Paul Scholes claims Man United are 'REGRESSING' and 'poorly coached' under Erik ten Hag as Old Trafford legend piles pressure on and questions 'strange decision' ahead of two crunch fixtures

Paul Scholes fears Manchester United are 'regressing' nether Erik 10 Hag and nan club's level pinch a faulty recruitment strategy and mediocre coaching.

The United fable believes fans are losing dream aft their joint-worst commencement to a Premier League play which leaves them wilting successful 13th. 

With clashes against Porto connected Thursday nighttime and Aston Villa connected Sunday, which immoderate deliberation could beryllium make-or-break, Ten Hag has trim a cool figure and insisted he is not sweating complete his early - but Scholes is worried. 

'You don't spot wherever nan adjacent bully capacity aliases triumph is coming from,' Scholes tells Mail Sport. 'I don't deliberation nan players moreover understand what nan head wants from them. They look for illustration a poorly coached team. It's difficult to watch. 

'It's two-and-a-bit years now and I consciousness for illustration there's nary progression erstwhile teams for illustration Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal, are progressing each nan time. 

'With United, it feels for illustration nan other - it feels for illustration we're regressing. We're going nan incorrect measurement arsenic results would suggest. All fans want is simply a spot of guidance but there's a deficiency of hope. The squad look truthful acold disconnected being anyplace adjacent competitive.'

A dystopian view, you mightiness say, and precisely nan other of what he's trying to foster astatine Salford City, nan League Two broadside he co-owns pinch different stars of United's 'Class of '92'. 

On Tuesday, Salford teamed up pinch their sponsor Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey to alert 4 fortunate fans to their lucifer astatine Newport County for nan 'Hottest AwayDay', which sewage them retired of a 360-mile information travel down nan M6. Scholes praised Fireball for their 'fan-focused ideas' and helping nan nine to support fans who tin get 'pushed aside': 'This is thing we haven't seen before. Fans are nan lifeblood of a shot club. We're truthful pleased Fireball decided to do this.'

Thankfully nan chopper passengers made it location and backmost without incident - not nan case, Scholes claims, if erstwhile team-mate Nicky Butt had been piloting. 'I'm judge he started trying to get his chopper aliases pilot's licence. I deliberation he started it but ne'er went ahead. I couldn't spot him. He'd beryllium flipping it upside down and everything. No chance.'

You wouldn't blasted United fans for emotion nan aforesaid consciousness of turbulence. Every arena and incident is scrutinised to wrong an inch of its life and made a flashpoint.

One of those, for example, was Ten Hag's determination to driblet Marcus Rashford against Crystal Palace successful September aft he had scored 3 goals successful 2 games. He questioned nan forward's manner and successful consequent fixtures against Twente and Tottenham, Rashford has not looked nan same. 

'I thought he had turned a corner. I thought it was a really unusual determination to time off him retired of nan Palace game,' says Scholes.  

'When a lad has been struggling for assurance for specified a agelong clip and past he really scores, 2 successful 1 crippled and 1 successful another, and past is conscionable near out, erstwhile you deliberation he's sewage his spark back, past you person to mobility whether Marcus has been behaving decently aliases whether nan head has sewage a large determination wrong.

'Just erstwhile you deliberation he's backmost and firing again, his assurance looks debased again and you're backmost to quadrate one.'

The guardant areas and midfield person been peculiar problem areas. United person only scored 5 goals successful six convention games, while nan mode their midfield was bypassed against Twente, and peculiarly successful nan 3-0 conclusion by Tottenham, has fuelled overmuch criticism.

Scholes cannot thief but consciousness that mediocre recruitment (did anyone mention they person spent £600million nether Ten Hag?) has damaged them.

'The head makes recruitment difficult because we don't cognize really they want to play. Recruiting players for a style of play you cognize thing astir becomes virtually impossible. 

'They had (Rasmus) Hojlund - a very young centre guardant who has been injured. It could return different 12 months to get nan champion retired of him. There was bully imaginable past year. (Joshua) Zirkzee came from obscurity - not galore group had seen him aliases heard of him erstwhile different strikers were available.

'The numbers that were quoted to astir teams for Ivan Toney were ridiculous which is astir apt why he didn't spell to Chelsea aliases Arsenal and ended up successful Saudi Arabia. 

'The large ones are a mates of years agone erstwhile you could person signed Harry Kane aliases Declan Rice. They mightiness person costs £100million each but you cognize their qualities and character, their belief successful nan dressing room and connected nan shot pitch, would person been amended than going and spending £200million connected 4 aliases 5 players that you're not rather judge about.

'I'm not judge what marketplace United are successful anymore. They're still nan biggest nine successful nan world and group will want to motion for them, but not arsenic overmuch arsenic they would person wanted to successful a clip gone by. '

If nan momentum of Ten Hag's awesome first play astatine Old Trafford, successful which United vanished 3rd and won nan Carabao Cup, has evaporated, past what of Salford?

In 2014, Scholes, Butt, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, and Phil Neville took complete nan Ammies alongside Peter Lim pinch nan nine successful the Northern Premier League Division One North, nan eighth tier of English football.

At first, they seemed unstoppable. Four promotions successful 5 seasons. That gripping documentary series. 

League Two has proven a obstruction to that upward trajectory. They're now successful their sixth play successful nan 4th tier, having made nan play-offs once, and truthful acold this play are successful different relegation scrap contempt having nan likes of Ben Woodburn and Luke Garbutt. 

'We've stagnated a small spot successful League Two, there's nary uncertainty astir that,' says Scholes.

'We did truthful good successful a short abstraction of clip to get to League Two. At first that was nan large ambition. We had 1 play successful nan National League and looking backmost we were fortunate to get retired of location consecutive distant - Graham Alexander did a superb occupation to do that for us.

'But there's bigger title and much money. In those first 4 aliases 5 seasons we ever had nan astir money successful nan convention and we could get nan champion players and now it's somewhat different. There are a batch of clubs pinch large budgets and getting 14, 15,000 each week and astatine this constituent it's thing we'd struggle to support up with. 

'We had nan play wherever we did decorativeness successful nan play-offs, sewage very adjacent to beating Stockport and you spot they're doing good astatine nan apical extremity of League One. We don't deliberation we're acold away. We cognize it's competitory and we've sewage a existent knowledgeable head now truthful hopefully we tin push connected to wherever we want to.'