Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has criticised the state of Chelsea’s attack against the Red Devils yesterday.
The Blues were not at their threatening best against United, though neither side really looked at their best in a fairly dull 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Tuchel made the interesting choice to leave out Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic against Man Utd, opting for Olivier Giroud, Hakim Ziyech and Mason Mount as his main attackers.
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Scholes clearly wasn’t too impressed with them as he suggested United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was overly cautious against a trio without much pace.
Solskjaer had Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof as his two centre-backs – and they’re unlikely to be that bothered by players without much pace up front.
Still, Scholes criticised the Norwegian tactician for being too cautious by continuing to field two defensive midfielders in Fred and Scott McTominay to protect the defence.
This clearly cost MUFC much of an attacking edge going forward, and Scholes thinks it wasn’t worth it against a poor Chelsea front three.
“A lot of the problems I see are them two centre-halves and goalkeeper – well, not so much goalkeeper today – but the centre-halves need protecting,’ Scholes told Premier League Productions, as quoted by the Metro.
“Which means you’ve got to have your two holding midfield players right next to them all the time and it takes away everything from your attacking ability.
“They don’t get up the pitch, they can’t keep the ball in the last third of the pitch because they can’t sustain attacks because they’re too deep.
“And this is a recurring them now that keeps going on. If they’re going to get to that next level they’ve got to be braver, they’ve got to be braver in the centre of the pitch.
“The two centre-halves, leave them, let them defend. Who are you playing against? An average Chelsea forward. Not average, because I like Giroud, but he’s not going to run away from anyone. He’s perfect for them two today.
“Mason Mount isn’t going to run away from them, Ziyech isn’t quick, no pace. They’ve got nothing to worry about.
“Let your midfield players join in attacks and at least contribute something to the attacking side of the game.”
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