Jamie Carragher dismisses Erik ten Hag explanation after Man United decision

Jamie Carragher has asserted that Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez were indeed dropped by Erik ten Hag for Sunday's crucial match against Aston Villa and not rotated.

The Sky Sports commentator made his claim in the early stages of the game, despite the United manager's insistence that the pair, who both had a difficult time in the midweek draw with FC Porto, were not chosen due to "rotation".

Ten Hag was asked before the match about Matthijs de Ligt's absence, considering he only joined the club from Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window in August. He replied: "It's just rotation. We've so much games to cover, so we have to bring them all in."

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However, Carragher dismissed this explanation, stating: "You don't rotate centre-backs. They've been dropped."

Rio Ferdinand also seemed to doubt Ten Hag's reasoning, which he used again in midweek when Marcus Rashford was controversially substituted at half-time against FC Porto despite several threatening attacks. The former United defender cryptically posted on his X account before the match began: "Rotation.".

Ten Hag has faced increasing scrutiny recently due to United's poor start to the season. Before Sunday, they had only won three of their first nine matches in all competitions, intensifying the pressure on the Dutchman.

When asked by BBC Sport if he had faith in Ten Hag, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe declined to comment, saying: "I don't want to answer that question...I like Erik. I think he's a very good coach but at the end of the day it's not my call, it's the management team that's running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects."

He added that the new management team, including CEO Omar Berrada and Sporting Director Dan Ashworth, who only started in July, need time to assess the situation and make informed decisions. "They've only been there...you can count it in weeks almost - they've not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions," he added.

"Our objective is very clear - we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it's not there yet, obviously - that's very clear."