The Red Devils triggered a one-year contract extension for Ten Hag in the summer, but only after considering alternatives in the wake of an eighth-placed finish in the Premier League and unexpected FA Cup success, beating Man City in the final .
And the Man Utd boss is already back under pressure after taking three points from their opening three Premier League matches of the season and Hargreaves has hit out at the Dutchman for having his full-backs, Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, too high up the pitch against Liverpool
“The first goal is a bad pass from Casemiro and he gets all the criticism but the full-backs can’t be there against Liverpool,” Hargreaves said on the Kelly and Wrighty Show.
“They get in this crazy position where they are too high. Okay, it’s a bad ball but where are your two full-backs against Liverpool – it’s crazy!
“And that’s on the manager. Mazroui should be there at the back post but Diaz just ends up getting a tap-in.
“But again that’s on the manager because he is saying “when we get the ball, you go high”. You only go high when you have good possession and they didn’t with all those goals.”
Liverpool boss Arne Slot revealed after the match that Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai played a key role in exposing the weaknesses of Man Utd under Ten Hag.
Slot said after the match: “Last season, they were man-marking in the midfield and they had a press with the No.7 and the No.11, so with the striker and one of the wingers jumped with him.
“This season they are more with a No.9 and a No.10 press, so they are more in a 4-4-2, so that’s different of course.
“I see them, in my opinion, working harder if the ball is being played through them, so they run more. That’s at least what I saw in their first games.
“Their style is also this season, maybe last season as well, that I don’t remember that well, but their full-backs are, nine out of ten times, really high and then Casemiro comes in between so if you pick the ball and you can keep Luis Diaz and Mo Salah high, then you’re constantly in a one-vs-one situation.
“And then you need midfielders who can run, and we had three of them today who kept on running and if they arrive in a duel they are aggressive enough to win it. That was I think one of the main things why we could win today.”
Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada has insisted Erik ten Hag has his and the club’s full backing and remains the right man to take the club forward.
Speaking alongside new sporting director Dan Ashworth shortly before kick off against Liverpool, Berrada said it would take more than a couple of bad results to shake the club’s belief in their manager.
“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely,” he said. “We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.”
Ten Hag’s contract was extended before either Berrada or Ashworth had taken up their positions this summer but both said they were happy with the decision.
Ashworth said: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Erik for the last eight weeks.
“I see my job is to support him in every way I possibly can and whether that’s operationally, whether that’s with recruitment, whether that’s with medical, whether that’s with psychology, whether that’s training ground flow, it’s just to take as much of that off him to allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the match tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United.”
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