Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag was left furious with Alan Shearer, branding the Match of the Day pundit "stupid" after he called out one of his players.
Shearer singled out United striker Marcus Rashford for criticism following the 26-year-old's difficult start to the season, where he failed to score or provide an assist.
The England international missed a golden chance in the Community Shield which his side went on to lose, and he was substituted by his manager during the 2-1 defeat to Brighton last weekend.
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Former England and Newcastle striker Shearer, appearing as a regular pundit on Match of the Day, pulled no punches in his assessment of Rashford.
But Ten Hag unleashed a rant about pundits in general, hitting out at what he perceived to be constant criticism, before zeroing in on Shearer's "stupid" analysis.
"Everyone gets criticism from you guys, it doesn’t matter what we are doing, if we are winning, if we are losing," he said on Friday. "If I take a player off, the conclusion is I was not happy with him. I was very happy with Rashy in pre-season, against Fulham and also against Brighton.
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"It is not why I took him off because his performances or level were not right - no, we had to rotate and we have good players on the bench as well, you bring new energy.
"There will be rotation and if then there is the conclusion the player is not performing. [It] can be [like that] sometimes, [but] definitely it wasn’t in this case, stupid analysis in this case from the pundit."
Shearer, 54, had taken Rashford to his task over his failure to find the target in United's opeing two matches in the absence of injured striker Rasmus Hojlund.
"He's had two games this season, Marcus Rashford, and he's not had one shot at goal," Shearer said on Match of the Day
"57 goals they [United] scored last season. That was the worst in the top half. Ruud Van Nistelrooy has been brought into there. He's going to have to work his magic somehow.
"I know they've got [Rasmus] Hojlund out injured, but when he comes in he's going to have to improve on that because on today's evidence and in the game against Brighton it's not been anywhere near good enough in front of goal."
