Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards launched a stinging critique of Erik ten Hag, claiming that the Manchester United boss exhibited a "lack of respect" towards England and national team manager Gareth Southgate. ITV Euro 2024 pundit Richards, alongside Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer on their 'The Rest is Football' podcast, pulled apart ten Hag's comments about the Three Lions' recent 1-0 victory over Serbia. Lineker introduced the issue to his co-hosts, quoting ten Hag's opinion directly: "He basically said England were really good, got a goal up and then Southgate decided that, as he always does, he wants to sit and be defensive, and it was really strong words.
" Lineker, once a star striker for Leicester City, also dived deeper into ten Hag's viewpoint highlighting the contentious parts, Ten Hag was quoted as saying: "'After a while England were playing very passive, I actually saw them moving backwards, they kept Serbia coming at them it's the vision of the manager. England take a 1-0 lead then he decides to start gambling with making his team compact, relying on moments for the remaining minutes of the game." This compounded a sense of disrespect felt by Richards, prompting him to make a "glass houses" comment in response to the Dutch coach's analysis of England's performance.
Feeling clearly ruffled, Richards offered a passionate response, saying: "So now he's being a pundit talking about how managers are playing in a negative fashion when we talked about Man U.