Peter Schmeichel calls out Erik ten Hag in awkward interview after Man United boss tried to dodge blaming ‘individuals’ for losing a two-goal lead… and ex-keeper names two stars who let them down

Former Man United favourite Peter Schmeichel publicly disagreed with Erik ten Hag in an awkward interview after the Red Devils’ chaotic clash with Galatasaray.

The two sides played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Rams Park on Wednesday with United leading 2-0 and 3-1, before being pegged back.

There was plenty to like about their performance but individual errors continued to cost them with Andre Onana guilty of two huge mistakes that allowed Chelsea loanee Hakim Ziyech to score two free kicks.

The result means United’s hopes of qualifying for the last 16 are no longer in their own hands, with them needing to beat Bayern Munich in their final game of the group stage and also relying on Galatasaray to draw with FC Copenhagen.

And when interviewing United’s boss post match for CBS Sports, Schmeichel called out ten Hag for his comments about the game.

United led 2-0 and 3-1, but dropped points in a huge blow to their hopes of reaching the last 16 

Ten Hag had refused to blame individuals for the draw despite two errors from Andre Onana

‘I’m disappointed,’ ten Hag said when asked for his thoughts on United’s display. ‘We did many things very good but if you are twice leading 2-0 and 3-1, you have to defend better.

‘And it was poor defending as a team so we should have done that better.’

Schmeichel then responded: ‘You say poor defending as a team? I actually have the impression the defence worked well today and defended well but it was mistakes by individuals.

‘Are you worried you don’t have the right kind of players to take the team to where you want to be?’

Despite the awkward exchange, ten Hag kept his cool and added: ‘No. We are in a project and so we have to learn from this and take it from here. 

‘It’s all very positive how we can play and perform and to which levels we can achieve but football is a game of mistakes and details make a difference. 

‘We made some mistakes as a team and we got punished for it.’

Speaking elsewhere during CBS Sports’ coverage, Schmeichel – who made 398 appearances for United and won the 1998-99 Champions League with them – highlighted the individual mistakes he was referring to by slamming Onana for his performance in Istanbul.

‘Do you know what? I think the back four played very well today, I don’t think they could have done much more,’ he explained. 

‘Again though, you can’t argue, the mistakes by the goalkeeper are very, very expensive.

‘Every time a goalkeeper makes a mistake, it is a goal, that is just a fact of life. If you go back to Sunday, everything worked really well but when you play at this level, every little mistake you make is being penalised and you have got to learn that.’

Schmeichel also directed his ire at Anthony Martial after the much-maligned Frenchman replaced Rasmus Hojlund – who had only just returned from injury – on 58 minutes when the score was 3-1.

Schmeichel claimed the defence did well and insisted individual mistakes were the problem

He also hit out at the performance of Anthony Martial (left) along with Andre Onana (right) 

He added: ‘When you are 2-0 up, and it is not the first time we have been 2-0 up in this tournament, you have to kill the game, you make sure the other team can’t get into it, you keep the ball and try not to make mistakes. 

‘Of course, though, you have got to have a look at when (Rasmus) Hojlund came off, a lot of the pressure from the very front disappeared.

‘The guy you put in (Martial) did not do anything. You had someone (Hojlund) who worked really hard for the team up front but suddenly you don’t have that pressure which gives the other team a lot of opportunities to pass the ball around. 

‘These are all things you have got to look at but, when you score this amount of goals, you expect to have more than one point.’