Paul Scholes believes Manchester United’s humiliating Champions League defeat against Sevilla will herald the end of multiple players’ careers at the club.
Youssef En-Nesyri scored either side of Loic Bade’s header as the competition’s six-time winners ran riot against an abject United. It was a disastrous night for an error-strewn Red Devils, with goalkeeper David De Gea culpable for all three matches.
It was not just the Spanish goalkeeper who endured a night to forget, but club captain Harry Maguire made a direct error in the opening goal and never recovered. Attacking players such as Jadon Sancho and Anthony Martial, who got injured again, were anonymous.
The absences of key players such as Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez were hard felt by Ten Hag’s side, while Raphael Varane and Alejandro Garnacho were also missing. Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw were not fit enough to start.
Yet the replacements simply did not step up and collapsed against a side who are languishing in the bottom half of La Liga. Sevilla produced a fine display, but United put the victory on a plate for them and there can be no excuses for the nature of their collapse.
“In the first half of the first leg the tie should have been done,” Scholes explained on BT Sport after the game. “The own goals United gave away in the first leg and what they conceded tonight were just a disaster.
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"Manchester United are a better team than Sevilla but tonight they were outfought and outplayed, they lacked the ability to take the ball. They were so sloppy on the ball.”
Scholes continued: “You turn to experienced players on nights like this to get leadership from them – Martinez and Varane were big misses.
“Their replacements came in and should have had that experience to step up, but they did not. Tonight has made Ten Hag’s mind up on a few of these players.”
Scholes said of the beleaguered goalkeeper: “You have to question the goalkeeper. I think Ten Hag will wants to play out from the back and De Gea is not a fantastic footballer. You saw the pass he played. You have to read the situation.”
The summer transfer window is a matter of months away still but United must surely be planning major squad changes. They are prioritising the signing of a central striker and a new goalkeeper, but there are likely to be widespread alterations in the squad.
