Former Premier League defender Jamie Carragher believes Manchester United’s Under-23s squad could have performed better than their senior pros in their 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.
United were outclassed, facing 18 shots and scoring seven at Selhurst Park.
Palace had 36 touches in United’s penalty area, while the Red Devils managed just 16 in the Eagles’ area.
Carragher told Sky Sports: “No Manchester United team should lose 4-0 to Crystal Palace. I understand the injury issues, but Manchester United’s under-23s will have been coached, put through the academy and taught how to play. Manchester United’s under-23s played Crystal Palace tonight, but they still wouldn’t have lost 4-0 tonight.
“This is one of the least trained teams in the Premier League, that’s a fact. Ten Hag needs performances, he needs to believe.”
The defeat increased the pressure on Erik ten Hag, who has already lost 13 times in the league this season, the club’s worst record since 1989-90 when they lost 16 times.
Asked if he can turn things around, Ten Hag told Sky Sports: “I’m going to keep fighting and I prepared the team the best I could and it wasn’t good enough, by far not good enough. for that, but I will find the energy and prepare them for the game on Sunday.
“All season we’ve had big problems and now this is the fourth defeat this calendar year so it’s not much and we’ve always had big problems and we’ve often sorted it out. .”
Tuesday’s newspapers were not very kind to Ten Hag or his team.
“United drops to new low”, reads the Daily Telegraph. The Mirror chooses ‘Torn to Shreds’ and the Express plays on United’s nickname by starting with ‘Shred Devils’.
