Don't blame Wayne Rooney: Man Utd legend Paul Scholes hits out at Louis van Gaal's tactics

Paul Scholes admits he wouldn't have enjoyed playing under Louis van Gaal

PAUL SCHOLES has put the boot into Louis Van Gaal's "risk-free" tactics by declaring he would not have enjoyed playing under the Dutchman.

 

And the Manchester United legend has sympathy for Wayne Rooney, who is coming under fire for the team's lack of goals this season.

Scholes claims Rooney is suffering from a lack of service and believes the strikers he played with for much of his Old Trafford career like Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy would have struggled too under Van Gaal.

"There's a lack of creativity and risk," said Scholes, after a second successive goal-less draw saw United crash out of the Capital One Cup on penalties to Championship club Middlesbrough.

 

"It's a team now you wouldn't want to play against because they're tightly organised. But it seems he [Van Gaal] doesn't want players to beat men and it's probably not a team I'd have enjoyed playing in.

"The hardest thing to coach is scoring goals and creativity. I was at the derby on Sunday and Rooney's movement was brilliant, but when he's playing in that team there's no one prepared to pass to him. After 20 minutes you'd be tearing you hair out.

"I played with some brilliant centre-forwards and I don't think they could play in this team - the likes of van Nistelrooy, Cole, Yorke, Sheringham. You don't get crosses into the box or midfielders looking for runs."

United have scored only four goals in their last five games in all competitions and statistics show Van Gaal's team have attempted fewer shots than Norwich, Watford and Aston Villa in the Premier League this term.

Van Gaal's United side have scored just four goals in their last five games

They have managed only 105 shots in 10 games - an average of 10.5 a game. That places them 15th in the top flight. Arsenal and Manchester City lead the way with 19.6 and 18.5 shots per game.

Van Gaal admits he is worried about his team's lack of goals but is confident they will improve.

"It is a concern but I do know also that it can easily turn around in the next game. Everybody is forgetting that Middlesbrough played in a very compact way, like Manchester City did, so it is very difficult to create chances."

To compound Rooney's frustration his spot kick was saved in the shoot-out after having a laser directed at his face in the moments before he began his run-up - an incident the FA say they will investigate.

Meanwhile, Middlesbrough goalkeeper Tomas Mejias hit back at Van Gaal's jibe that the Championship club were "lucky".

After Mejias had saved from Rooney and Ashley Young in the shoot-out, Van Gaal said: "It is more like the casino, red or black."

But Mejias insisted Boro' ran out worthy winners. "We passed it around so well, it was unbelievable. No one should forget that for 90 minutes and in extra time, the whole team was amazing. We worked so hard and in the end, deserved to win.

"You dream of moments like that - saving two penalties out of four against a top team. It is what every goalkeeper wants. It has got to be my best-ever moment in football."