Manchester United icons Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes strongly criticized Erik ten Hag’s handling of transfer matters at Old Trafford, reacting to United’s dismal start to the season.
On Wednesday night, in a tumultuous Champions League opener, United suffered a 4-3 defeat against Bayern Munich, intensifying the scrutiny on Ten Hag’s beleaguered squad.
Despite facing a depleted squad with injuries and unavailable players, Ten Hag had three goalkeepers and three young talents on the bench. In response, the former United duo expressed their disapproval of his transfer decisions during their analysis on TNT Sports.
Scholes remarked “I think they are on a very similar path to last season. They had a really bad start (last term) and a poor start this season.”
“I thought after last year they were going in a different direction and were starting to take this club somewhere. He sorted the discipline and then I thought in the summer, he was going to spend £200million to take this club to the next level.”
“I don’t think the signings have done that. I think he has made his squad stronger, but I don’t think he has made it better. I don’t think he has made a team that can challenge for the Premier League title or for the competition they are in tonight.”
Manchester United suffered a defeat against a Brighton & Hove Albion team whose entire starting lineup was assembled for under £20 million over the weekend. Ferdinand is of the opinion that United should take a page from Brighton’s book and make more astute recruitment decisions.
Ferdinand said: “When you look at Brighton, they are a team over the last three or four years that have been building in terms of a structure and foundation at a football club, and you can see the way it’s playing out with their recruitment, and even their manager.
“We talk about rotation and changing of players. I think they changed five or six players against them, the player that scored a hat-trick the week before (Ferguson) was on the bench. So, they are getting the best out of every single player in their squad, whereas at Manchester United, that’s not happening.”
“When discussing the topic of strikers, Manchester United encountered a familiar face in Harry Kane, a player they had previously pursued. Kane netted Bayern’s third goal from the penalty spot. When asked if United should have made an extravagant investment in him, Scholes responded “Yes, without a shadow of a doubt.”
“I think United are crying out for a centre-forward, whatever he (Kane) cost they should’ve got him, you’re buying 25-30 goals a season.”
“The players there now, they’re all more suited to playing on the left-hand side. You think Anthony Martial, not a great centre-forward, not that much better on the left-hand side of late. But Marcus Rashford he doesn’t want to play centre-forward, he can’t really do it, he’s a different player, wants to play on the left-hand side.”
Manchester United performance and stats
Manchester United
Manchester United is currently 13th in the Premier League with 6 points.
In the last 5 games, it has won twice and lost 3 times. In its last match, Manchester United lost 1-3 against Brighton & Hove Albion.
It has a negative goal difference after scoring 6 goals and conceding 10.
Manchester United will play the next match in Premier League against Burnley on Saturday 23rd of September in Burnley. The prediction is Manchester United winning the match.
