Former Manchester United star Paul Scholes feels that the United players should have done something different to stop Erling Haaland’s surging runs into their own penalty box.
Haaland continued his incredible start to life in England by scoring three hattricks in a row to bring his season’s total to 17 goals across all competitions. He studied the United defence and scored the game’s opening goal by towering over everyone in the penalty area to head in a corner.
The Norwegian’s other two goals resulted from his ability to anticipate the passes provided by his teammates and be in the right place at the right time to score these goals.
Scholes felt that United could have done more to try to stop Haaland’s runs despite the fact that he is extremely difficult to deal with.
Speaking on Premier League Productions, the former midfielder said:
“He is virtually impossible to stop, but you have got to try and find a way. But as a Manchester United defender, in those situations, you can’t always match up against these big players; you have to do something different if you are a smaller player.”
“You have got to do something to try and stop him, even if it was just trying to stop a run. They just weren’t streetwise enough and he was so easy to play against, meaning it ended up being an embarrassing performance, first half especially.”
The Norwegian striker was too much to deal with for the United defenders who gave away ample amount of space for the Manchester City players to provide those assists to their star player.
It would be a lesson well learnt for the Red Devils at this phase of the league. It’s still a long time to go but experiences like these would help them know their weaknesses in their game-play.
Ten Hag would need to analyze his defence and midfield, the too regions which as explored the most by Pep Guardiola’s men on Sunday.
