Former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher took aim at Paul Pogba after the Frenchman's message for his Manchester United teammates before their defeat at Arsenal.
The £89m midfielder sat out the trip to north London, having suffered what could be a season-ending injury in the Red Devils' midweek loss at Liverpool. With the former Juventus man out of contract in the summer, there's a chance he has played his final game for the club.
Pogba tweeted a message of support during the game, which ended in a 3-1 defeat for Ralf Rangnick's side. However, Carragher clearly wasn't impressed with what he read.
"Absolutely gutted to not be able to help the team in today's game," Pogba wrote. "I will work even harder to come back stronger and hopefully before the end of the season.
"It's not over. Thank you all for your support, United we would stand!"
Carragher shared the tweet with the caption "Can you tweet something like……". The implication from the pundit seemed to be that Pogba was instructed to make the show of support, rather than devising the message himself.
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Pogba's comments were in contrast to those of interim manager Rangnick in the lead-up to the game. When confirming the midfielder's absence on Friday, he said "he won’t be available for tomorrow and most likely not for the upcoming games".
Rangnick also implied he could not speak for incoming manager Erik ten Hag when it came to a potential new deal for Pogba. The Ajax manager has been confirmed as United's new permanent boss, and will take over in time for the 2022-23 season.
"As it seems right now he will not renew his contract and I don’t know, maybe the club or Erik [ten Hag] will not want to renew his contract, I don’t know," the interim manager said. "It’s most likely he won’t be here anymore next season."
Without Pogba, United started with Nemanja Matic and the returning Scott McTominay as a double pivot at the Emirates Stadium. However, they found themselves two goals behind shortly after the half-hour mark.
Cristiano Ronaldo got United back into the game, but Bruno Fernandes missed a golden chance to equalise when he struck the foot of the post with a penalty kick. A long-range strike from Granit Xhaka restored Arsenal's two goal advantage, and that's how the game ended.
It was United's fourth away defeat on the spin after reverses against Manchester City, Everton and Liverpool. Next up for Rangnick's side is a home meeting with Chelsea on Thursday, before they round off their season with games against Brentford, Brighton and Crystal Palace.
