Paul Scholes has revealed a problem with one Manchester United star in a damming statement, after Rúben Amorim made a big decision on the player.
Manchester United must improve this season; another year in the bottom half of the Premier League simply won’t be tolerated by the fan base.
Despite the result in the Carabao Cup, United have shown improvements already in this campaign and could go on to have a good season if they resolve some small issues present in the first games.
The Deadline Day signing of Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp could solve one problem, as Altay Bayındır and André Onana have both been poor this season. The 23-year-old will likely displace both shotstoppers as the starter, and could make his debut against Manchester City after the international break.
Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Šeško should help resolve another issue that was present last season: goal scoring. The trio of new attackers have looked bright in the opening games, but Rúben Amorim will still want to see more improvement in the coming weeks.
While United’s new additions appear to have solved several problems from last season, they may have created a bigger issue for a key man already at the club.
Scholes explains Fernandes problem
With the new attacking additions, Amorim has made the decision to push Bruno Fernandes back into central midfield alongside Casemiro in a double pivot. Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate Show, United legend Paul Scholes revealed the problem with the captain’s new role.
“There’s too much indecision in the midfield area, you think of Casemiro,” said Scholes. “He’s been a brilliant player, but we know his deficiencies, don’t we?
“Fernandes [and Casemiro], they’re the two he’s [Amorim] going with, and Fernandes for me, he’s someone who fills in as a midfielder, he might get away with it for one, two or three games. He’s not got the discipline to be a central midfield player.”
Scholes continued: “Bringing two No.10s (Cunha and Mbeumo) was that really necessary? You think you’ve got Mason Mount, Kobbie Mainoo can do that… If you’ve done that and wasted a bit of money and not been able to get a midfield player or a goalkeeper, it’s not great recruitment-wise, is it?
“I can’t make better what a lot of the problems are in the team, which are two central midfield players, and the goalkeepers are massive.”
Did United get their priorities wrong?
Scholes makes a valid point; did United need to sign Cunha and Mbeumo when they already had Fernandes at the club? The answer is probably no, especially with Šeško joining the frontline as well.
Cunha cost £62.5 million, while Mbeumo was over £70 million, but they both play in Fernandes’ best position when deployed in Amorim’s system. Meaning, the captain is forced out of position, and Mainoo is forced to the bench.
Jason Wilcox could’ve signed just one of Cunha and Mbuemo, and spent the rest of the budget on a new midfielder, potentially Carlos Baleba from Brighton, who many feel would improve United drastically.
Fernandes could’ve continued to play in his preferred role, and Mainoo wouldn’t have wanted to leave on loan because his game time wouldn’t be in doubt. Perhaps, Wilcox made the wrong decision by signing both Cunha and Mbeumo.
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