“Seriously lacking…” – Paul Scholes BLASTS five Man United players after West Ham defeat

Paul Scholes has suggested five Manchester United players are ‘seriously lacking’ quality following their 2-0 defeat against West Ham.

The Reds were deserved losers at the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon and struggled to create any clear chances throughout the game.

The two wingers, Antony and Alejandro Garnacho, couldn’t find Rasmus Hojlund as the striker failed to score in the Premier League yet again. He received just one pass in total from the wide pairing.

Hojlund, 20, has not been perfect himself either and needs to find a way to break his duck in league format. He was replaced early in the second half by Marcus Rashford.

The English international found similar troubles, though, and Facundo Pellistri also missed a half-chance late on inside the box after coming on.

Paul Scholes expressed concern for United’s five players who operated in the attacking three and struggled to remember a save that Alphonse Areola made in the game.

“They have problems, I think goalscoring is a big issue,” Scholes told TNT Sports. “It’s four games without a goal, and they are not really creating.

“In the second half, I can’t think of a save the [West Ham] goalkeeper had to make. You usually go through seasons where one or two of your forwards are struggling with confidence and not scoring goals, but it’s every single one of them. They have no goal threat from anywhere.

“You talk about [Scott] McTominay on six goals as your leading goalscorer from a midfield player. The forward players have got to step up and find some confidence and bring some threat to the team – there is no threat to this team.”

Erik ten Hag’s side are goalless in their last four games, and players within his front line have only scored one goal in the Premier League this season.

That came from Garnacho’s moment of magic against Everton. A stunning bicycle kick that will almost certainly win the Goal of the Season – Yet, the Argentine missed a chance 100 times easier at West Ham.

Ten Hag is struggling to inspire his frontline, and his decision to replace Hojlund with Rashford, rather than playing the two together in the second half, was widely criticised after the game.

“It’s disappointing. You spend a lot of money on players that you expect more from. You have [Marcus] Rashford, who was brilliant last year, but he can’t find the form,” added Scholes.

“I think the easiest thing to coach in football is defending and getting yourself in a nice solid shape. The hardest thing as a coach is to get your team to score goals, and to teach them how to score goals.

“You can’t get inside their head, you can’t pass the ball for them, you can’t make their decisions at vital times for them, it has to come from them. In the past, that quality has been there, it’s just at this moment in time it is seriously lacking.”