Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has firmly rejected Paul Scholes’ criticism of his team’s ‘enthusiasm’ levels following their dramatic 3-1 victory over Southampton at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
The Red Devils secured their first home win since early December through Amad Diallo’s late hat-trick after falling behind to Manuel Ugarte’s own goal.
Former United midfielder Scholes questioned the team’s mentality in a post-match interview on TNT Sports, sparking a respectful but direct response from Amorim.
United climbed to 12th place in the Premier League standings with the victory, though they narrowly avoided an upset against the bottom-placed Saints.
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has firmly rejected Paul Scholes’ criticism of his team’s ‘enthusiasm’ levels following their dramatic 3-1 victory over Southampton at Old Trafford on Thursday night
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The visitors took a shock lead in the first half through Ugarte’s own goal and maintained their advantage until the 82nd minute.
It was then that Amad sparked a remarkable turnaround, scoring three times in just 12 minutes to complete his first hat-trick for the club.
Scholes was particularly critical of United’s performance on TNT Sports, highlighting the team’s struggles for the majority of the match.
“Today was not a lack of enthusiasm. It was a lack of speed and sometimes a lack of control of the game”
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“For 80 minutes that’s as bad as a performance as you’ll see, especially against a team who were bottom of the league,” said the United legend.
He added that Southampton “were so much better than Manchester United, passing the ball, technically, tactically.”
The criticism followed Scholes questioning Amorim about the team’s enthusiasm levels, which he felt “wasn’t quite there again for 70/75 minutes.”
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Amorim defended his players, explaining the challenges they faced at Old Trafford where they had lost their previous three matches.
“It’s not just being tired but playing in this stadium we lost the last three games here and the pressure is different,” said the United boss.
He insisted it wasn’t a lack of enthusiasm causing problems: “I want to be fair with my players, today wasn’t a lack of enthusiasm, it was a lack of speed and sometimes control of the game.”
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The Portuguese manager detailed how pressing difficulties and positioning issues affected their performance.
Despite Amorim’s defence, Scholes remained critical of United’s overall display after the manager had left the interview.
Man Utd battled their way to a 3-1 win over Southampton on Thursday night with Amad Diallo netting a sublime hat-trick
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“Amad Diallo was the one bright spark,” said Scholes. “I still think the manager will be disappointed with this performance, against a team who struggle to score goals and concede so many.”
The former midfielder concluded by praising Southampton’s superiority for much of the match: “I thought they were a lot better tactically and technically than Manchester United. Man United were really poor.”