Paul Scholes and Peter Schmeichel are not happy with Manchester United’s performance against Sevilla. Erik ten Hag’s team gave away a 2-0 lead in the first leg of the quarterfinals in the Europa League: 2-2.
Scholes critical of Malacia after ‘disastrous second half’ United
United were on roses halfway through the first half with two goals from Marcel Sabitzer, but gave away that lead in the final phase. That started six minutes before the end, when Jesús Navas saw his cross via Tyrell Malacia end up behind David de Gea. That happened after Malacia had not cleared the ball. Scholes thought it was a mistake by the left-back: “It’s an easy ball, just kick it with your foot. You must never let the ball bounce there.”
Scholes also thought that United did not play well as a team after the break. “The second half was a complete disaster. You never felt that Sevilla put so much pressure on United. They must have felt it was going to be an easy night,” said the former BT Sport midfielder. “Now you’re going to have a hard time there,” he referred to next week’s return in Spain. “It will be a fight to keep going, but it should work.”
Schmeichel: “A few players should take a good look in the mirror”
Former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel spoke to the BBC of a missed opportunity. “A few players should take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are contributing enough to the team. A few players should be ashamed of their performance. De Gea played well, made two fantastic saves and couldn’t do anything about the goals. Casemiro played well on his return and Marcel Sabitzer also played very well, but his teammates let him down,” Schmeichel said.
It seems that Malacia has to take that criticism seriously. At the regional newspaper Manchester Evening News, the ex-Feyenoord player is the only basic player to receive an unsatisfactory score: a 5. They wrote, “He played better than last weekend, but by defending dramatically he made a game even more exciting in which United had control.” Goalscorer Sabitzer gets an 8, just like Antony Martial, who has returned to the base.
