Paul Scholes takes swipe at Antony and Sancho for poor defending during Man City defeat

After the Red Devils fell to Man City 6-3 on Sunday, Arsene Wenger criticized Jadon Sancho and Antony, and Man Utd veteran Paul Scholes concurred.

The first half saw Man Utd behind 4-0 as Erik ten Hag’s team was completely destroyed by their arch-rivals.

As City increased their lead, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland each scored a hat-trick in the second half. Anthony Martial added a brace, and Antony scored a fantastic goal to improve the score.

Wenger, the former manager of Arsenal, was particularly critical of Man Utd’s defense down the sides, where Sancho and Antony provided the back four with scant protection.

“What is for me unbelievable in the first half is that Man United has defended so badly on the flanks,” Wenger told beIN Sports.

“From the first minute on Diogo Dalot got a yellow card and Sancho and Antony did not contribute defensively. They were, in the whole half, flooded on the flanks and they were always in trouble.

“After that, when they had the ball, I felt they were obsessed by respecting too much the game plan. They wanted always to go too quickly forward and lost so many balls and didn’t have enough possession.

“They didn’t play for possession, they wanted just to get on the counter-attack.”

In a dig at Sancho and Antony, Scholes, who played on the wings with David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, tweeted a photo of the pair on Instagram.

The accompanying caption read: “Anyone remember when wingers used to help their full-backs?”

Scholes and Wenger weren’t the only commentators perplexed by the level of play; Man Utd great Roy Keane said the team as a whole should be “embarrassed” by their performance in the first half.