Scholes: The United players just don’t want to work hard
PAUL SCHOLES slammed Manchester United’s stars for ‘not wanting to put a shift in’ after his former club dropped more points against Southampton at Old Trafford.
United were pegged back to a 1-1 draw after taking the lead for the third game in a row and Scholes took aim at the players for failing to work harder for interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
‘These Manchester United players do not want to do the ugly side of the game,’ Scholes told BT Sport.
‘You watch the game and it is glaringly obvious that the players do not want to put a shift in for this club, which is crazy really.
‘From what I saw, I don’t
think the players were working hard enough to stop another team.
‘There are a lot of very good players in that team, you could name every one of them.
‘But with talent you have to work hard as well. I feel sorry for the manager because he is trying his best to set his team up to play against this type of team and they are either not listening, can’t do it or don’t want to do it.’
Rangnick defended his players but admitted they need to be better at the ‘nasty’ side of the game after throwing away leads against Southampton, Burnley and Middlesbrough.
‘I don’t think anyone should believe the players don’t care,’ he said. ‘They don’t want to give away points.
‘The players can be tough, but the question is for what period of time and for which moments.
‘We were fully aware after the last couple of games that it would be important to be as compact and proactive and aggressive as we could and avoid the transitional moments that Southampton are very good at.
‘It is very frustrating for me. We are all very disappointed. It is one of our major problems.
‘Our team has a lot of technical players and it is difficult for them to stay compact for a long period of time. The other is that we don’t take all the chances we create. We are conceding fewer goals than before, but it doesn’t help if you don’t score more than one.’
Scholes’s fellow BT Sport pundit Glenn Hoddle claimed United were willing to run with the ball, but less so without it.
‘They all want the ball,’ he said. ‘I see them come alive when they’re in possession. But when they haven’t got the ball, I don’t see a theme.’
Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl also made a damning assessment of United’s tracking back.
‘It is not a big secret that when they lose the ball, the reverse gears are not the best,’ he said. ‘Then you have the chance to create something and we did.
‘We’ve had Manchester City, Tottenham and Manchester United in the last three Premier League games and not lost one.’
The draw saw United fail to reclaim fourth from West Ham.
Defender Luke Shaw added: ‘History is repeating itself. We know it’s not good enough.
‘There’s no way we will get in the Champions League if we keep dropping points.’