Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes questioned Erik ten Hag's substitutions during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge - but admitted that he nailed his tactical approach.
Casemiro rose highest inside the penalty area deep into stoppage time to head home his first goal for the club and rescue a point. He connected with Luke Shaw's centre and saw his excellent header tipped onto the post by Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and then narrowly across the line.
United had fallen behind with just three minutes of normal time remaining via a trademark Jorginho penalty. The Italian thought he had scooped all three points for the home side after substitute Scott McTominay was guilty of dragging Armando Broja down inside the penalty area.
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Had the Reds not found the courage and strength to respond and grab a point, a defeat would have been very hard for them to have swallowed, considering how dominant they had been for large portions of the game, particularly in the first half. However, Scholes thought United had lost their way a little bit following the second-half introductions of Fred, who replaced Jadon Sancho and McTominay, who came on in place of Christian Eriksen.
"As a United fan I was more than happy and felt they more than deserved to win the game," Scholes told Optus Sport. "They never felt like they were in trouble and Ten Hag got everything right – other than the subs. I wasn’t mad keen on the subs.
"Fred came into the game and didn't really have an effect on the game and I think it ruined [Bruno] Fernandes as well. McTominay came on as sub and within four minutes gave the penalty away.
"You have to learn stuff like this, in the day of VAR you cannot touch them anymore. In the years gone by we could have done it, in Italy you could never move because people were grabbing you, but with the VAR you just don't get away with anything.
"I thought it was a victory for Ten Hag – okay they didn't win the game but tactically he got it spot on."
Deploying a central-midfield three of Casemiro, Eriksen and Fernandes, United were dominant in midfield from the very first whistle, forcing Chelsea head coach Graham Potter into a tactical change before the break. He decided to beef up his midfield, bringing on Mateo Kovacic in place of Marc Cucurella with just 36 minutes on the clock.
Scholes added: "I think today it showed that Potter got his team wrong, having to make a change after half an hour whereas Ten Hag got it tactically right in that first half with Fernandes coming into that midfield and made it a three against two.
"Chelsea couldn't really cope with that. Chelsea, as a top-four team, were a little bit disappointing today.
"As the team at home, they should have been aspiring to win the game but they looked like they felt a little bit uncomfortable and it never felt like they were going to score. They got eaten up in a tactical battle."
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