Paul Scholes has criticised the performances of Manchester United wingers Antony and Jadon Sancho, describing the Brazilian as a “one-trick pony”.
The pair were utilised out wide by Erik ten Hag both in the derby defeat to Manchester City last weekend and against Omonia in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
Though a double from Marcus Rashford helped Ten Hag’s side avoid a significant slip-up in Cyprus, both Antony and Sancho again struggled to make an impact.
Sancho was taken off at half-time in Nicosia, while Antony - signed for a reported fee in excess of £80million from Ajax this summer - was replaced by Fred late on.
Former Manchester United midfielder Scholes has been left disappointed by the wingers’ recent performances, agreeing with Ten Hag’s post-match assessement that Sancho and Antony had been too static against Omonia.
“He was right about the wingers being static,” Scholes said on BT Sport. “Sancho never really runs in behind. He needs a fast left-back really or a centre forward to link up with and he hasn’t really got that at the moment.
“Antony on the other side as well, he doesn’t run in behind. He seems to be a bit of a one-trick pony.
“He’s always cutting inside and either passing back to the full-back or having a shot. You’re thinking he needs to develop a little bit. It’s still early days for him, we know that.”
Like Antony, Sancho was a marquee summer addition to the Manchester United squad when he arrived from Borussia Dortmund in July of last year.
But the young England international has struggled for consistency, and was left out of Gareth Southgate’s most recent squad.
Having already been beaten by Real Sociedad in Europa League Group E, it looked as if Manchester United’s hopes of progressing to the knockout stages of the competition would suffer a serious blow when they fell behind at Neil Lennon’s Omonia.
Ten Hag was pleased, however, by the resilience his team showed to bounce back from Karim Ansarifard’s opener after half-time and eventually secure a 3-2 away victory.
“I would call it: ‘[We] stay composed,” Ten Hag said of the overall showing in Cyprus. “This can always happen – football is a game of mistakes.
“The first 30 minutes we played quite well, the only thing we didn’t do was score a goal – when you score a goal you make your life easy.
“We didn’t, then we conceded a goal and it was the worst 10 minutes of the game from us. After half-time, we dealt well with the setback.”
Real Sociedad top the group on nine points, three ahead of Manchester United.
Ten Hag’s side travel to Goodison Park to face Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.
