Former Manchester United midfield partner Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves criticized Erik ten Hag for his game management during United’s match against Real Sociedad in the Europa League.
United emerged victorious 1-0, courtesy of an Alejandro Garnacho goal in the first half, but that was not enough as the club failed to finish top of the group.
At times the game became chaotic as United lost control, especially in the second half.
Ten Hag’s substitutions had no impact as Sociedad became more entrenched in the game.
This did not go down well with United legend Scholes, who criticized Ten Hag for what he called “messy” tactics that failed to have the desired effect.
Scholes told BT Sport: “I think it got a bit tricky in the second half. I’m not quite sure what was being attempted there. I think it started with the substitution of Lindelof. United in the first half had total control.”
“It puts Casemiro at the back of four or three, however it ends up. Marcus Rashford later replaced Van de Beek as No. 10. Not Marcus’s position. Marcus needs to be on people’s shoulders, he needs to be wide open.”
“I am in favor of that, it can work, but [in the] second half, I just thought that after I had full control in the first half, I think it turned into a disaster.”
Scholes also took issue with the United manager’s decision to place Harry Maguire as a striker with Cristiano Ronaldo.
He argued that this reduced the team to just trying to send crosses into the area in their search for a second goal that would have propelled them to the top of the group standings.
Hargreaves fully agreed with Scholes’s assessment.
Hargreaves noted that while Ten Hag showed bravery in his tactics, generally those changes cost his team an additional goal as it meant nothing was created from open play.
