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5 months ago
33 Former Man City defender Micah Richards has accused Manchester United manager Erik ten Hga of showing “lack of respect” following his analysis of England at Euro 2024.
Richards, now considered a pundit, appears to struggle with the idea of other people carrying out their role as pundits. He was joined by Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer on the latest episode of The Red is Football podcast.
Ten Hag appeared on Dutch TV channel NOS on Sunday night as a special guest to provide analysis of England vs Serbia, which ended in a 1-0 win for the Three Lions thanks to a goal from Jude Bellingham.
Lineker was keen to share Ten Hag’s perspective about the performance. That was when Richards opened fire and accused the Dutchman of disrespecting Gareth Southgate’s approach.
Making a clear attempt to stir the pot, Lineker said, as quoted by The Mirror: “He basically said England were really good, got a goal up and then Southgate decided that, as he always does, he wants to sit and be defensive, and it was really strong words.”
Lineker went on to quote Ten Hag as saying: “After a while England were playing very passive, I actually saw them moving backwards, they kept Serbia coming at them. It’s the vision of the manager. England take a 1-0 lead then he decides to start gambling with making his team compact, relying on moments for the remaining minutes to the game.”
Richards and co obviously read the above statement in a critical tone, but I firmly believe Ten Hag was only making simple observations. They overlook the fact he is right about England’s performance, yet these same pundits are quick to pick United part for inviting pressure and letting opponents come at us.
Hitting back at Ten Hag’s analysis, Richards said: “Glass houses, to start with, and we basically had this conversation in the FA Cup final.
“So now he’s being a pundit talking about how managers are playing in a negative fashion when we talked about Man United and how they’ve not had a good season because where they’re finished in the league, he bites at us. It’s ridiculous. We’ve backed him so many times and said the way he’s been treated has not been great and now he’s talking about our managers, it’s a lack of respect.”
There is a lot of irony in Richards’ comments because they – Lineker, Shearer and himself – haven’t been supportive towards Ten Hag.
Lineker added another question: “Has he (Ten Hag) got a point though?”
Richards rambled on and instantly backtracked by saying: “He’s got a great point but that’s irrelevant of the facts.”
The former City defender is one of the worst pundits in the game, so it doesn’t surprise us that he often trips over his words.
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