‘Lallana took the p***; why did no-one tackle him?’

Matt Stead

Paul Scholes says Adam Lallana was “taking the p***” against Manchester United, and bemoaned a lack of tackling from his former side.

United were convincingly beaten 2-0 in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie against Liverpool on Thursday, and former midfielder Scholes has already accused players of having “no balls”.

Speaking to Jamie Carragher for the Daily Mail, Scholes lamented a reluctance to tackle from his former side, pointing to Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana, who was excellent and created Roberto Firmino’s goal, but rarely faced opposition for the ball.

“It wasn’t so much the quality of play, it was more not laying a finger on them that got me wound up,” Scholes said. “Not tackling? Adam Lallana was taking the p*** when he was rolling his studs over the ball in the second half! Why didn’t someone just tackle him?

“Lallana had a quiet period but he looks like a real player. Before the Liverpool versus Manchester City game, which I worked at, I was thinking, ‘Klopp might only keep two or three of these’. But what is he building now? They need to go on from here. They can go on from here.

“You can come here and not string three passes together but still win the game. There were no standards. There was almost an acceptance of that performance.

“We wouldn’t have stood for that. I’m not saying there would have been violence, but there would have been tackling. We’ve been here and lost 2-0 and 3-1 but at least there was a bit of fight. Could you imagine us not tackling?

“The formation is irrelevant next week. Do you know what they should do? Tackle. Just tackle and run, like Liverpool did. United need to do the same.

“If they do that, things will happen at Old Trafford, I’m sure of it. They will be capable of scoring goals and creating chances. But they need to get the players into the game.”