Paul Scholes questioned Erik ten Hag’s one decision before the game, Man Utd star’s horror show proved him right

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Manchester United’s Europa League campaign continues to stutter along with no kickstart as they drew their third consecutive game, this time 1-1 at Fenerbahce.

A point in Turkey looks good in isolation but in the grand scheme of things, it leaves Manchester United in 21st place in the table after three points from three games.

With fixtures coming thick and fast, the opportunity to make amend will come quickly as West Ham United await in less than 48 hours.

Erik ten Hag, therefore, had to keep one eye on that game as well but still started the likes of Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho in place of, say, Amad.

However, it was another change that Ten Hag did go ahead with which was questioned by Paul Scholes before the game. He was proven right after the game as the Man Utd star had a terrible time of things.

Paul Scholes proven right over Erik ten Hag criticism

As a pundit, Scholes has never been one to mince his words and sometimes, he can even be too honest, which backfires when his opinion is not shared by many.

However, in this case, his thoughts were echoed by many Man Utd fans when he said it and after the game, they have proven to be prophetic.

When the teamsheet dropped, Noussair Mazraoui started as the No. 10 which confused Scholes but that was the decision he took most umbrage with.

That “honour” went to Rasmus Hojlund being rotated out for Joshua Zirkzee which baffled Scholes as Zirkzee has looked nowhere close to scoring in any game since his debut so far.

He said before the game: “Why the manager is thinking about Sunday, I don’t know. You need to win games now. They’re 25th in the Europa League, they’re getting relegated from that. They need to win games quickly.”

This was in response to Ten Hag stating that Hojlund needs to be protected after shaking off a series of injuries.

However, Zirkzee looks so far off the mark that despite his assist for United’s goal, the team looks absolutely toothless in attack when he’s at the top of it.

Therefore, Ten Hag should have arguably started with Hojlund and taken him off at the hour mark to protect him, instead of giving Fenerbahce defenders an easy ride to start with.

The Joshua Zirkzee problem

First things first, it was widely accepted when Zirkzee came that United weren’t signing a prolific striker who would score 20 goals a season.

However, United’s dysfunctional team plus Zirkzee’s playing style has brought out the worst version of both parties so far.

The Dutchman probably plays better in a team with identifiable attacking patterns, runners off the ball, and players who love to operate in small spaces.

By the same logic, United play better with a brute and clinical centre-forward who can put away the minor chances they create and put pressure on the opposition with his last-man running.

Ultimately, Zirkzee looks like an ill-advised signing who the manager either doesn’t know how to use or even worse, doesn’t prefer using.

By its definition, a “backup” option should have broadly the same qualities as the first choice just at a lower level.

United are trying to shoehorn Zirkzee into the Hojlund role and the player can’t adapt away from a game that brought him to this stage.

Either the player needs to change, or the system with the manager. The latter looks increasingly likely with every dropped point.