Scholes questions why ‘dead’ Man Utd signed £43m man after Spurs loss: ‘Give us something!’

Joe Williams
Man Utd legend Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes during his role as a television pundit.

Man Utd legend Paul Scholes is unsure why the Red Devils signed Matthijs de Ligt in the summer transfer window and insisted they looked “like an uncoached football team” in a 3-0 loss at home to Tottenham.

Spurs needed only three minutes to take the lead through Brennan Johnson as they swept Man Utd aside at Old Trafford, with the only surprise being that they did not add more than the second-half goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke after Bruno Fernandes saw red late in the first period.

A second straight 3-0 home league defeat left Man Utd in 12th place with seven points from six games, having scored only five goals, and the pressure is already ramping up on Erik ten Hag once again after he survived a summer review by the club’s hierarchy.

And former Man Utd midfielder Scholes is still baffled at the lack of a plan under Ten Hag with the Red Devils looking “dead” and “uncoached” against Tottenham.

Speaking on SuperSport, Scholes said: “You don’t know how they’re going to play.

“You don’t know how they’re going approach games, whether they are going to play on the counter-attack or sit deep or whether they’re going to try to have all the possession in the game. We’ve no idea. They look like an uncoached football team.

“We’re two and a bit years in now… from the first week Ange Postecoglou went in, we probably knew what Tottenham were doing and they’re doing it to this day.

“We’re two and a bit years down the road [at United] and, as I said, it’s an uncoached team.

“The players looked dead today, they looked flat, they looked, ‘I don’t know what to do’, there’s no enthusiasm for the game of football and that can only come from the training pitch.

“Some of the positions that people take up on the pitch, it’s just madness at times.”

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De Ligt signed for Man Utd for around £43m in the summer transfer window from Bayern Munich but Scholes has questioned why the Red Devils spent so much money on the centre-back.

Scholes added: “When you bring players in, you expect them to be a lot better than who you’ve already got. I don’t see players coming in who are a big difference.

“De Ligt has come in for Maguire, let’s say, but there’s no big difference there.”

When asked whether De Ligt is an improvement on Harry Maguire, Scholes replied: “No, absolutely not.”

Despite Ten Hag taking most of the blame for their performances, Scholes believes the senior Man Utd players need to step up and prove their worth.

Scholes continued: “These are experienced players who United have paid a lot of money for. We need to stop hearing excuses and get on that training pitch and find a way of playing.

“Find something, give us something!”