Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has admitted that he "almost felt sorry" for midfielder Christian Eriksen during the defeat to Manchester City at the weekend.
Erik ten Hag's side suffered a 6-3 loss in the derby at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both scoring hat-tricks for the home side. The Reds pulled three goals back in the second period - through Antony and Anthony Martial (2) - but were unable to mount a comeback.
City dominated proceedings against United, with the Reds' midfielders struggling to deal with the home side's attacking threat throughout the clash.
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United lined up with a midfield trio of Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes and Eriksen, with summer signing Casemiro having to settle for a spot among the substitutes. With Fernandes pushing forward, McTominay and Eriksen spent large periods of the game defending around their own penalty area.
The decision to stick with the pairing of Eriksen and McTominay was questioned by some former players and pundits after the game, and club legend Scholes has insisted that the Denmark international should not have been tasked with playing a defensive role against the reigning champions.
Scholes, speaking on BT Sport ahead of United's Europa League clash against Omonia Nicosia, claimed that he "almost felt sorry" for Eriksen in the defeat to City on Sunday.
"It was a difficult day, you’re playing against not just the best team around but in the world and they got it badly wrong. The manager has to take some responsibility for the team he picked, he went with the team that won four games in a convincing way and went with them again and they were too open," he said.
"They almost disrespected a great team in City thinking they could go toe to toe with them. Eriksen in that holding midfield role which when you go to Man City… Eriksen can get away with that role against a weaker team, once you got to Man City you need at least two players in the middle of the pitch who can play the position perfectly well, defensively, Eriksen doesn’t do that, we know how good he is going forward, what a great passer he is.
"But when you talk about defensive midfield players, knowing how they play the position perfectly well against Foden, De Bruyne, sometimes four or five players in there, it’s a difficult job to do, I almost felt sorry for him."
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