Whenever a player, who has been associated with a single side throughout his professional career, sees disturbing form of his side, it feels him like killing of the legacy he left with his most loved side and this is something that seems to be happening with Manchester United who is passing through worst phase in recent time. This is the same team who was once called the invincible when used to play under Alex guidance and now after Scott’s retirement, Red Devils could never recover from the stigma. First David Moyes and then Van Gaal none of them could bring any joy for the biggest English club and this year too they are not close to even a Champions league qualification after having been on the top of the board last month. ManU latest 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in Europa League again made it sure Dutchman is not the man who can bring golden era back for Old Trafford side and former United legend Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand are the two who are deeply stunned to see their side’s peril stage in English soccer.
Both the legendries were almost surprised to see how Reds dominated the field despite being an underdog on table in front of star studded United’s army. Their chance to progress in last 16 got the momentum after penalties out of close-range strikes by Daniel Sturridge and Roberto Firmino’s gave hosts a decisive lead. Talking a deep note on the form displayed by his former side, Scholes said in an interview, “United were a shambles. At 2-0, they’re still in the game, don’t get me wrong, but when you’re at Man United, I think there’s certain standards you have to live up to that and they’ve fallen well short.
“When we were coming through as players we had great examples in Robson, Keane, Ince and Bruce setting standards, and when we came through we had to live up the standards and hopefully take the club on. When me and Rio, when we were playing, we set standards for these players, the manager set the standard for David Moyes, for Louis van Gaal, and every single one of them have fallen short of the standards that should be set. I thought the biggest difference there Liverpool had a way of playing. United didn’t have a clue what they were trying to do.”
While Ferdinand added, “To see the lack of fight, the lack of urgency, the lack of cohesion in the team, there’s going to have to be a massive, massive improvement in the next leg at Old Trafford because that wasn’t good enough.”