Benni McCarthy slams Erik ten Hag for “wasting” huge opportunity with ex-Man United star

Benni McCarthy has slammed Erik ten Hag for “wasting” a huge opportunity with one of Manchester United’s former players.

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is currently under great pressure after a poor start to the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.

The Reds have won just two games–against Fulham and Southampton–and their most recent league games at Old Trafford both ended in 3-0 defeats against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

Pressure is building against the manager who INEOS decided to stick with in the summer despite exploring the options in the managerial market.

The new structure at United provided Ten Hag with a new-look coaching staff, with the likes of Benni McCarthy and Mitchell van der Gaag departing.

McCarthy, who was the forward’s coach during Ten Hag’s first two seasons at the club, has been critical of Ten Hag’s passion in recent days and also touched on the manager’s feud with Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022.

Ronaldo left the club only a few months after Ten Hag took charge following a shocking interview with Piers Morgan. Ronaldo and the Dutch manager clearly did not see eye to eye.

Speaking to ZEROZERO this week, McCarthy has suggested that Ten Hag “wasted” a huge opportunity with Ronaldo at Old Trafford and that he would’ve handled things differently as manager.

“It was inevitable,” McCarthy said when asked about Ronaldo’s exit. “In the end he left the club and chose Al Nassr and is proving to everyone that he can still score goals.

“If we work as a team and then let Cristiano do what he needs to do in his position, because he is the best in the world at it, that is ideal.

“I think Manchester United wasted a great opportunity to use Cristiano in the right way. But I was not the head coach and I could not be the one to make those decisions.”

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