Paul Scholes slams Manchester United star after Fenerbahce draw: ‘He’s guilty of that a lot’

Paul Scholes pointed the finger at Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot after his former side drew 1-1 with Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the Europa League.

As has often been the case this season, United failed to push on after taking the lead as they were held to a third successive draw in Europe by Turkish side Fenerbahce.

The visitors made a bright start in Istanbul and took the lead on 15 minutes through Christian Eriksen, who finished a well-worked move to dampen the spirit of the raucous home fans.

But Fenerbahce were on top for much of the rest of the first half and would have equalised had it not been for a stunning double-save from United goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Onana could do nothing about Youssef En-Nesyri’s 49th-minute leveller, however, as the Moroccan rose well to glance home an inviting cross from ex-Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin.

Dalot tracked back with Saint-Maximin but allowed him to cut inside before delivering a superb cross into the path of En-Nesyri.

Manchester United legend Scholes was critical of Dalot’s defending for the goal and said the Portugal international is often ‘guilty’ of allowing wingers too much room.

‘I think Dalot’s guilty of that quite a bit,’ Scholes said on TNT Sports. ‘You know exactly what Saint-Maximin is going to do in that situation.

‘He [Dalot] needs to show more urgency, get out to him because you know they’ve got a dangerous player in the box.

‘It’s a great ball in and he’s not going to miss from there, but Dalot doesn’t do that enough.

‘He’s been okay, one of the better players for United this season, but he needs to get that side of his game right.

‘You have to stop that at source otherwise they’re going to score because he’s a real threat.’

Assessing Manchester United’s result as a whole, Scholes added: ‘I think on the face of it it’s okay, you would probably take that result before the game, it’s a decent draw.

‘The two results you have to say: Porto away, tough place to go, good draw. Fenerbahce away, good draw. It’s the home game that was really disappointing, the Twente game, you should be beating those teams.

‘They’re in a terrible position in that Europa League, they’ve got to start winning games soon.’

Thursday night’s draw leaves Manchester United 21st out of 36 in the Europa League table after three games, while Mourinho’s Fenerbahce are 14th.

Old Trafford boss Erik ten Hag was content with his side’s performance in Turkey but admitted it was ‘disappointing’ not to seal three points from a winning position.

‘Fenerbahce are a very good club, with very good fans and some good players,’ he said. ‘It would be a very good final.

‘We should keep the ball better in the first half. We should score more goals but to be honest they also created good chances.

‘They gave us some problems. They are a good team with a good manager. It is not a bad point. But we want to win. We want to win every game.’

On the performance of summer signing Manuel Ugarte, who Scholes said produced his best display so far, Ten Hag added: ‘Yes, I agree.

‘He has to come into the team. The six role is very important. He has to learn how we play. I was happy with his performance today.’

Following last weekend’s much-needed comeback win over Brentford, Manchester United will look to climb further up the Premier League table on Sunday when they face struggling West Ham.

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