Paul Scholes has questioned a couple of Erik ten Hag’s decisions after Man Utd put in a “messy” performance against Real Sociedad in the Europa League.
United needed to beat Real Sociedad by two goals on Thursday night to finish ahead of them to top Group E.
The Red Devils made a perfect start as 18-year-old Alejandro Garnacho scored inside the opening 20 minutes.
The visitors were unable to add to their lead before the final whistle though so they will have to settle for second place in their Europa League group.
The second half fizzled out somewhat after Ten Hag did all he could to help his side double their lead. Harry Maguire was even subbed on as a makeshift striker to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo late on.
This came to no avail, though. Man Utd now must play in a knockout round play-off against a side who have dropped out of the Champions League. Their potential opponents include Ajax, FC Barcelona and Juventus.
Club legend Scholes claimed post-match that “it became a mess” after the interval.
“I think it got a bit messy that second half, I’m not too sure what he was trying to achieve,” Scholes told BT Sport.
“I think it started with the Lindelof substitution, United first half were in complete control, and Lindelof’s substitution puts Casemiro into the back four or back three, whatever it ended up.
“Marcus Rashford comes on for Van de Beek as a number 10 and it’s not Marcus’ position, he needs to be on the shoulder of people, he needs to be out wide, in space receiving the ball.
“[Harry] Maguire goes up top and it becomes a long ball game. I’m all for that, it can work, but second half I just thought… after being in complete control, it became a mess.”
Owen Hargreaves then suggested that United “did not create anything” in the second half.
“They did not create much from open play,” Hargreaves added.
“He obviously had a game plan, he wanted to play some longer balls. They didn’t create anything. It’s a tough place to go, they kept a clean sheet, they wanted two goals. The first half was great, the second half didn’t really go to plan.”
Bruno Fernandes also spoke after United’s 1-0 win. He praised Garnacho but claimed that the teenager “didn’t have the best attitude” during pre-season.
“He [Garnacho] was good, but he knows we expect a lot from him,” Fernandes said.
“In the [pre-season] tour, he didn’t have the best attitude, that’s why he didn’t get chances. Now he’s…
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