Jamie Carragher has hit out at criticism of Erik ten Hag's non-use of Cristiano Ronaldo as 'laughable'.

Ronaldo, 37, was an unused substitute in Manchester United's 6-3 defeat away at Manchester City on Sunday leading to some pundits to criticise Ten Hag's decision not to introduce the player. 

Asked why he didn't play Ronaldo, Ten Hag told reporters after the game that it was 'out of respect for his big career' that he wasn't introduced at half-time or thereafter.

Cristiano Ronaldo was an unused substitute as Manchester United lost 6-3 at Manchester City 

This sparked wild criticism from former player Roy Keane on Sky Sports who accused the Dutchman of showing Ronaldo a lack of respect in his refusal to use him outside of European competition.   

Keane said: 'I think Man United are showing disrespect to Ronaldo. I think he should have been let go before the [closing] of the window.

'Okay, you're the manager, you need options but you don't hold onto Ronaldo to sit on the bench. He's one of the greatest players ever.

'He's played him in one or two European games. It's just going to get uglier as the season goes on.'

Meanwhile, Graeme Souness on Monday morning told talkSPORT that he would have played Ronaldo at City as opposed to Marcus Rashford because 'time is not your friend' in football and the manager needs results now.   

'Time is not your friend in football, you have to be winning games today,' he said. 

'It's not about waiting for Marcus Rashford to become the player that most people believe he can be. It's not about giving [Anthony] Martial, because of his age, a place in the team over Ronaldo. It's about today in football. Yeah, I would have [played] Ronaldo.

'Marcus Rashford, when he first burst into the team as a young player you thought "he's the real deal". He's stood still. If you were to ask me today, next week, big game - for all his shortcomings, Ronaldo, I would have played him in front of Rashford.'

However, Carragher did not agree with his Sky Sports colleagues. 

Writing on Twitter, the former Liverpool and England defender said the idea that Ten Hag 'got it (his team selection) wrong' by not playing Ronaldo at City was 'laughable'.

'The idea that Erik ten Hag got it wrong yesterday by not playing Ronaldo is laughable!' he wrote.

'Ronaldo played at Brentford when it was 4-0 at half-time. It’s not a dig at Cristiano Ronaldo, but Rashford’s pace on the counter attack as we saw vs. Arsenal [and] Liverpool was the best option.'

Going into the derby, United had won their previous four games following the ignominious early season defeat at Brentford. 

As noted by Carragher, Rashford scored three goals across the wins over Liverpool and Arsenal, repaying Ten Hag's faith in him over the Portuguese superstar.