Manchester United legend questions Erik ten Hag plan with stars that are ‘part of the problem’

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·10 octobre 2024

Manchester United legend questions Erik ten Hag plan with stars that are ‘part of the problem’

Manchester United legends Gary Neville, Roy Keane, and Wayne Rooney discussed that they don’t understand Erik ten Hag’s logic to rotate his centre-backs so frequently.

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has heavily rotated his defensive pairing at the back. Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez both dropped out for Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans for the Red Devils’ last game against Aston Villa.

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However, it was not an isolated occasion. The former Ajax manager frequently wanted to use two substitutions to change his centre-back pairing during games in the opening months of the campaign.

It is a worrying concern for supporters because it will be difficult for the team to build patterns and momentum if the Dutchman can’t settle on his best backline.

After the international break, it looks like Ten Hag will be without Maguire who came off injured in the trip to Villa Park.

Roy Keane doesn’t agree with Ten Hag’s defensive rotation

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

The Manchester United legends discussed the current form of the Red Devils on the Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast on YouTube.

The former Manchester United stars don’t believe that swapping centre-backs is a good idea because it doesn’t allow for relationships to grow on the pitch.

Speaking on the podcast, Keane said: “He’s been chopping and changing that [centre-back pairing] even during games, but that seems to be the norm now, he doesn’t stick with a settled back four.

“He may say off the back of it, they had a tough game in Europe, but surely part of the demands for playing for any big club is that you can play two or three games per week and cope with it.

When asked about Ten Hag bringing fringe players back into the team, Keane added,” You can’t keep going back to Eriksen and Maguire.

“Maguire and Eriksen have been back in the team the last few weeks, so you’ve gone back to the lads who are part of the problem, not just on their own, of course not.

“The new lads need a chance, they need to get a couple of games and months to build up relationships, play games to get sued to each other. “