Man United legend slams Erik ten Hag’s “unfair” comments and praises star

Manchester United legend Steve Bruce has criticised Erik ten Hag for his “unfair” comments on one current star who has excelled this season.

Bruce, 63, captained United to their first three Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson and worked with some of the talent coming through the academy during that period.

Whilst the club is not fighting for the biggest trophies right now, there is still emerging talent from Carrington to excite fans.

One of those players has been Alejandro Garnacho, who broke into the first-team squad under Erik ten Hag last season.

The Argentine winger has since become a key starter for the Dutch manager this season, starting the last 30 games in a row.

However, last time out against Bournemouth, the winger was replaced by Amad Diallo at half-time, and Ten Hag suggested that the team needed to improve on the right side when questioned about the decision.

“(Ten Hag’s comments were) a bit unfair,” club legend Bruce told talkSPORT.

“If he’d said it was a tactical change… I think what he did say (to paraphrase Ten Hag) is that ‘we had to have a bit more defensive work on the right-hand side’,” Bruce adds. “Hence, that’s why he took Garnacho off.”

Following the game, Garnacho liked two posts on social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, which criticised the manager’s decision and hinted towards criticism to Garnacho’s teammates.

The matter has since been dealt with internally, with Garnacho unliking the posts on social media.

“You have to deal with likes and Tweets and all this nonsense. But that’s the job, that’s what it entails,” added Bruce.

“There is no doubt at all, Garnacho in his first real season, has been a plus point for Man United. The kid is only 19 years old. He looks like he has something about him. Going forward, he can only get better.

“(Playing for Man United) means something to him. So he’s not going to be happy being pulled off at half-time. But he’ll learn from that, that’s for sure.”