Manchester United favourites Roy Keane and Paul Scholes agree over a 'shambolic' problem that Erik ten Hag will have to correct during his tenure in the Old Trafford dugout.
Ten Hag was sworn in to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on a permanent basis this summer – and his team impressed during pre-season outings in Thailand and Australia on tour. However, when the main order of business started, old habits came back to bite United during their 2-1 opening day Premier League defeat against Brighton.
Pascal Gross did the damage with two goals in the first half and United were left with a mountain to climb at that stage. An own goal offered up some hope that a positive result could be salvaged.
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However, it proved to be a false platform in that respect as Brighton closed out the victory. As the pursuit to sign Barcelona playmaker Frenkie de Jong continues, Fred and McTominay were chosen in the engine room as Ten Hag deployed Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen in more advanced positions.
Speaking about the double pivot, former United captain turned pundit Keane told Sky Sports: "The decision making and the football intelligence, in particular from Fred – and I've said this for a long time – Fred and McTominay are not good enough. They won't get Manchester United back competing at the top.
"We see it week in, week out. [They are] not up to it."
Scholes, on duty for Premier League Productions, described the first half against Brighton was "shambolic". He added: "The quality in the middle of the pitch was really poor.
"I was happy he [McTominay] didn't get sent-off [for a late challenge], but I think he was slightly lucky. Again, he's running with the ball, absolutely ridiculous. The quality in the middle of the pitch was nowhere near good enough, but we have seen that for the last few years with these two players.
"With Fred and McTominay, he [Ten Hag] is going to have to play just one of them [moving forward] but even one of them is probably too many. Fred gives the ball away all the time and McTominay tries run with it constantly and then gives it away. Pass it to your best players...
"It's not that difficult. It's criminal on a day like today [Sunday afternoon]."
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