Former midfielder Paul Scholes suggested that Manchester United's players ought to have been "embarrassed" following their 7-0 hammering against rivals Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
United, who had beaten the Merseysiders 2-1 in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford back in August, were cut to pieces in a dramatic second half, conceding six times without reply. Cody Gakpo opened the scoring shortly before half-time, giving the home side a 1-0 advantage at the break.
But after Darwin Nunez netted his first and Liverpool's second just two minutes after the restart, the floodgates opened, resulting in Erik ten Hag's side collapsing in dramatic fashion. Gakpo got his second to make it 3-0, ahead of Mohamed Salah getting in on the act to make it 4-0 and then Nunez got his second to increase their lead to five.
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Salah netted his second to make it 6-0 and then Roberto Firmino stepped off the bench to complete the rout, turning home a seventh, condemning United to their heaviest defeat in almost a century. It was a disgraceful second-half showing and Ten Hag will be determined to see an immediate response when the Reds face Real Betis in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday night at Old Trafford.
United have conceded a total of 13 goals away to Liverpool and Manchester City this season, highlighting just how much work still needs to be done on their progression path under Ten Hag. And for Scholes it is their capitulations against both clubs that are of great concern.
Scholes, speaking to Premier League Productions, said: "There's a naivety about this from United, team and players; they've let in six at Man City and now seven at Liverpool. These are places where you need to go and stop teams playing, and they haven't done that.
"It's difficult not to be embarrassed by that result."
Scholes added: "It's a freakish result for Manchester United, everything went against them – but they'll have to accept it and get over it. It's not just three points lost, there's a couple of positions where you think they're a bit short in games like this, but it's difficult to be too critical of this team.
"It's just such a freak result; the question now is whether there's a hangover, and I think they'll come out of this okay."
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