Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand are fearful for Manchester United’s chances ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby, following the club’s last-gasp draw at Atalanta.
Cristiano Ronaldo rescued the Red Devils with a brilliant stoppage-time equaliser in Italy, the forward netting his second equaliser of the game after United twice fell behind to the Serie A side.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were dominated during the second half and were perhaps fortunate to secure a valuable point, with the performance of the side raising concerns ahead of a huge Manchester derby clash at Old Trafford this weekend.
Following United’s 3-2 comeback victory over Atalanta last month, Scholes aired his concerns for his former side going into their game against Liverpool, concerns that were well founded as United were humiliated in a 5-0 loss.
They showed some grit to beat Spurs 3-0 at the weekend, though after yet another indifferent showing that saw Raphael Varane withdrawn through injury, Scholes has again expressed his concerns ahead of City’s visit to Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime.
“With a performance like that second half, and no Varane on Saturday, it has to be a worry,” he told BT Sport.
“City will think they have a good chance of winning, and with no Varane it makes it more difficult for United…
“It was a little bit messy. When Varane went off it seemed to go all over the place again. They were really shaky, the quality in the middle of the pitch wasn’t great again, giving the ball away far too often.
“I don’t know if Harry Maguire is still injured or has got a hangover from the Euros, but he doesn’t look right, he’s not with it at the minute.”
Ferdinand echoed the concerns of Scholes and believes a similar second-half showing to the one produced against Atalanta could lead to another embarrassing defeat against City for Solskjaer’s side.
“If United go out with that second half performance against Manchester City they will get slapped again, three, four, five goals,” Ferdinand added.
“The intensity was not there. You look at it and you say what formation are they playing? They were in disarray… Cristiano Ronaldo saved them in the second half.
“Varane covers both sides very well and as soon as he went off they just looked so shaky, a complete lack of confidence.
“They went to a four and it looked like Atalanta could get through this team at any time. United were fortunate Atalanta didn’t score any more and the great man stepped up.”
