Paul Scholes speaks, world listens…
There are certain footballers that instantly command our respect whenever they speak on any subject, even ones they have no clue about. For example, we would love to hear Zinedine Zidane’s views on the First Irish Land Act of 1870 or Lionel Messi’s favourite Irish Eurovision winner; Dana or Johnny Logan?
Paul Scholes falls into this category of ‘football prophets’ and his his first column for The Telegraph has revealed some interesting stuff. The Ginger Prince has completely ruled out his old club’s chances of winning the title but he feels that Louis Van Gaal will turn Man Utd around.
On Man United’s chances of winning the title he said, “I find it hard to see them as Premier League title contenders this season. My instinct is the title will be between Manchester City and Chelsea with United, Liverpool and Arsenal in competition for the two remaining Champions League places”. JOE tends to agree with the Red Devils legend on this one.
Scholes spent over a decade dominating midfields in the Premier League but he feels that his former side are still lacking in this department.
“United have not signed enough players in this window, even allowing for Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera. To my mind, they needed a top-level midfielder, of which there were very few available this summer. Just two, in fact. And Cesc Fabregas and Toni Kroos have already made their moves.”
It’s been very noticeable that United have switched their formation to a 3-5-2 system but Scholes has worries over the fitness of their defenders. “The most worrying thing is the injury records of the three centre-halves, Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. They do seem to pick up a lot of knocks”.
Man Utd have been very impressive in pre-season with good wins against Roma, Real Madrid and Liverpool, and the United legend feels that the Dutchman has instantly won over the dressing room.
“Louis van Gaal has the respect of the players. He got it as soon as he arrived. He is a man with presence. He looks a bit of a scary man. Good. Sir Alex Ferguson was a scary man too, at times, and it is possible to push players into performances. From what I’ve seen in pre-season he looks a bit mad. He’s a bit like a mad genius, he looks a bit crazy”.
Man Utd get their league campaign under way against Swansea and JOE is optimistic that they will be much better than last year. To be honest, they couldn’t be any worse than what they were under Moyes.
