Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has hit out at Lisandro Martinez’s “criminal” mistake in Liverpool’s emphatic 7-0 victory at Anfield on Sunday.
Cody Gakpo fired Liverpool into the lead against United in the first half, with Erik ten Hag’s men suffering a complete collapse after the break.
Gakpo added his second for Liverpool early into the second half, with Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah both scoring braces against United.
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Roberto Firmino, who is set to leave the club in the summer, capped off Liverpool’s second-half display by scoring the Reds’ seventh of the match in the 88th minute.
Following Liverpool’s opener, Scholes believes that Martinez made life more difficult for David de Gea after moving in front of the United No 1 before Gakpo’s strike.
“I certainly don’t think it helps De Gea,” he told Premier League Productions at half-time.
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“I don’t think he’s quite in line at the point it’s kicked but David can also think the ball might hit him.
“But when he [Gakpo] does hit it, he has gone right past him. You see David’s reaction there towards Martinez, he doesn’t quite have a go at him, but I think he should do.
“I think it happened a couple of times, once before with Robertson where he ended up clearing it off the line, he’s going far too deep, he should be getting up the pitch, can he stop the shot or have an effect on the shot rather than get in the ‘keeper’s way.
“He needs to trust his goalkeeper. This is a top goalkeeper we’re talking about, do not get in his way. If anybody gets in the goalkeeper’s way, it’s criminal.”
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United legends Gary Neville and Roy Keane brutally pulled no punches towards the Red Devils over their dismal second-half display against Liverpool.
And United boss Ten Hag ruthlessly slammed his players over their “unprofessional” and “really bad, really poor” response to Liverpool.
Scholes admitted that United’s humiliating defeat is ‘embarrassing’ for the club, but he insisted that it was a “freakish result” for the Red Devils.
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“There’s a naivety about this from United, team and players; they’ve let in six at Man City and now seven at Liverpool,” he said.
“These are places where you need to go and stop teams playing, and they haven’t done that. It’s difficult not to be embarrassed by that result.”
Scholes added: “It’s a freakish result for Manchester United, everything went against them -- but they’ll have to accept it and get over it.
“It’s not just three points lost, there’s a couple of positions where you think they’re a bit short in games like this, but it’s difficult to be too critical of this team.
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“It’s just such a freak result; the question now is whether there’s a hangover, and I think they’ll come out of this okay.”
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Topics: Paul Scholes, Manchester United, Premier League, England, Liverpool, Football, Lisandro Martinez
Adnan Riaz