Paul Scholes points finger at Erik ten Hag for Man Utd problem: 'Do me a favour!'

Manchester United are struggling to find the back of the net in the Premier League following their stalemate at Crystal Palace and Paul Scholes has given their forwards a withering assessment

Paul Scholes has delivered a brutal assessment of Manchester United's forwards and claimed they are not good enough for the club.

United have managed to score only five goals in five Premier League games this season and failed to find the net in two of those fixtures. Erik ten Hag's side were the joint lowest scorers in the top half of the table last season on 57 goals and ended the campaign with an embarrassing negative goal difference.

United legend Scholes, who scored 152 goals for the club, laid into the team's current attackers and said they are simply not up to the standard required. “ Manchester United are struggling going forward – they’re struggling for goals,” said Scholes.

“They’ve scored five goals and three of them were against Southampton – that probably tells you the forwards just aren’t good enough. Leaving Marcus Rashford out on Saturday was a strange one – he’s not scored for such a long time and suddenly, he comes and scores three goals in two games and he’s not playing. He [Erik ten Hag] said it was rotation – come on, do me a favour.

“Alejandro Garnacho is a threat, but he’s not the end article and we don’t have that finished article in any of the forward areas, apart from Rashford, who’s had a tough time. Bruno Fernandes will score you goals, but they don’t have the centre-forward [that they need].

“Amad Diallo is a little bit like Garnacho – he’s a little bit behind him – but he’s got potential. They're all very raw and have too much potential along the front line. You think of Rasmus Hojlund last year. Again, it’s potential. I’m not looking at him thinking 'Wow, we’ve got a centre-forward here, 25-30 goals', I’m not thinking that. Joshua Zirkzee does bring people into play a lot more than Hojlund does, but is he that massive goal threat?

“They had a couple of chances against Liverpool which the keeper saved, and as a midfield player, can we be a bit over-critical on the midfield players when you think what’s ahead of them.

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“If I was in the Liverpool team in midfield, I’d be thinking ‘Wow, I’ve got proper forwards who are going to win us games of football’. If I’m in the midfield for United, I’m looking forward thinking ‘I’m not quite sure, possibly Bruno, Marcus if he’s got his confidence’, the rest of them, I’m just not quite sure about. United will get better once Manuel Ugarte comes into the team. He will improve legs; he’ll tackle and get around the pitch.”

Scholes, speaking on the latest episode of The Overlap Fan Debate, also claimed Matthijs De Ligt, signed from Bayern Munich in the summer, is not an upgrade on Harry Maguire.

“Ten Hag couldn’t wait to get De Ligt instead of Maguire, he was just waiting for the opportunity,” said Scholes. “I’m not sure it’s that much of an upgrade – De Ligt played against Southampton, Maguire would have been fine against Southampton. He might be slightly better, but it’s not a massive improvement where you think, ‘Wow’. It’s like that with all the signings.”

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