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Manchester United legend Paul Scholes slammed the defensive duo of Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof for being soft and weak during the Red Devils' 3-2 loss against Galatasaray last night (October 3).
Despite leading twice in the 17th and 67th minute via a Rasmus Hojlund brace, Manchester United were defeated in their second UEFA Champions League group stage game in a row.
Wilfried Zaha (23'), Kerem Akturkoglu (71'), and Mauro Icardi (81') were all on target, taking advantage of the Red Devils' poor defending to secure all three points in a famous win for Galatasaray.
Scholes was left frustrated with how Manchester United conceded their second goal. He said on TNT Sports (via METRO):
"United really had to win this, your first home Champions League game. This is a terrible result. [Sofyan] Amrabat, look he’s not a left-back but he gets done for the goal. It was so wide open."
He added:
"I’m not sure where [Raphael] Varane is going. [Victor] Lindelof is lost in the middle of the pitch. So soft and weak. They were so open in that central defensive area, they gave chances away."
In addition to their mistakes leading up to Galatasaray's goals, both Lindelof and Varane had extremely poor games. The former made zero tackles and won zero ground duels and was given a rating of just 5.7 on FotMob. On the other hand, Varane wasn't able to do much better and was rated 6.4.
Manchester United have now conceded 18 goals in their opening 10 games of the season and look frail defensively. They are currently at the bottom of Group A in the Champions League with zero points.
"It’s just not good enough" - Manchester United icon Paul Scholes criticizes Andre Onana
In addition to slamming Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof, Paul Scholes also had a few words to say to struggling Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Onana made headlines for all the wrong reasons once again as he had yet another Champions League game to forget following his howler against Bayern Munich last month.
The Mancheter United shot-stopper was guilty of playing a loose pass to Casemiro, which was easily intercepted by Dries Mertens. This resulted in Casemiro being sent off when he tackled the latter in the box.
Even though Mauro Icardi missed the penalty in the 78th minute, he was able to win the game for Galatasaray three minutes later by dinking the ball over Onana.
Scholes blasted Onana for going to ground too easily (via METRO):
"We all know what the goalkeeper did. It’s just not good enough. ‘I don’t think the goalkeeper does well. He just sits down. The ball is in front of Icardi’s feet, he can’t do anything other than dink the ball. Just stand up and catch it. Instead he just dives out of the way."
The 27-year-old looked short of confidence as Manchester United were soundly beaten 3-2 by Galatasaray. He struggled to impose any sort of authority in front of goal, making just one save. Moreover, his distribution was also poor, having an accurate long ball rate of 44% and a pass accuracy rate of 57%.
