Scholes Interview

Highfather_24

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If Martial is not good enough to be in our XI because he is not world class, then we need another new 7-8 first team world class players.
 

Pogue Mahone

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I think that is a weak argument, but if I extend your logic Neville should be more critical about AWB or Shaw or Maguire. Dont hear that either.

Only Martial is expected to e world class from Scholes and co, the rest can continue to be mediocre without any criticism.

I dont mind Scholes calling out Martial because he isnt world class. But be consistent, and keep that same energy while criticizing the other mediocrity in our squad
Absolute nonsense.

Just google “Paul Scholes criticises...” You’ll find it hard to find a player he hasn’t laid into at one point or another.

Plus the idea that you have to rip into every single player in our squad to point out our striker isn’t good enough is just silly. The striker is the most high profile position on the pitch, so will always trigger the most discussion and debate. Even more so from former players who played in the same area of the pitch.
 

Canagel

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Seeing as he's not a striker, how did he manage to con 23 goals & finish as our top scorer playing as a No. 9 then?

Considering Martial, Rashford and Greenwood scored 9 goals more combined than the PL Champions Liverpool last season, I don't think he or they are the problem stopping us here.
And didn't take any penalties. Imagine if he took penalties we're talking about golden boots all of a sudden.
A lot of these ex United players retired legends are the real conmen. They con you into thinking they are experts because they played the game when in reality that couldnt be further from the truth

Just look this :
On a daily basis too :lol:
 

Highfather_24

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Absolute nonsense.

Just google “Paul Scholes criticises...” You’ll find it hard to find a player he hasn’t laid into at one point.

Plus the idea that you have to rip into every single player in our squad to point out our striker isn’t good enough is just nonsense. The striker is the most high profile position on the pitch, so will always trigger the most discussion and debate.
So he has criticised Lindelof. But Lindelof is not the only player who is not world class/quality of players Scholes used to play with. Shaw is not as good as Irwin/Evra. Matic, Fred, Pogba are not as good as Keane, Carrick, Scholesy etc. Maguire is not as good as Rio or Vidic.

Its different standards for different players. Plain and simple. Scholes being critical of Lindelof proves nothing really. I like Keane in that regard, he dishes it out to everyone, and is not biased towards english players like G.Nev is.

To elaborate, our squad right now has some gaping holes. CB. DM. Paul' Pogba's future up in the air. Yet Scholes decides to criticise the player who was our top 3 players last season. Rather than the other countless players who are mediocre every week. Its absurd. Rashford, Martial, Greenwood, Bruno...these are players who ARE performing/have last season.
 
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El Zoido

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If Martial is not good enough to be in our XI because he is not world class, then we need another new 7-8 first team world class players.
He’s just not a goal scoring CF and never will be. He’ll score goals, but we’re talking PL players like Kane, Aguero, Vardy, and going back further with players like Shearer, Drogba, RVP. Martial is simply not that type of player.

Now you can argue whether it’s a correct assertion that a top team needs a classic goal scorer or not, but Martial is missing too much from his game to be in that bracket. Doesn’t mean he’s not a great player, but it’s a really hard argument to make if you want to convince someone that we wouldn’t be winning more games with an actual proper goal scorer like Kane up top.
 

Highfather_24

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He’s just not a goal scoring CF and never will be. He’ll score goals, but we’re talking PL players like Kane, Aguero, Vardy, and going back further with players like Shearer, Drogba, RVP. Martial is simply not that type of player.

Now you can argue whether it’s a correct assertion that a top team needs a classic goal scorer or not, but Martial is missing too much from his game to be in that bracket. Doesn’t mean he’s not a great player, but it’s a really hard argument to make if you want to convince someone that we wouldn’t be winning more games with an actual proper goal scorer like Kane up top.
Sure Martial is not a world class player. And Matic, Fred, McT, Pogba are not as good as the likes of Scholes, Keane, Viera, Fabregas, Kante, Toure etc. Shaw, AWB are not as good as Irwin, Evra, Cole, TAA etc. Maguire and Lindelof are not as good as Vidic, Rio, Terry, VVD etc.

My point is our whole team is mostly mediocre right now. Its a top 4 team. its not a title winning team. And our top 3 players on current ability are Rashford, Martial and Bruno. You build our team around them, and strengthen the other positions first. Singling out Martial when he was our top scorer last season without taking penalties, and one of our best performers, as to be the reason we are not a top team, is frankly rubbish, and just not something I can agree with.
 

devips

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I think that is a weak argument, but if I extend your logic Neville should be more critical about AWB or Shaw or Maguire. Dont hear that either.

Only Martial is expected to e world class from Scholes and co, the rest can continue to be mediocre without any criticism.

I dont mind Scholes calling out Martial because he isnt world class. But be consistent, and keep that same energy while criticizing the other mediocrity in our squad
This is called whataboutery.
Scholes has not even criticized Martial. He just said he is not a proper centre forward and we need one.

But then, fanboys will be fanboys after all.
 

Pogue Mahone

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So he has criticised Lindelof. But Lindelof is not the only player who is not world class/quality of players Scholes used to play with. Shaw is not as good as Irwin/Evra. Matic, Fred, Pogba are not as good as Keane, Carrick, Scholesy etc. Maguire is not as good as Rio or Vidic.

Its different standards for different players. Plain and simple. Scholes being critical of Lindelof proves nothing really. I like Keane in that regard, he dishes it out to everyone, and is not biased towards english players like G.Nev is.

To elaborate, our squad right now has some gaping holes. CB. DM. Paul' Pogba's future up in the air. Yet Scholes decides to criticise the player who was our top 3 players last season. Rather than the other countless players who are mediocre every week. Its absurd. Rashford, Martial, Greenwood, Bruno...these are players who ARE performing/have last season.
Your argument here is so weird. Scholes was talking to a journalist about the Sancho transfer. He was making the point we have similar players already. But we lack a focal point. A proper number 9. He’s not wrong. Martial’s shown glimpses of being that player last season but has reverted to type in our opening games of this season. All of which is particularly galling considering we tried and failed to sign the best young number 9 in world football right now, for a fraction of the price we’d have to pay to sign Sancho.

It’s insane to think he’s not allowed to discuss any of this unless he insists the interviewer also lets him talk about our back four. WTF?!
 

golden_blunder

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VDS isn't a DOF at Ajax.
Yes it’s a bit misleading. As far as I read before he studied to become a marketing expert, which he was then employed as and worked his way up to CEO. Marc Overmars is the DoF. It’s irritating that people don’t get the distinction
 

UmbroDays

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:rolleyes: :rolleyes: @ the Martial comments
He's correct.

The games this season you can see him wandering outside of the box too much, trying to pick the ball up in the middle of the park.

We need a Lukaku, van Nistelroy, Cole, etc style target man who just works in the 18-yd box

Edit* just remembered we got Cavani :lol:
 

bsCallout

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I disagree with him about Martial, at the same time I agree with him about Sancho & Halland.

I actually think our future should be with two CF's - Halland, Martial, Rashford & Greenwood. Incredible.

Bruno, VdB, Fred & McT (or new signings) behind them.

Gets me giddy just thinking about it.
 

golden_blunder

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I agree with him about martial. He doesn’t score enough. We need a traditional CF who will be hungry for goals like Haaland to challenge for the titles
 

FrankDrebin

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Yes it’s a bit misleading. As far as I read before he studied to become a marketing expert, which he was then employed as and worked his way up to CEO. Marc Overmars is the DoF. It’s irritating that people don’t get the distinction
Especially when it's been made somewhat public knowledge for atleast a year now in the football circles.

Anyway, maybe we should hire Overmars instead ? :D
 

bsCallout

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He's correct.

The games this season you can see him wandering outside of the box too much, trying to pick the ball up in the middle of the park.

We need a Lukaku, van Nistelroy, Cole, etc style target man who just works in the 18-yd box

Edit* just remembered we got Cavani :lol:
Why? Liverpool do alright without one.
 

golden_blunder

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People must be awfully wound up on here to be nitpicking that Scholes referred to VDS as Ajax's DOF. I think it's clear that he is referring to the fact that Utd would benefit from having him in charge of making all football related decisions at the club instead of Woodward and co. You can call that position whatever you want, but I think its quite clear what he is referring to.
He’s still wrong. He studied marketing
 

Highfather_24

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This is called whataboutery.
Scholes has not even criticized Martial. He just said he is not a proper centre forward and we need one.

But then, fanboys will be fanboys after all.
If I'm a fanboy, are you a hater? Lets not resort to namecalling.

This is not whataboutism, I'm just putting the quotes in context. Sure we dont have a proper centre forward, but we dont have a proper RW or LW either. Our whole front 3 is interchangeable modern forwards like Liverpool. Liverpool dont have a proper centre forward either. All I'm saying is there are 3-4 more positions in far greater need rn, before we go out to upgrade our CF.

Your argument here is so weird. Scholes was talking to a journalist about the Sancho transfer. He was making the point we have similar players already. But we lack a focal point. A proper number 9. He’s not wrong. Martial’s shown glimpses of being that player last season but has reverted to type in our opening games of this season. All of which is particularly galling considering we tried and failed to sign the best young number 9 in world football right now, for a fraction of the price we’d have to pay to sign Sancho.
Yeah and its a bad argument, because Sancho is nothing like Rashford, Martial or Greenwood. Sancho is a creative forward, while the other 3 are better at finishing moves than creating opportunities. Its true we dont have an out and out striker, like Cavani is. Maybe that's why we got him. But its not an either or.

All Im saying is, Martial and Bruno are the only players who will get into this current Liverpool XI or Man City XI. Before we set about to replace them, why not strengthen other areas? Its this notion that not having a true CF is what's holding us back is what is weird and illogical. We have far far bigger problems. Buying Haaland might give us 10 more goals a season, but buying Sancho meant we would have an actual RW in our squad.

Anyone saying we needed a CF more than a RW this window is crazy, as far as I'm concerned.
 

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Hope martial makes him look like an idiot again this season.
I really hope so. There were superstars in his own playing days that had bad spells. Hope Martial rubs on his face. I still love him as a player though, hate him as a pundit. Over critical and always too judgmental.

Ok this isn’t related to the thread but.... Why do you have a trophy/star? How did you get it? What did you do to achieve it ?
 

DomesticTadpole

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I think He’s spot on about everything bar Sancho.

How any United fan or ex-player or pundit can’t see that we’re screaming out for a natural RW is beyond me
We do, but not blowing a whole budget on one where there are glaring gaps in the rest of the team. It's the VDS comment that gets me, another one who doesn't realise that he is not the DOF at Ajax.
 

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Sure Martial isnt world class, but we have another 10 players in our first XI, and only one is a world class player(Bruno), and one has world class potential(Greenwood). So there are basically 8 other players who are not world class, but all we hear about from the likes of Scholes is about Martial, and not about Maguire or Shaw not being as good as Ferdinand or Evra.
Sorry but Bruno is not world class. His weaknesses are too glaring. We don't have any world class players which is fair considering where we are. I have no idea what Greenwood potential is or if we can say it is world class or not. He certainly has world class finishing potential.
 

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We do, but not blowing a whole budget on one where there are glaring gaps in the rest of the team. It's the VDS comment that gets me, another one who doesn't realise that he is not the DOF at Ajax.
Agreed but like the manager situation, we’ve needed a good one since Ronaldo left.

I whole-heartedly stand by the decision not to sign Sancho in hindsight but it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have solved a massive problem for us.
 

bsCallout

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I really hope so. There were superstars in his own playing days that had bad spells. Hope Martial rubs on his face. I still love him as a player though, hate him as a pundit. Over critical and always too judgmental.

Ok this isn’t related to the thread but.... Why do you have a trophy/star? How did you get it? What did you do to achieve it ?
Every season Kane gets a free pass for his usual poor start. Not Martial though.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Agreed but like the manager situation, we’ve needed a good one since Ronaldo left.

I whole-heartedly stand by the decision not to sign Sancho in hindsight but it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have solved a massive problem for us.
If Dortmund weren't asking such stupid money I would not have a problem signing him. The pressure is now on Sancho to keep his value. Any drop in form and his value will drop. There must be an alternative just in case.
 

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He would make a poor manager. You look at our team right now and forwards are the least of our worries. At the moment it looks like we will have to win matches with 4 or 3 goals because of our poor defensive performances.
 

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Its a major operation when you go down the route of hiring a DOF. You're not just hiring one individual, with the expectations that things will instantly turn around.

All DOF have a team around them. A network of individuals that deal with many aspects of running the sporting side of the club. A set-up that will naturally take a couple of seasons (or more) for it to bear fruit, and not all of them are a success, contrary to popular belief.

The 'bring in a Director of Football' and practically labelling one individual to come in and make the club great again is a notion that has been whittled down into the most basic, ignorant form of simplicity that-that itself is something I'm finding increasingly irritating now.

This is more of a critiscm of pundits who continually show the football world why they're sat on a couch talking absolute sh*te on a regular basis.
 

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If Martial is not good enough to be in our XI because he is not world class, then we need another new 7-8 first team world class players.
He didnt say that though. He just said he isn't the type to be played down the middle as a striker in a front 3. He was a left winger before that and that may still be his best position
 

AaronRedDevil

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I really hope so. There were superstars in his own playing days that had bad spells. Hope Martial rubs on his face. I still love him as a player though, hate him as a pundit. Over critical and always too judgmental.

Ok this isn’t related to the thread but.... Why do you have a trophy/star? How did you get it? What did you do to achieve it ?
Every year there’s some competition on who was the worst poster, best, etc. Obviously they were wrong in giving me this award, but Feck’em:lol:. I don’t know if there’s going to be another comp this year though.
 

Highfather_24

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Sorry but Bruno is not world class. His weaknesses are too glaring. We don't have any world class players which is fair considering where we are. I have no idea what Greenwood potential is or if we can say it is world class or not. He certainly has world class finishing potential.
I'm not going to disagree with you there.
 

Highfather_24

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He didnt say that though. He just said he isn't the type to be played down the middle as a striker in a front 3. He was a left winger before that and that may still be his best position
You think Martial is better as a LW than as a CF? Interesting, not sure if I agree with that, but I can get why you say that. I think he will thrive as a Left forward, similar to how say Henry used to play. Not sure if he is a touchline hugging winger though. There were a lot of people calling for Martial to be played down the middle, when we had Lukaku, and the argument was Martial is a lethal finisher, and last season he has shown marked improvement in holding up play. I would give him another season through the centre, and see if Cavani plays the role better, before moving him to the left again.
 

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I made this in the summer during a thread about ranking our PL strikers:



Now, Martial's numbers are a little unfair because he's played a lot of games out wide (hence the italics), and his actual mpg when playing as a CF is a goal every 171 minutes. Which would put him in the same kind of area as the likes of Saha, Lukaku, and Welbeck (whose CF-only record was an almost-identical goal every 173 mins).

What Scholes is probably talking about, which is made obvious by the chart, is how Martial is some way short of the goalscoring standard set by our notable CFs like RVP, Cole, Hernandez, Ruud, Berbatov, Ibra, and Ole himself. Last season saw him coming up closer to the standard, but I don't think he'll ever reach it consistently, and clearly Scholes doesn't either.
 

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You think Martial is better as a LW than as a CF? Interesting, not sure if I agree with that, but I can get why you say that. I think he will thrive as a Left forward, similar to how say Henry used to play. Not sure if he is a touchline hugging winger though. There were a lot of people calling for Martial to be played down the middle, when we had Lukaku, and the argument was Martial is a lethal finisher, and last season he has shown marked improvement in holding up play. I would give him another season through the centre, and see if Cavani plays the role better, before moving him to the left again.
Well thats what I mean, the left forward like Rashford wants to play. Thats where he was before and its arguable that he was just as good there as he was through the middle last season because he essentially does the same thing and plays off the left anyway. That tends to be where he scores from the same as Rashford, picking the ball up towards the left and working towards the box and getting a shot away
 

Stretender

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You think Martial is better as a LW than as a CF? Interesting, not sure if I agree with that, but I can get why you say that. I think he will thrive as a Left forward, similar to how say Henry used to play. Not sure if he is a touchline hugging winger though. There were a lot of people calling for Martial to be played down the middle, when we had Lukaku, and the argument was Martial is a lethal finisher, and last season he has shown marked improvement in holding up play. I would give him another season through the centre, and see if Cavani plays the role better, before moving him to the left again.
Mate I'am a Martial fan. He is not a Centre forward.It will come to a point when United buy let's say Sancho and Haaland, Martial will have to find a new club.

Because he is too good a player to he fighting for the left spot with Rashford who for some strange reason is preferred for that position.