Manchester United legend Paul Scholes believes manager Ruben Amorim doesn’t like his team in a withering assessment of his former club’s players after tonight’s 2-2 draw with Olympique Lyonnais.
The Red Devils have certainly played much worse than they did at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, and were unlucky to concede a last-gasp equaliser.
But for Scholes, speaking on TNT Sport after the game, the issue runs far deeper than their quarter-final first leg performance.
Responding to the manager’s post-match comments that his team are continuing to improve, Scholes bluntly said: “I don’t think Ruben Amorim believes that. I don’t think he likes his team to be honest.
“I think he knows he hasn’t got a great football team, I think he wants better, he needs better.
“I think you can see that from the way he is on the touchline, he always looks disappointed to me.”
In his relatively brief stint in charge at Old Trafford the Portuguese boss has had to contend with everything from injury crises to individual howlers, and it was one of these that cost United the win tonight.
It’s little wonder, then, that he can cut a forlorn figure at times, but there are definitely signs that his side are playing better football now than they were a couple of months ago.
If the lack of goals can be addressed in the transfer market, with some further strengthening elsewhere, the outlook needn’t be as bleak as Scholes makes out.
However, the former England international doubled down on his criticism of the current squad.
He said United “look a long way off the Champions League,” adding “there’s a lot of money to be spent before they’re at that level.
To illustrate the point Scholes noted the gulf in class between the Red Devils and Paris Saint-Germain, who blew Aston Villa away in that competition last night.
He is correct that how the club act in the summer transfer window will be a major indication of how the team can be expected to perform next season, and it remains to be seen whether they get the chance to fight for the Champions League or not – for now, that hinges on next week’s second leg clash at Old Trafford.
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
