Erik ten Hag has once again spoken out on criticism of his work as Manchester United boss from some of English football’s leading pundits.
The Dutchman was recently embroiled in a war of words with Jamie Redknapp, who he branded ‘crazy’ after the pundit suggested he had dropped Marcus Rashford against Crystal Palace for a disciplinary issue.
Alan Shearer concurred with Redknapp’s assessment after Ten Hag raised the subject of Rashford’s lifestyle ahead of the 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park.
Ten Hag initially bit back fiercely but has now admitted he embraces some of the criticism – although he did not name whose opinions he values.
‘Some (pundits) give very good advice,’ he said ahead of Manchester United’s match with Tottenham this afternoon.
Erik ten Hag admitted some pundits give ‘very good advice’ in a reversal of his previous words
The Manchester United boss had hit out at ‘crazy’ Jamie Redknapp for ‘speculation’ over why he dropped Marcus Rashford against Crystal Palace
Redknapp had claimed that ‘something has happened’ between Ten Hag and Rashford
‘For me, the best advice is stay clinical and see where the team is and which areas we have to improve.
‘You can have an opinion about football and when you’re in the job, you have to deal with this. Respect the criticism.’
It marks a shift in demeanour from a manager who has been waspish towards critics this season, telling Mail Sport’s football editor Ian Ladyman he is ‘sorry for him’ in a fiery exchange after the 3-0 defeat by Liverpool at the start of September.
Redknapp originally questioned if Ten Hag and Rashford had fallen out after the manager dropped the forward against Palace despite him scoring three times in two games.
It feels like something has gone untoward. Obviously I don’t know the details, but you don’t drop a player that’s just scored two in midweek (against Barnsley) and scored against Southampton,’ he told Sky Sports.
‘It feels something has happened this week. It’s unusual for a manager to come out and almost out a player by talking about their lifestyle. Sir Alex Ferguson would never do it, whereas Ten Hag will do it on occasions and it’s not always beneficial to the player.’
To that, Ten Hag hit back by accusing the microphone man of not having a clue what he is talking about.
‘I heard already the speculation (from) some pundits,’ said the United boss. ‘That’s crazy. I would almost say that you as a person you are not okay when you bring such speculation if you don’t know what’s (going) on,’ he said.
Ten Hag said that Rashford must ‘set his life right’ to rediscover his best form at United
Alan Shearer suggested the decision indicated something has happened behind the scenes
‘This is just rotation. We have many games to cover and more than 11 players, but we have to give all the players their chances if they perform. Finally we will find out and the players who perform better will play more.
‘But this has nothing to do (with Rashford). I am very happy with Marcus with everything – his defending, his offensive part. He scores in this moment, he performs very good. So nothing to do with him being on the bench, just rotation.’
He doubled down on his response days later, adding: ‘I didn’t understand the criticism,’ he said. ‘People are entitled if they want to, but what they are not entitled to do is to bring speculation. If I give an explanation they have to trust my words. If they don’t, that’s not right.’
With United having drawn 1-1 at home with his former side FC Twente in the Europa League since then, Ten Hag’s attitude seems to have softened as he is more open to appraisal.
