Man Utd stars 'lack belief in Erik ten Hag' as Alan Shearer war of words vindicated

Alan Shearer has been embroiled in a war of words with Erik ten Hag in recent months, and his comments look to have been vindicated following Manchester United's 3-0 defeat by Tottenham

Micah Richards reckons Alan Shearer's criticism of Erik ten Hag has been vindicated following Manchester United's dismal hammering at the hands of Tottenham.

The Red Devils suffered their third Premier League defeat of the season after being put to the sword by Ange Postecoglou's men in front of 70,000 fed up United fans at Old Trafford on Sunday. Goals from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke helped seal a 3-0 win for the visitors, knocking United out of the top half and leaving Ten Hag on the brink of the sack.

The Dutchman has taken plenty of flack for the way United have performed in the last 12 months or so, not least from Shearer, with whom he was embroiled in a war of words earlier this month. And speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Richards, 36, thinks his colleague's criticism of the former Ajax coach, 54, was more than justified, particularly in light of the Spurs result.

"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," the ex-Manchester City star said. "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 replied: "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." Gary Lineker, 63, interjected, saying: "And they look like lost souls."

Richards believes 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 added.

"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 lambasting Marcus Rashford for his abject performance on the day. He was branded "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 fumed when asked about Shearer's comments.

"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."

Shearer, who also shared a tense moment with Ten Hag while interviewing him after last season's FA Cup final, bit back during an episode of The Rest Is Football a few hours later: "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."

Fast-forward a month and very little appears to have changed, at least from the perspective of The Rest Is Football trio. "What is [United's] plan?" Lineker asked in the aftermath of the Tottenham defeat. "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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