Erik ten Hag has hit back at Jamie Carragher over the Liverpool icon’s brutal breakdown of Manchester United’s tactical problems in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat against Fulham. The United manager suggested that Carragher’s insight is “subjective” but admitted Fulham caught him by surprise with their approach at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag oversaw the Red Devils’ 15th defeat of the season and 10th in the Premier League as Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi took advantage of a woeful performance to halt recent momentum.

On Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher spent five minutes analysing what went wrong for United against Fulham alongside Gael Clichy.

Both expressed their bemusement over the hosts’ set-up, particularly the positioning of some players, including Kobbie Mainoo, which continues to leave a huge gap between the defence and midfield.

And while Ten Hag conceded that United didn’t expect Fulham’s game plan, the Dutchman aimed fire at Carragher for his consistent criticism.

“First of all, some analysts are very objective in their comments. [They offer] very good advice, [but] some are very subjective,” Ten Hag explained on Tuesday.

“Jamie Carragher, from the first moment on, has criticised, and now he wants to make his point. [But] probably in the first half an hour, yeah, he had a point.

“Fulham, in their midfield set-up, surprised us a little bit, and then we had to find the solutions. After half an hour, we found the solutions.”

Despite contesting Carragher’s relentless observations, Ten Hag also claimed he was unhappy with his side’s defensive performance, labelling it “unacceptable”.

He added: “I was not pleased with the performance with the defending, esepcially on the left side, how we did the pressing because they came out, especially in the first half an hour.

“Several times on the left side, and that can’t happen, and that has to do with willingness, spirit, passion.