Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has dropped rare praise on Erik ten Hag over the Manchester United manager’s handling of two players at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag’s long-term future at Old Trafford has been shrouded in mystery amid Manchester United’s underperforming season and the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The United boss earned praise for his debut season at Old Trafford after he signed from Ajax in 2022, with Ten Hag lifting the Carabao Cup trophy at the club.
The Red Devils also finished third in the Premier League table in the 2022-23 season and returned to Champions League football for the current campaign.
Erik ten Hag came within touching distance of the FA Cup trophy last season, but United suffered a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the final at Wembley in 2023.
Fast-forward to the current season and United have endured a lacklustre campaign, which included finishing bottom of Group A in the Champions League.
United’s Premier League top-four push has fallen flat and the Red Devils are very unlikely to secure a return to the Champions League for the following season.
But Ten Hag has reached his second consecutive FA Cup final and United still have a shot of adding major silverware to their trophy cabinet before the season is out.
Carragher talks Man Utd boss Ten Hag
Speaking on the latest episode of the Stick to Football show, Jamie Carragher admitted that he ‘admired’ Erik ten Hag on certain things at Manchester United.
Carragher liked how the United boss handled the situation around club legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who had no love lost for Ten Hag at Old Trafford.
Cristiano Ronaldo fell down the pecking order under Ten Hag and dropped a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan in 2022 about his time at United.
The 39-year-old Portuguese forward’s contract with United was terminated by mutual agreement after the aforementioned interview and Ronaldo left the club.
Carragher was an outspoken critic of Ronaldo during his second spell at Old Trafford and the Liverpool legend backed Ten Hag on the matter.
“I think they are the things I admire him [Ten Hag] on,” he said on The Overlap.
“I don’t think he has got them wrong at all. [Cristiano] Ronaldo had to be dealt with, and he dealt with it head-on.”
Carragher on Man Utd star who ‘did nothing’
Along with Ten Hag’s handling of Ronaldo, Carragher believes the former Ajax boss took the right approach with United misfit Jadon Sancho.
Ten Hag publicly criticised Jadon Sancho after he revealed why the United winger was not part of his matchday squad for the Arsenal clash last September.
Sancho hit out on social media after Ten Hag’s admission and the former Borussia Dortmund star was excluded from the United first team due to disciplinary reasons.
The ex-England international left Old Trafford in January and completed a return to Borussia Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the current campaign.
Carragher said that United looked after Sancho last season after his absence from the first-team squad, with Ten Hag making a “very small comment” about it.
However, the Sky Sports pundit ruthlessly tore into the United loanee and claimed that Sancho has done “nothing” for the club since his blockbuster move in 2021.
“Sancho, the club looked after him for a couple of months with whatever was going on off the pitch,” Carragher said.
“I think he [Ten Hag] made a very small comment.
“Let’s be honest: he [Sancho] did nothing for Man United. £70/80 million, and he did nothing. He dealt with that when he stepped out of line.”
