Paul Scholes singled out Rasmus Hojlund for criticism after Manchester United’s win over Southampton on Thursday, after which he advised the Red Devils players to “take a long hard look at yourselves”.
All except for Amad Diallo, who scored an incredible late hat-trick to give Ruben Amorim’s side an underserved victory over the Premier League’s bottom side.
Manuel Ugarte put the ball into his own net to give the Saints the lead at half-time, and he was taken off soon after the break along with Hojlund, after Kobbie Mainoo was substituted in the interval.
Joshua Zirkzee, who replaced Hojlund, made a big difference and has been praised for his ‘massive turnaround’ having been jeered off the pitch against Newcastle and made a scapegoat for their issues in recent weeks.
Hojlund managed just 18 touches (most of them terrible) before coming off and Scholes picked out the striker – who’s scored just 23 goals in 68 games since his £64m move from Atalanta – as being “so poor” for United.
“You can understand that (the home record weighing heavily on players), of course you can, but you always have to remember you are playing against the bottom of the table,” Scholes told TNT Sports’ live broadcast.
“This should be a chance for the players rubbing hands thinking right, Rasmus Hojlund: ‘This is where I am going to get my goals’. This is where we are going to come out and win three, four or five nil after two really good results.
“I wouldn’t say the performance at Arsenal was special, they survived with ten men. I thought they were better the week before at Liverpool.
“You expect them to come out and give it a real go and in ten minutes go and blast them, blast them away. But, give Southampton credit, they were brilliant at times and played some really good football.
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“I thought they were a lot better than Manchester United, I thought tactically they were better. I thought technically they were better which was the most surprising thing, just the way they pass the ball into people and the way they receive it.
“[Ruben] Amorim said that about his own team, United were really poor. The side of the defender to pass the ball, the weight of pass, the control when it came into Rasmus Hojlund was so poor at times, he kept giving it back to them.
“It’s solely because of Amad United have won this game, the rest of the players… [take a] long hard look at yourselves.”
