Richard Keys has leapt to Alejandro Garnacho's defence after the Manchester United star 'liked' two social media posts criticising boss Erik ten Hag.
Garnacho, 19, was brought off at half-time during United's dire 2-2 draw away to Bournemouth on Saturday. The Argentina international had given the ball away for Bournemouth's opening goal but despite setting up Bruno Fernandes' first-half equaliser, Garnacho was brought off in place of team-mate Amad.
After the match, fans noticed that the 19-year-old's account had liked two posts from United fan channel host Mark Goldbridge, one of which accused Ten Hag of throwing Garnacho under the bus when speaking in his post-match press conference. Ex-Sky Sports presenter Keys has now given his verdict and hit out at Ten Hag.
"He's not realistic is he?" he declared on beIN Sports. "I've said this before, he lives in a parallel universe. [There's] a fair bit of criticism as a result of taking off Garnacho at half-time. It's been suggested he threw the 19-year-old under a bus.
"I have some sympathy with that view. Garnacho's dug him out week in week out over the last two months. Young players make mistakes, he said... The damage has been done from Ten Hag's perspective."
During his post-match press conference, Ten Hag referenced Garnacho's error and admitted that United had "some problems" on the teenager's side of the pitch. "We lost some balls in areas we shouldn't lose them," the Dutch manager affirmed.
"If you see the first goal, the set-up was good but in that area you should never lose the ball but it's still not a goal. On the right side defending we had some problems in the first half. At half-time, we repaired it.
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"In the second half, Harry [Maguire] was better, we repaired it on the right side and we took more control of the game and if we would have been more calm and composed, we could have had a win. First half, they were better. They created chances but the good thing is we returned twice from losing positions. So this team, the spirit is good, the resilience is good, they showed some character."
Ten Hag added: "I think we had to repair over the right side. We didn't play well, the spaces were there. In possession, we had to bring a sub there. Garnacho was during the week not training. Only yesterday. We thought to bring some energy and bring some more quality, quality in the sense of cooperation and togetherness on that right-hand side."
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