Michael Carrick This Paul Scholes – Scholes responds to criticism for attacking Michael Carrick

Paul Scholes has come forward to justify his controversial social media post criticizing Michael Carrick, his former teammate and current manager of Manchester United, as ‘brutal.’ The former club star insists that his message was misinterpreted. The controversy arose after United’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle last Wednesday. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Scholes wrote: ‘Michael definitely has something special… because United has been playing like crap in the last four games.’ The message was accompanied by a kiss emoji and a mention of Tonali, a Newcastle player, followed by a heart. Although the post was seen as an attack on Carrick, in line with the criticisms from Roy Keane and Gary Neville, Scholes explained that it was not meant to insult the coach. ‘I had no intention of being offensive to Michael. He is one of the nicest people you can meet in football, and he would be the last person I would want to offend,’ he began on the podcast The Good, The Bad & The Football. The former midfielder also revealed that he directly contacted the coach. ‘I sent Michael a message saying: ‘Look, I never meant to upset you,’ and he told me he wasn’t upset,’ he explained, adding: ‘I think people interpreted it differently than intended. The only thing I would say is that I don’t think they have played that well in the last four games, but they are still getting results.’ He clarified: ‘He is a very talented coach because he has been getting results in the last four games since the match against West Ham when they haven’t been playing very well.’ Recently, Patrice Evra criticized his former teammates Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, and Gary Neville for their lack of support for Michael Carrick, deeming their negative comments unnecessary. ‘I hope Paul Scholes’ Instagram story is false; I hope he was hacked,’ Evra began. ‘To be honest, I’m not surprised coming from Scholesy. He was the quietest player I played with throughout my career. Now, on social media, he throws bombs.’

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