Micah Richards has hit out at Erik ten Hag after the Manchester United manager criticised Gareth Southgate’s tactical approach in the wake of England’s gritty 1-0 victory over Serbia at Euro 2024.
England, one of the hot favourites at this summer’s tournament, got off to a dream start in their opener, with Jude Bellingham powering a thumping header past Predrag Rajkovic after only 13 minutes in Gelsenkirchen.
Harry Kane had a header of his own pushed over the bar by Rajkovic which was as close as England came to doubling their advantage in the Group C contest and Serbia almost capitalised on the Three Lions’ lacklustre showing at the death.
Jordan Pickford was forced into a top save to deny Dusan Vlahovic and Southgate’s men were perhaps fortunate to come away from Arena AufSchalke with all three points.
And while England are sitting pretty at the top of Group C ahead of their meeting with Denmark on Thursday, Ten Hag was less than impressed as he reflected on the performance while on punditry duty for Dutch broadcaster NOS – accusing Southgate of ‘gambling’ with the side’s fortunes.
‘England were playing very passive,’ the Manchester United head coach said shortly after the final whistle.
‘I actually saw them moving backwards, they kept Serbia coming at them. It’s the vision of the manager [Southgate].
‘England will take a 1-0 lead, then he [Southgate] decides to start gambling with making his team compact and relying on moments for the remaining minutes of the game.’
Given Ten Hag’s tactical approach repeatedly came under fire last term, as United endured their worst ever season in the Premier League, Richards was taken aback by the Dutchman’s comments attacking Southgate.
Coincidentally, Southgate was one of the names heavily linked with the Old Trafford job before United bosses opted to keep faith with Ten Hag following a lengthy post-season review.
‘Glass houses, to start with,’ the ex-Manchester City and England defender said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
‘We basically had this conversational in the FA Cup final and now he’s being a pundit talking about how managers are playing in a negative fashion.
‘When we talk about Man United and they’ve not had a good season because of where they’ve finished in the league, he bites at us!
‘It’s ridiculous! We’ve backed him so many times, saying the way he’s been treated has not been great and now he’s talking about other managers, it’s a lack of respect. It’s a lack of respect.’
Richards said Ten Hag’s criticism of Southgate was ‘ridiculous’ (Picture: The Rest Is Football)
Alan Shearer criticised England’s unconvincing display but was glad to have emerged with maximum points from Sunday’s cagey affair, considering the Three Lions’ dismal record in the opening games of European Championships.
‘I was surprised in the second half how far we went back,’ the former England and Newcastle striker said.
‘It wouldn’t have surprised me for 10 or 15 minutes because it’s international football and at times you’re going to have to suffer out of possession, you’re going to have to defend well, you might need your goalkeeper, you might need a bit of luck.
‘But I thought we were really poor. We lacked energy, we lacked spark.
‘We lacked a little bit of know-how as well because you’ve got to play the game a little bit. When we were getting free-kicks we were trying to take quick free-kicks and I’m thinking: “Hang on, f***inghell! Just kill the game! We’re under huge pressure here. We’re winning 1-0, keep the ball frustrate them”.
‘It was really poor I thought in the second half, but it’s an opening game of a European Championships and England notoriously have s*** records in opening games. Before yesterday, we won one in the last ten.’