Louis Saha has defended Scott McTominay and Fred following Roy Keane's criticism of the pair.
Former Manchester United captain Keane said the two midfielders were not good enough in the Red Devil's defeat to Brighton last weekend in their opening game of the season.
He stated: "The decision-making and the football intelligence, particularly Fred (I've been on him a long time). Fred and McTominay not good enough - they won't get Man United back competing at the top.
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"We see it week in and week out, not enough, not up to it."
Paul Scholes also singled out McTominay and Fred for criticism, describing their performances against Brighton as "criminal".
He said: “Fred constantly giving the ball away.
“McTominay running with the ball in attack when he’s got Sancho, Rashford ahead of him.
“Should pass the ball to Eriksen. It’s criminal.”
But Saha did not agree with his former teammates, telling ThePuntersPage: “I don’t want to target those two players because they get a lot of the focus.
“Manchester United are a creative team by history and they need to create more, so those two players can be criticised for that. But it’s not just down to those two players to create chances, it’s down to the rest of the team also.
“The strikers, the wingers and the defenders all need to do better as well so it doesn’t expose anybody. This is the problem; nobody is stepping up to help out their teammates.
“I don’t totally agree with the criticisms aimed at Fred and McTominay because they’re players who do have other qualities. If they’re being asked to do something that they can’t, then it doesn’t just come down to their quality, it comes down to the courage they have and the support from the rest of the team.
“At this moment in time, the foundation and the balance isn’t good enough throughout the team. Everybody has to contribute, so I don’t totally agree that all the pressure and criticisms should be put on Fred and McTominay.
“They’re both hard-working guys and you can see they’re both really committed to the game, so I think it’s unfair on them. It’s only the first game, they need to improve that’s for sure, but everybody needs to step up. There are some big games coming up, so we will see if they can bounce back from it.”
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