Peter Schmeichel has ripped into Erik ten Hag for his half-time substitution which backfired against Nottingham Forest.
Erik ten Hag will be fuming after he and his slide once again slipped to defeat, this time against Nottingham Forest.
The 2-1 loss to Forest felt like a real blow particularly considering it came after the euphoric high of Tuesday’s win over Aston Villa.
There were plenty of concerning factors in this game with Ten Hag at fault for a few as he made a couple of mistakes in the game.
One of these mistakes has now been characterised by Peter Schmeichel as a ‘confusing’ one.
Schmeichel slams Erik ten Hag
Schmeichel was on punditry duty for SuperSport on Saturday evening and following the match, he wasn’t impressed by Ten Hag’s choice of substitutions.
“I can understand you wanting Scott McTominay on, but not for the guy you take off, the guy you take off – young [Kobbie] Mainoo – is such a good player and he was playing alright, he was controlling that part of the pitch very very well, and there was no need to make that change when you have other players on the pitch who have given absolutely nothing to this game. So I question the substitution and what that signals to the rest of the team.
“Was it to make an impact? If you want to make an impact then you have to leave impact players on and take [players who don’t make an impact] off, but he didn’t and I think that had a big effect on the game.”
Schmeichel then explained his confusion over the midfield trio Ten Hag fielded in the second half.
“Where is Scott McTominay’s position when he comes on, where is Bruno then going to play and what’s Christian Eriksen‘s job there where is he supposed to be? See this is all confusing for me as someone watching but also [will be] for the players obviously throughout the second 45 minutes.
“But when Mainoo is playing, he’s there, that’s his job he stays there. He’s young but he has that discipline so I just don’t understand why you’d take that player off, that was not the area that was struggling.”
Ten Hag needs to get his midfield right at United
Last season, Ten Hag’s midfield of Eriksen and Casemiro was extremely solid and balanced which makes his selection choices this season all the more baffling.
To play an 18-year-old alone in the six – with Eriksen a non-factor out of possession – is a very risky move, but it’s even riskier to withdraw him to effectively play three attacking midfielders.
Mainoo needs to be paired with a midfielder who compliments him and hopefully, upon his return, Casemiro can be just that for United.
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