Man Utd legend calls out Erik ten Hag and would not swap condemned Old Trafford star ‘for anyone’
Dwight Yorke claims he would not swap Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea for ‘anyone’ and also feels that Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag ‘needs to be called out’ over the club’s struggles in recent weeks.
The Dutchman’s first season at the club has largely been a successful one, having won the Carabao Cup and reached the FA Cup final while they are also on course to finish in the top four. However, their recent indifferent form is making the latter tougher than it should have been.
United have lost their last two Premier League games 1-0 and are currently only a point ahead of fifth-placed Liverpool in the table.
In total, the Red Devils have lost nine league games this season, that is more defeats than they suffered under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
And Yorke said: “Manchester United losing nine games in the Premier League under Erik ten Hag does raise some issues.
“If you are a Manchester United manager, you will always be scrutinised for little details or mistakes. There’s nowhere to hide.
“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a better record than Ten Hag in his full two seasons managing the club, people talk about the progress we’ve made and the better style of football being played,” Yorke added in an interview with King Casino Bonus.
“Manchester United have reached the FA Cup final, won the Carabao Cup and made it far in the Europa League so that is progress, but Ten Hag losing more Premier League games than Solskjaer in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons has to be called out.
“The results have not been good enough this season, Manchester United are looking over their shoulder and are desperately trying to hold onto fourth place, I’m not sure that’s where the club wants to be.
“You can’t hide in these circumstances, the players and the manager alike need to be called out. Ten Hag gets the praise when the team is playing well, he has to take the criticism when it goes wrong too.
“The disappointing thing in my observation in these games is that Manchester United don’t know how to win ugly, it always has to be a pretty game of football.
“We rarely win games 1-0, football is not about scoring loads of goals, it’s about getting the results and rolling your sleeves up in certain games, like the West Ham game.”
De Gea still an outstanding keeper
Yorke also backed De Gea after the United stopper was hammered for his error in the 1-0 loss to West Ham last weekend.
The Spaniard will be out of contract in the summer and that has been plenty of speculation over whether he will sign a new deal or be replaced.
However, Yorke insists he would not swap the 32-year-old for ‘anyone’ and certainly not reported target, Brentford’s David Raya.
Yorke said: “I have not seen any outstanding goalkeepers that are far greater than David de Gea, so I wouldn’t swap him for anyone at the moment, even with the mistakes he’s made recently.
“I really don’t think there’s many better goalkeepers in the world than De Gea. Is David Raya better than De Gea? I don’t think so.
“Manchester United will be looking for a better player as well as a character who can come in and deal with the step up of playing for Manchester United. Maybe Dean Henderson can do it, but I’m not so sure.”
United are back in action on Saturday when they host Wolves in the Premier League.
