Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have been clashing again over Erik ten Hag and Arne Slot following Liverpool's 3-0 Premier League demolition of Manchester United at Old Trafford

Roy Keane and Ian Wright watch on as Gary Neville holds his head in his hands while Jamie Carragher makes his point(Image: The Overlap)

While not quite as entertaining Liverpool's latest demolition of Manchester United on the pitch, the heated exchange between Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville off it wasn't a bad sideshow.

After the match, they clashed over Erik ten Hag and his counterpart and fellow Dutchman Arne Slot.

While Slot heads into the international break on the back of a perfect start to life as Liverpool head coach, the pressure is mounting on Ten Hag.

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The United manager managed to hold on to his job in the summer on the back of an FA Cup final victory over neighbours Manchester City and a tortuous end-of-season review.

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But the Reds' 3-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday - which followed 7-0, 4-0, 5-0 and 4-2 annihilations of their bitter rivals in the past three years - means questions are now being asked of Ten Hag once more.

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Red Devils great Neville is sticking by Ten Hag, which continues to leave Liverpool legend Carragher perplexed, with the pair again clashing on the latest edition of The Overlap just days after their set to at Old Trafford.

With their fellow panellists Roy Keane and Ian Wright watching on, Carragher kicked things off by saying the only reason the debate over Ten Hag's future continues to rage is because United's new football leadership team took so long to make a decision over his position following the Wembley win over City.

“I think what happened after the (FA Cup) final was one, they were shocked that they won and the way they did, and secondly, the United fans are incredibly loyal to all their managers full stop and they wanted Ten Hag to be backed and kept," said Neville.

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'And I think they have seen enough managers turfed out over the last 10 years and think maybe it's not the managers that are the problem, it’s the structure and the recruitment, and I think there was an element of them listening to the mood music over the 7-10 days.

“They sounded out around that time (Graham) Potter, (Gareth) Southgate, (Roberto) De Zerbi and (Thomas) Tuchel and the mood music around that from the fans was probably negative.

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'There is no doubt they were having a flirt around the market and seeing what they could see.

I think if there had been an unbelievable manager that was available that could 100 per cent improve United, beyond what Erik ten Hag could, they would have made a change."

Carragher interjected with the name of Tuchel, who won the Champions League at Chelsea, to which Neville replied: "I did say this to you on Sunday - why do you think Liverpool didn't appoint Thomas Tuchel?

"Liverpool had six months to replace Jurgen Klopp and still found it quite challenging to get their number one and two targets."

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Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have clashed once again over Erik ten Hag(Image: The Overlap)

At this point, Carragher exploded, while a smirking but silent Keane and Wright could see what was coming, saying: "Where are you getting it from that Arne Slot wasn't Liverpool's top target?" And asking: "Why didn't Man United employ Arne Slot then?"

A back-and-forth continued with Wright doing his best to steer the conversation back to Ten Hag, who Neville believes must be given "three-four months" to bed in his team, who have now lost two of their opening three games of the 2024-25 Premier League season.

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In contrast, Slot, who took over from the legendary Klopp after early favourite Xabi Alonso made it clear he would not leave Bayer Leverkusen, has taken nine points from nine.

While Liverpool have clearly been better run than their rivals, Carragher believes the talk of a structural problems at United should not shield Ten Hag from criticism, especially as he has once again been heavily backed in the transfer market.

Even former Red Devils captain Keane admits, like Wright, that the Old Trafford boss needs to be showing more after a dreadful league campaign in 2023-24 that saw his old club come a lowly eighth.

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All fun and games.
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