Keown tells Man Utd boss Ten Hag he’s ‘kidding himself’ over one decision: ‘He’s the Rodri of their team’ | OneFootball

Erik ten Hag shouts instructions to his players during a match.

Arsenal legend Martin Keown has questioned Erik ten Hag’s thinking after he substituted Manchester United midfielder Sofyan Amrabat at half-time against Manchester City on Sunday.

A promising first campaign under the Dutchman has been forgotten as a challenging start to this term for Man Utd continued with Sunday’s humbling at home to Manchester City.

Erling Haaland’s brace and a late Phil Foden goal sealed City a derby victory at Old Trafford that was more one-sided than even the 3-0 scoreline suggested.

Outclassed, outthought and outmanoeuvred for the most part, it was an embarrassing end to the Red Devils’ admittedly unconvincing three-match winning run in all competitions.

Man Utd boss Ten Hag was criticised for his substitutions during the match with Amrabat taken off at half-time and replaced by Mason Mount.

“We had to create because we were losing the match,” Ten Hag said of the Amrabat subsitution. “We couldn’t wait and with Mason Mount, we can expect creativity.”

But Keown was baffled by the decision to replace Amrabat, with the Mount substitution leaving lots of space for Man City to romp to their 3-0 win.

Keown said on talkSPORT: “You look at the manager and he said, ‘okay our midfield is not quite strong enough to get Amrabat in’.

“So you get Amrabat in to manage the midfield and he’s the Rodri of their team.

“What does Ten Hag do? He takes him off at half-time. What is he thinking, the manager? Can you explain that to me?

“When we ask him questions after the game, can you ask him about the tactics because the answers are coming from shaped questions, whereas I want to know about his opinion.

“Don’t ask him a question, tell him to analyse his team because it’s not very good and I think that he’s kidding himself.”

But Man Utd legend Peter Schmeichel was critical of Amrabat on Sunday with the former Denmark international claiming the Moroccan was “so far off the pace”.

Schmeichel told Premier League Productions: “I don’t know what his game plan was, I don’t know what he told the players but when he says they played a good first half I don’t agree.

“I mean, he makes a change at half time, there’s a reason for that because it wasn’t working in midfield. Amrabat was so far off the pace Man City basically could do whatever they wanted.

“And the chances, yes, we had chances but they all came from Manchester City mistakes, it wasn’t like we were creating anything.”