Ryan Giggs Criticises Ander Herrera Reaction to Man Utd Loss vs. Huddersfield

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs has criticised Red Devils midfielder Ander Herrera after the Spaniard spoke out about his team-mates' lack of passion following their 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield Town in the Premier League on Saturday. 

Giggs wrote in his Sky Sports column that he felt Herrera set a dangerous precedent by criticising his fellow United players, despite the nature of the shock defeat: "I am a little bit surprised at [Herrera's] comments, though, because you wouldn't really comment about your team-mates, you leave that to the manager. When you start questioning you team-mates' work rates, even if they weren't at it, it can set a dangerous precedent."

United were poor in the opening half against Huddersfield and were 2-0 down inside 33 minutes after the hosts netted through Aaron Mooy and Laurent Depoitre.

Marcus Rashford pulled one back 12 minutes from time in an improved second-half performance, but United could not avoid falling to their first league defeat of the 2017-18 campaign.

In a post-match interview with MUTV (via Sky Sports' Gerard Brand), Herrera said: "They played with more passion than us in the first 30 minutes."

Per Brand, the 28-year-old midfielder took criticism from manager Jose Mourinho for his comments, and Giggs agrees.

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The 13-time Premier League winner also used his column to give his backing to summer signing Victor Linedlof, who endured a difficult day at centre-back against the Terriers.

The 23-year-old Sweden international replaced the injured Phil Jones midway through the first half. He was then bamboozled by Tom Ince in the build-up to the first goal before making a dreadful mistake to allow Depoitre in for the second.

However, Giggs used the example of former United stars Patrice Evra, Jaap Stam and Nemanja Vidic to make the point that some players need time to settle: 

"One player who has attracted a lot of criticism is [Lindelof], but he certainly shouldn't be written off yet. Some players come to the Premier League and bed in straight away and others can take six months or even a year, as it was for [Evra], [Stam] and [Vidic], and they went on to be unbelievable players.

"You win together and lose together and you can't single out a player, especially when he hasn't been playing regularly. He's just got to knuckle down and come through this."

Mourinho has used Lindelof sparingly so far this season following his £31 million move from Benfica, starting him in the UEFA Champions League and Carabao Cup but not in the Premier League.

United fans will hope Giggs is right that the young defender needs time to bed in to the squad to then show his true talent.