'Madness' - Paul Scholes baffled by Manchester United's 'lack of leadership' in frantic Galatasaray draw

Paul Scholes described Manchester United’s helter-skelter UEFA Champions League draw with Galatasaray as “absolute madness” and criticised the Red Devils for lacking leadership and discipline.

United threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to end up with a 3-3 draw in Istanbul after a fast and frantic thriller that could have gone either way.

While the game provided enormous entertainment for neutrals, it left Erik ten Hag’s side bottom of Group A with one game to go and Red Devils legend Scholes was frustrated by their approach.

“It’s back to game management. I feel like a broken record, I’ve been saying this for years now – it’s a lack of leadership,” Scholes said on TNT Sports.

“You think of the experience they’ve got in the team, of [Victor] Lindelof who plays for Sweden, [Harry] Maguire playing for England for so long.

“The centre of the pitch was wide open. People just running through it all the time.

“With the pace they’ve got up front, they will always get counter-attacking chances. But make sure you’re solid.

“It was end-to-end, it was a game they didn’t need after being 2-0 up and 3-1 up. It was absolute madness.”

Andre Onana was at fault for two of Galatasaray’s goals on another difficult night for the United goalkeeper.

But Scholes said United require a more pragmatic game plan to get results in Europe after picking up just four points from five group games against Bayern Munich, Copenhagen and Galatasaray.

"I'm not sure I've ever seen a game like that," Scholes said.

"It was complete madness from start to finish. They started brilliant to go 2-0 up, but there is a lack of discipline.

“It’s very difficult to win games of football away from home in Europe that way.

“They were still going for the throat, trying to score goals, and they conceded a bad goal.

"The keeper had a really tough night tonight. But that's not the way to win games in Europe.

"I've never seen teams go away from home in Europe, throw everything at teams... and you need to win the game.

"You are 2-0 and 3-1 up. Play your positions. Just relax.

“[Scott] McTominay bombing off everywhere...you’ve got to give him credit for scoring the goal. You’ve got to give the team credit for wanting to score goals all the time.

“But as a way of winning a big game in Europe, it wasn’t disciplined enough.”

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