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Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has claimed that his former side’s performance in their Premier League opener against Fulham last Friday was not an improvement on last season.
United kicked off their 2024/25 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils fashioned many clear-cut opportunities but let themselves down with some poor bit of finishing.
In the late stages of the match, Erik ten Hag turned to his bench and thrust Joshua Zirkzee into the game for his club debut. The Netherlands international managed to find the back of the net as he directed a cross from Alejandro Garnacho well past the reach of Bernd Leno.
The overwhelming sentiment within the fanbase was that there were plenty of positives to take from the display but according to Scholes, he was not left encouraged by what he saw and United still need to step up.
The ex-midfielder said on The Overlap Fan Debate, “With Manchester United’s opening game against Fulham, I didn’t see many differences from their performances last season.”
“I thought they did okay, and they deserved to win the game, but there were still plenty of times where there were loads of space in central midfield. The problem with United is that every time they have the ball, they are trying to attack, which isn’t a good thing.”
“You sometimes need five minutes on the ball to help take the sting out of the game, but constantly attacking, results in end-to-end football.”
Scholes added, “If you look at Manchester City and their midfield, they take the sting out of the play and kill opposition teams that way.”
“But with United, there is so much chaos with players running everywhere.”
Erik ten Hag and his players return to action on Saturday when they travel to the Amex to face Brighton and Hove Albion.
Kick-off is at 12:30 BST.
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