Former Liverpool star and current Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has on Monday torn into a leading member of the defensive ranks at Manchester United. This comes owing to his performance in the club’s meeting with Tottenham Hotspur.
Erik ten Hag’s United of course welcomed Spurs to Old Trafford on Sunday, for a Premier League clash. When all was said and done on an evening to forget for the Red Devils, they were put to the sword by three goals to nil, seeing captain Bruno Fernandes sent off during the first-half, too.
Post-match, a whole host of United’s players were in turn singled out for criticism, with the likes of Bruno, Diogo Dalot and André Onana amongst the most widely targeted.
On Monday, though, it was another of the Manchester giants’ defensive stars who saw his display torn to pieces. Speaking during an appearance on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports, pundit Jamie Carragher was tasked with analysing the performance put forth by United against Tottenham.
And the one-time Liverpool stalwart made use of the opportunity to reveal his frustrations with Red Devils summer signing Matthijs de Ligt, calling into serious question the Dutchman’s positional sense and decision-making alike:
“I’ve noticed this with De Ligt and a lot of centre-backs… I don’t understand why they don’t fill the space and come over. I see this so much.
“The striker just behind him has got nothing to do with him. That’s Martinez’s job, if De Ligt goes over, Martinez comes across.
“He’s looking over his shoulder, forget that! Forget it! Get it here!
“It was a brilliant run. It was amazing. But Van de Ven runs because he sees the space. Listen, the full-back gets caught out but again I want to go to De Ligt.
“This sums Manchester United up for the last two of three years. Pressing but always being late. They’re locked in here, the front three of Tottenham are locking the back four in.”
Highlighting another goalscoring opportunity created by Tottenham during the 2nd-half, Carragher continued:
“Where is De Ligt?! The right-back has come up here, look where De Ligt is! You’ve got to get over!
“In every situation there in that first-half, two massive chances and a goal, in De Ligt – a player they’ve brought in for huge money – he’s completely out of position every time. He ends up flying into challenges and you’re leaving yourself in a situation where you can get yellow and red cards.”
Check out footage of Carragher’s ruthless De Ligt analysis below:
Manchester United will mark their return to action on Thursday night, when they make the trip to Portugal, for a Europa League meeting with Primeira Liga giants Porto.
