Man Utd’s Liverpool humiliation was predicted exactly by Scholes

Robin Bairner

Updated: 25 Oct 2021 17:40 BST
3 min read

Man Utd's Cristiano Ronaldo reacts against Atalanta — © ProShots

Manchester United’s 5-0 loss to Liverpool on Sunday was predicted by club legend Paul Scholes.

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The former midfielder was bang on the money following the 3-2 victory over Atalanta in midweek, during which Man Utd had to scramble from 2-0 behind to take a late win thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Scholes dared Solskjaer to pick the same team to face Liverpool and suggested that they would be taken apart if they were.

And the veteran of 19 seasons at Old Trafford was proven correct.

“The first half really worried me,” he said after the Atalanta success on BT Sport. “I get that people will say I’m miserable and I’ll probably get slagged off by United fans, but I looked at that game thinking about Liverpool on Sunday. Thinking about Manchester City.

If you do that against Man City or Liverpool, at half-time you’re 3-0 or 4-0 down. You’re out of the game, you’re not coming back.

- Paul Scholes

“In that first half, Man Utd were all over the place, they were disjointed. The two midfield players were playing on their own. If you do that against Man City or Liverpool, at half-time you’re 3-0 or 4-0 down. You’re out of the game, you’re not coming back.

“It’s great watching and seeing the excitement, and the ‘United way’, all the attacking, all the goals, the shooting and the crosses, it’s brilliant, I know that, but that first half stuck with me.

“They showed great fighting spirit, yeah, but they conceded so many chances. If you’re playing quality players, there’s no way you’re winning that game, not a chance. Everyone will get carried away now, but will Ole play that way against Liverpool on Sunday? Everyone’s smiling everyone’s saying it’s brilliant. Go and do that on Sunday against Liverpool and see what happens.”

Solskjaer stuck by the same tactics and watched his side disintegrate to a 5-0 defeat, with Naby Keita, Diogo Jota and a double from Mohamed Salah having Liverpool 4-0 up at the break, just as Scholes predicted. The Reds eased off in the second half, sparing Man Utd’s blushes, with Salah scoring soon after the interval.