Rio Ferdinand has launched a brutal attack on former club Manchester United's transfer policy ahead of their huge meeting with Liverpool next week - labelling it as an "absolute shambles".
New manager Erik Ten Hag continued his underwhelming start to life in the Premier League on Saturday evening as he followed United's 2-1 home loss to Brighton last week with an even worse performance during a 4-0 hammering at Thomas Frank's Brentford.
Individual mistakes, tactical ineptness and a failure to do the basics of the game all culminated in one of the club's most embarrassing defeats in the Premier League era. With his team propping up the league table, Ten Hag now faces the seismic task of preparing them to try and beat Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool at Old Trafford on Monday week (August 22).
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However, ahead of the latest edition of one of English football's great rivalries, Ferdinand has expressed his sympathy for the former Ajax boss during his few weeks in the Old Trafford hotseat.
"I feel sorry for Ten Hag, he's come in under false percenters," said Red Devils legend Ferdinand, while speaking on his YouTube channel. "He's come in expecting new signings. People are moaning at Cristiano Ronaldo but he's probably sitting there thinking, 'I'm expecting new signings as well'. He has probably spoke to Ten Hag, who's told him: 'Listen we're going to get new recruits in'. He's probably sitting there thinking, 'I've been sold a dummy here, I didn't know I was coming into this'.
"Confidence, I know, was going to be low, he [Ten Hag] knew that. He probably thought he could rebuild that, but the players are obviously not at the standard that's required. Some of the players will sit there and say, 'that's out of order, you can't say that', but it's a fact, the results tell you that."
After adding Lisandro Martinez (51.5m), Christian Eriksen (free agent) and Tyrell Malacia (£13.5m) to their ranks over the summer, judging by their two performances of the new season, United appear to have somehow regressed during the early stages of the Dutchman's tenure. That has led to many using what has been a disastrous transfer window, for more reasons than one, to highlight just how poor the recruitment process has been since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in 2013.
"It [the defeat] shows you how shocking the recruitment has been at the football club," added Ferdinand. "The recruitment since Sir Alex Ferguson's time at the club has been an absolute joke.
"How many players have come in? 40 to 50 players? Have any of those players grown in value? I'd say no. Bruno? Dan James went for a profit, so there's one. Normally you'd fall on two or three accidental diamonds from that number of transfers, but we've not even had that. You're sitting there and going, 'how can it possibly go so wrong'.
"Listen, a lot of money has been spent on players, obviously not the right ones. In the cold light of day, it comes down to people picking those players, and, once they're in the building, not improving as players. It's been an absolute shambles. "
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