Scholes blames Manchester United’s woes on “crazy season" of injuries

Rooney and Van Persie have both missed large chunks of season because of injuries

The usually media shy Paul Scholes has come out and blamed injuries as the main reason why Manchester United find themselves in this awkward position. The United legend is also confident that David Moyes can turn things around in the long run.

Going into the game against Arsenal, the Red Devils find themselves nine points behind in the race for the top four. Should they lose at the Emirates, they will find their hopes of finishing in the top four diminish even further. However, the veteran, who made over 700 appearances for the Red devils across two decades, believes that injuries have played a major part in making Moyes’s first season hell.

In a statement, Scholes said “I don’t think the manager can legislate for the amount of injuries he has had to deal with.” He then added “We’ve missed [Wayne] Rooney and [Robin] van Persie for big chunks of the season – they are two of the best centre-forwards in the world and any team would miss them. When we finally got them both back for the game against Stoke City [the 2-1 defeat on 1 February], suddenly we had four centre-halves not fit to play.”

“It’s been a crazy season for injuries. Hopefully we’ll get a bit of luck with injuries and I’m sure if we get all our players fit we’ll get moving up the league.”

Scholes also said that he had faced similar droughts during his career and is confident that United can bounce back this season. “We’ll always come back from bad patches like this. We have been on worse runs,” he said. “I think there was a time that we went three years [ending in 2007] without winning the league, which was a disaster for a club of this size – this is nothing in comparison. Once the manager gets his own players in, gets his defenders fit and Rooney and Van Persie flying again, I’m sure we’ll be OK.”

Moyes must be hoping that Scholes’s words come true and United turn the tide pretty soon, because if it doesn’t he is sure to face some sweet chin music from the fans.