Scholes hits out at ‘so poor’ Man Utd star who ‘kept giving it back to’ Southampton

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 but Amad Diallo, who scored an incredible late hat-trick to give Ruben Amorim’s side an under-deserved victory over the Premier League’s bottom side.

Manuel Ugarte put the ball into his own net to give Saints the lead at half-time and he was taken off shortly after the break along with Hojlund after Kobbie Mainoo was substituted at half-time.

Joshua Zirkzee, who replaced Højlund, made a big difference and has been praised for his ‘massive turnaround’ after being jeered off the pitch against Newcastle and made a scapegoat for their problems in recent weeks.

Hojlund managed just 18 touches (most of them awful) before coming off and Scholes opted for the forward – who has scored just 23 goals in 68 games since his £64m move. from Atalanta – as being “so bad” for United.

“You can understand that (the home record weighs heavily on the players), of course you can, but you always have to remember that you are playing against the bottom of the table,” Scholes said TNT Sports’ live broadcast.

“This should be a chance for the players who rub their hands and think correctly, Rasmus Højlund: ‘This is where I have to achieve my goals’. This is where we have to go 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 chance and in ten minutes you have to go and blow them away, blow them away. But give Southampton credit, they were brilliant at times and played 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 in to people and the way they receive it.

“(Ruben) Amorim said that about his own team, United were really poor. The side of the defender who had to pass the ball, the weight of the pass, the control when it entered Rasmus Højlund was at times so bad that he kept giving it back to them.

“It’s purely because of Amad United winning this game, the rest of the players… (take a) long hard look at yourselves.”