Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has hit back at Jamie Carragher for his criticism of the team following the weekend’s defeat to Fulham.
The former Liverpool defender highlighted the large spaces between defence and midfield as a major “problem” for the Red Devils.
“They defend like a team I have never seen before,” Carragher said on Monday Night Football. “What I mean by that is that they like to press high with a deep block. It’s impossible.
“They are trying to do two things at the same time, you can only do one thing or the other. They are all pressing high or defending deep, they are trying to do both.”
Ten Hag responded to the Sky Sports pundit’s analysis ahead of Wednesday’s FA Cup meeting with Nottingham Forest, saying his players can’t perform every week “like robots”.
“Some analysts are very objective and some are very subjective. Jamie Carragher, from the first moment, has criticised and now he wants to make his point,” the Dutchman said in his pre-match press conference.
“Probably in the first half an hour he had a point, Fulham’s midfield set up surprised us and we had to find solutions and after half an hour we found them.
“I wasn’t pleased with the performance in defending, especially on the left. Fulham came out several times on the left side. That has a lot to do with willingness and passion.
“In previous weeks it was there from this team and therefore we won games. Footballers aren’t robots and sometimes they have bad games.”
Man Utd are sixth in the Premier League table, eight points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa and Champions League qualification.
