to publicly back Ten Hag when he was asked if he had faith in the United boss by BBC Sport.
He replied: “I don’t want to answer that question...I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects," added Ratcliffe, who has been in Barcelona for the Americas Cup.
“But that team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April – [CEO] Omar [Berrada], [Sporting Director] Dan Ashworth - they only arrived in July
“They’ve only been there…you can count it in weeks almost - they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions. Our objective is very clear - we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously - that’s very clear.”
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