Paul Scholes says Man Utd midfielder has become 'a problem' after latest draw

Paul Scholes has questioned Bruno Fernandes’ current role in the Manchester United team and believes he is becoming ‘a problem’ after the side slipped up yet again in the top four race.

The Red Devils failed to win despite holding a first-half lead for the third successive match, with Southampton striker Che Adams cancelling out Jadon Sancho’s first-half opener in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

Scholes was hugely critical of the performance and highlighted Fernandes – who has endured a disappointing season by his usual standards – as an issue within the structure of the team.

Speaking on BT Sport after the draw, Scholes said: ‘I think Fernandes could be a little bit of a problem you know.

‘As much as he’s such a talented lad – when he first came to the club he scored so many great goals, so many assists – but he’s all over the football pitch.

‘A coach would tell you better that from a defensive point of view, how can you set up in a shape when you have no idea where the start of it – the start of it is Cristiano Ronaldo, and then it’s Fernandes – how can you set traps for teams when you don’t know where some of your players are going to be.

‘Paul Pogba tends to wander about. You see Fernandes, sometimes he’s left-back, he’s right-back, at the end of the game he was playing behind Dalot for five minutes!’

He added: ‘United were all over the place. At one time Scott McTominay is left all alone in midfield, then it’s Pogba on his own. Where Bruno Fernandes is playing I don’t know. He’s absolutely all over the pitch.

‘The two wide players don’t work anywhere near hard enough. This game isn’t always about possession and doing the great stuff. Sometimes you’ve got to do the ugly stuff and gives you a bit of pain and you don’t like doing it. This team jog back and it’s so easy to play against.’

On the issues with the team as a collective, Scholes continued: ‘From what I saw I don’t think the players are working hard enough to stop another team playing football.

‘You look at the team sheet, there’s a lot of talent in that team, there’s 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 and this team [don’t]. I feel sorry for the manager because I think he’s clearly trying his best to set his team up to play against this type of team and they’re either not listening and can’t do it, or they don’t want to do it.

‘Now it’s very difficult when you’re sat here to understand [which it is], because we don’t know what’s going on in the training field, we don’t know the attitudes of the players.’

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