Jamie Carragher never misses an opportunity to criticise Manchester United and used five-minutes of his analysis spot on Sky’s Monday Night Football show to do exactly that.

The Liverpool legend has impressed with his astute tactical analysis in recent weeks and focussed on the frailties of United’s defence in their 2-1 weekend defeat by Fulham.

Erik ten Hag suffered his first loss of the new year as Marco Silva’s Fulham side scored either side of Harry Maguire’s goal to seal a stoppage time victory.

However, the defensive partnership that was first crafted during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final season in charge rarely works and was picked off with ease by Fulham.

Jamie Carragher blasted Manchester United’s defensive frailties under Erik ten Hag this season

United were beaten 2-1 by Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday in their first defeat of the new year

United defender Raphael Varane failed to close down Alex Iwobi who scored the winning goal

Alex Iwobi’s late winner involved Maguire being easily beaten for pace by Adama Traore before Varane failed to close Iwobi down before his eventual strike nestled in the back of the net.

Carragher mocked United’s defending against Fulham and questioned the tactics both with and without the ball that Ten Hag had placed on his team.

‘We go to the reason why they’re poor defensively and can’t cope with counterattacks,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports.

‘They’ve got no pace at the back and they have a lack of legs in midfield. Another big problem for them is when they’ve got the ball.’

‘These players can’t receive the ball in the positions they take up so actually there is a massive problem for Manchester United when they’ve got the ball.

‘How many times have we seen Manchester United players having to run 40 yards back towards their own goal?’ he added.

Carragher used his five-minute analysis spot on Sky Sports Monday Night Football to focus on Man United’s defending

Carragher questioned the tactics both with and without the ball that Ten Hag had placed on his team

Former Arsenal and Manchester City defender, Gael Clichy joined Carragher in his analysis, adding: ‘The compactness of Manchester United is off, a simple pass will eliminate maybe six players of United and what you see is a four against three.’

Carragher replied: ‘The most important thing in defending is being compact, it will not go out of style.’

Saturday’s defeat at Old Trafford moves United’s goal difference back down to zero after previously increasing to +1 since the first match of the season in their win over Luton.

Ten Hag’s team have conceded more goals than any other in the Premier League’s top six (36) and scored fewer goals than any team in the top half of the table (36).