Ferdinand Criticizes Ten Hag Over Garnacho Decision

Manchester United’s recent 2-1 loss to Brighton has sparked significant controversy, particularly regarding Erik ten Hag’s team selection. The coach has been chastised by United legend Rio Ferdinand for not playing Alejandro Garnacho, who is claimed by the same source to have been among standout performers for the Red Devils. The situation is exacerbated by the lack of significant results following the Dutchman’s arrival in Manchester, as he only managed to secure an FA Cup triumph for his side, despite poor Premier League performance finishing at eighth place.

The former central defender could not believe that Ten Hag did not start Garnacho in his post-match comments, since the player was confident, explosive, and intimidating. In addition, the former player wondered why the club let Danny Welbeck go in the first place, as he scored the winning goal for the Seagulls. His comments and epitomize the relatively poor performance of the coaching staff in handling academy players that had high potential and were proven to be productive in the past.

Ten Hag claims that his side showed good will, but they need to do better from both defensive and offensive points of view. Although every coach claims that every day is another opportunity to develop as a team, the United Dutchman continued to demonstrate suboptimal tactical performance in several high-stakes matches by lacking effective changes and substitutions. At the same time, fans believe that they can decide better, as United had dissatisfactory performance on a consistent basis with the amount of money spent on new signings exceeding £140 million.

While a different approach to the situation is possible, the level of financial and managerial support has been low in present conditions. As the adjustment period for new signings can be lengthy, the decision to fire the coach at a certain point in time can be beneficial in a long-term perspective. United can be too big of a club that sacked David Moyes for not being Sir Alex Ferguson, which led to long titles drought even though both managers had to adapt to the new level of constant pressure on them. Nevertheless, Ten Hag’s performance had been relatively poor in several matches, so his continued employment is at risk.