Paul Scholes said Manchester United’s defending was “like under-10s football” after they gifted poor goals during their 2-1 defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League.
United went forward en masse for an early corner in the game and kept nobody back to guard against their hosts’ counter-attacking. As soon as they lost the ball, Edin Visca pumped a long ball to Demba Ba and he was able to run unchecked from inside his own half to score the first goal.
“That’s completely down to organisation,” Scholes said. “At a corner you surely always have someone back on the halfway line.”
Speaking on BT Sport, former United midfielder Scholes pointed to assistant manager Mike Phelan telling Matic that he should have been covering a possible break.
“It’s like under-10s football,” Scholes said. “You can understand it if it’s the last minute and you’re going for a goal.”
“It’s embarrassing,” Scholes said. “What the back four were doing, I’ve no idea. Defensively they’ve got to take responsibility. You’ve got to defend one-v-ones at times at Manchester United and they seem incapable of doing it.”
Another Former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves was also baffled by the blunder from the Red devils.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a goal like it,” Hargreaves said. “The problem is the players are waiting for a cross that doesn’t really materialise and they never really get back. One ball up the pitch and Demba Ba’s in on his own.”
Basaksehir went on to win the game 2-1 and claim their first ever win in the UEFA Champions League.
United now remain on six points in Group H. They had previously impressed in a 2-1 win against PSG on matchday one before thrashing RB Leipzig 5-0 just last week.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men will aim to make amends for this surprise loss in a fortnight’s time – following the international break – when they host Basaksehir at Old Trafford in the reverse of Wednesday night’s fixture.
