Former Manchester United striker disagrees with Roy Keane and Paul Scholes over midfield duo

Former Manchester United striker Louis Saha has defended Scott McTominay and Fred following the duo’s criticism in recent days.

McTominay and Fred were slammed for their performances by supporters and pundits alike following United’s opening day defeat to Brighton. Roy Keane and Paul Scholes in particular were damning in their verdicts of the pair’s performances.

The duo’s displays came under close scrutiny as United continue in their search of a new midfielder, having failed to adequately add to the area so far this summer. The Reds has spent much of the summer chasing Frenkie de Jong, while a fee has been agreed with Juventus for Adrien Rabiot and an offer being considered for Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

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Saha though has leapt to the defence of McTominay and Fred. The former striker believes the pair have been made scapegoats for some of United’s other issues after Sunday’s defeat.

“It’s always easy to judge when someone is not playing well,” Saha told the Metro. “I don’t want to target those two players because they get a lot of the focus.

“Manchester United are a creative team by history and they need to create more, so those two players can be criticised for that. But it’s not just down to those two players to create chances, it’s down to the rest of the team also.

“The strikers, the wingers and the defenders all need to do better as well so it doesn’t expose anybody. This is the problem; nobody is stepping up to help out their team mates.

“I don’t totally agree with the criticisms aimed at Fred and McTominay because they’re players who do have other qualities. If they’re being asked to do something that they can’t,