Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes is backing Anthony Martial, Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford to start against Everton.
Everyone will be intrigued to see Erik ten Hag’s starting eleven at the weekend after losing the Manchester derby 6-3. Manchester United got back to winning ways on Thursday night in the Europa League, but the manager is still expected to make changes when the team travels to Goodison Park.
Scholes hit out at United’s wingers – Antony and Jadon Sancho – after the Manchester derby when he suggested neither of them carried out their defensive duties against Pep Guardiola’s side. I thought that criticism was harsh on Antony, who got back to help Diogo Dalot, but Sancho cost us two goals due to being too passive defensively.
The former midfielder was on BT Sport for coverage of United’s 3-2 win over Omonia on Thursday night. He was impressed by Martial, Ronaldo and Rashford and thinks they all warrant their place in the starting eleven for Sunday.
“I’ll go with that front-three [Martial, Rashford, Ronaldo],” Scholes told BT Sport, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News. “At the minute, I think they’ll be the most dangerous.
“Ronaldo… Sunday could be a game for him. Martial and Rashford pick themselves after their performance tonight.”
Martial and Rashford came off the bench against Omonia and turned the game on its head, while Ronaldo provided an assist and missed a flurry of chances to score.
But this could also mean Sancho and Antony get dropped from the starting eleven.
Scholes added: “I don’t think Sancho ever really runs in behind. He is a player that needs somebody to play with; he needs a fast left-back if he’s playing on the left-hand side.
“He also needs a centre-forward to link with and he hasn’t really got that. I don’t think Antony, on the other side, runs in behind, he seems to be a little bit of a one-trick pony, always cutting inside and passing back to the full-back or having a shot.
“I think he needs to develop a little bit more. It is still early days for him and we know that.”
Again, I think Scholes is being a little harsh on Antony because he has been scoring goals since signing for the club. I also thought he played well against Omonia last night but the same couldn’t be said for Sancho.
