Paul Scholes slams Manchester United star for 'criminal' mistake in Real Sociedad draw
Man Utd drew 1-1 with Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Paul Scholes slammed Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot for his ‘criminal’ decision not to pass the ball to Rasmus Hojlund during the 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad on Thursday night. Joshua Zirkzee gave United a deserved lead against the La Liga club before Mikel Oyarzabal levelled the scores from the penalty spot after Bruno Fernandes had handled the ball in the box.
An away draw was not a bad result given the circumstances of the match, though United could have scored a couple of goals more on the night, in particular in the first half.
United squandered an excellent opportunity to take the lead when Dalot raced down the right wing and Hojlund darted towards the box, only for the Portuguese full-back to cut the ball back and kill any momentum his side had. It proved to be a costly mistake and one that Scholes was frustrated to see.
Scholes slams ‘criminal’ decision
Manchester United great Paul Scholes was a pundit for TNT Sport during the Real Sociedad draw and watched on in frustration as his former side failed to make their dominance count. Speaking after Diogo Dalot had failed to spot the run of teammate Rasmus Hojlund in the first-half, he said: "The frustrating thing is, for 20 minutes we saw them warming up, and that's exactly what they were practising. Into the wing-back, crossing it first time. For Dalot not to see that, is criminal really. Hojlund, he's made a great run. For any right-back in world football not to see that is criminal, and that's an easy goal for Hojlund."
His thoughts were echoed at half-time by former England international Karen Carney, who fully understood Hojlund’s furious reaction when the move came to nothing. She added: "When wing-backs get into positions like Dalot does, he has to give him that pass. He has to put it into him, because that's a tap-in. That's 1-0, and that's a comfortable start. "But he doesn't and that's a missed opportunity, so Hojlund has every right to go to Dalot and dig him out, because Hojlund has had a lot of criticism for not scoring, that was a chance."