Richard Keys has launched into a rant about Erik ten Hag, insisting that he has been overhyped and was to blame for Manchester United’s abject capitulation against Liverpool.
United were hammered 7-0 by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday evening in a result which sent shockwaves through the Premier League. The record defeat came on the back of an 11-game unbeaten run which involved United winning their first trophy for six years.
After the drubbing on Merseyside, Ten Hag said his players had been “really unprofessional” in the second half. But disgraced former Sky Sports anchor Keys has pointed the finger at the United manager, claiming his side have been “getting away with a lot recently” thanks to Marcus Rashford’s fantastic goal scoring form.
Keys previously branded Ten Hag, “Ten Months”, but the Dutchman has successfully passed that milestone, so he has changed the nickname to “Seven Hag”, in reference to the embarrassing scoreline.
The beIN SPORTS presenter wrote of Ten Hag in his blog: “He strikes me as very keen to take credit when things go well, but it’s always somebody else’s fault when they don’t. This time his players were ‘unprofessional’ and ‘didn’t stick to the plan’. In other words - don’t blame me guv’.
“I’d have rather heard him say ‘it’s a one-off. It won’t happen again and it certainly won’t spoil the work that we’ve all been doing’. That would’ve been enough. Take it on the chin as a collective. He’s the one complaining that United ‘didn’t stick together’ but he’s distancing himself from it.”
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Keys does begrudgingly accept that United have been “making progress” in recent months, but he claims Ten Hag’s game plan is simply “sitting and waiting to mug the opposition with Rashford’s pace”. He holds special criticism for Ten Hag’s use of Wout Weghorst, who has contributed just one goal in 14 appearances since joining on loan from Burnley in January.
Keys slams the Netherlands international as “the worst player I’ve ever seen in a United jersey” and claims his use as a No.10 in recent matches is Ten Hag trying to be “too clever”.
He wrote: “It’s a joke and the manager has got to give up pretending that Weghorst has got something to offer. He’s not a ‘pressing monster’. He doesn’t ‘make runs’ because he can’t run. And he doesn’t score goals.”
Despite Keys’ anguish, United are still in contention to win a quadruple this season, even if that seems extremely unlikely. They are third in the Premier League, 14 points behind Arsenal, and in the last 16 of the Europa League and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
They will face Real Betis in the first leg of their Europa League knockout tie on Thursday at Old Trafford before hosting struggling Southampton on Sunday in the Premier League.
