Paul Scholes said Manchester United s defending was like under-10s football after they gifted a calamitous goal to Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League.
United went forward en masse for an early corner and kept nobody back to guard against their Turkish hosts counter-attacking.
As soon as United lost the ball, Edin Visca pumped a long ball upfield from inside his own penalty area and Demba Ba was able to run unchecked from inside his own half before beating Dean Henderson.
That s completely down to organisation, Scholes said. At a corner you surely always have someone back on the halfway line.
Speaking on BT Sport, former United midfield general Scholes pointed to assistant manager Mike Phelan telling Nemanja Matic that he should have been covering the possible break.
It s like under-10s football, Scholes said. You can understand it if it s the last minute and you re going for a goal.
This took place in the 12th minute, however, and for Scholes there was no excuse.
It s embarrassing, Scholes said. What the back four were doing, I ve no idea.
Defensively they ve got to take responsibility. You ve got to defend one-v-ones at times at Manchester United and they seem incapable of doing it.
35y 163d Demba Ba is the second oldest African player to score a Champions League goal, behind only Didier Drogba, who was 36 years and 259 days old when he scored his final goal in November 2014. Unmarked.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Fellow former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves was equally baffled by the blunder from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s side.
I m not sure I ve ever seen a goal like it, Hargreaves said.
The problem is the players are waiting for a cross that doesn t really materialise and they never really get back.
One ball up the pitch and Demba Ba s in on his own.
