ByTNT Sports
Published 06/03/2025 at 19:18 GMT
'Criminal' for Dalot not to feed Hojlund, says Scholes of missed Man Utd chance
Video credit: TNT Sports
Paul Scholes called Diogo Dalot’s failure to find Rasmus Hojlund "criminal" during Manchester United's UEFA Europa League match at Real Sociedad, while Robbie Savage said the decision deserved a "hammering."
Midway through the first half - live on TNT Sports and [discovery+](https://get.discoveryplus.com/gb/watch-tnt-sports-on-discoveryplus?utm_campaign=UK-TNT-D1-TNT-C7-TNT-BAU-DR-W-Football-ChampionsLeague-250101-NA&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tntsports.co.uk&utm_content=story-content-text-subscribe&vid=sy0zk8w3zdhwsy1r&cid=0ee1b05714eadfd3193bf34fbc4e5980&c=%7B%22875074%22%3A%221089459%22%2C%221086912%22%3A%221348017%22%2C%221310352%22%3A%220%22%2C%221347826%22%3A%221670504%22%2C%221347827%22%3A%221670505%22%2C%221347828%22%3A%221670506%22%2C%221358349%22%3A%221683310%22%7D) - Portuguese wing-back Dalot steamed down the right wing, and for a few seconds it appeared that a squared pass inside for Hojlund was the sensible option.
Instead, the defender failed to act quickly enough and the move petered out as Sociedad players retreated for the home side to block the path.
When the move broke down, the Danish striker was seen remonstrating with his team-mate, and Savage said that manager Ruben Amorim would have been hugely frustrated with the "unacceptable" mistake.
He declared: "If I'm the manager I'm absolutely hammering him."
At half-time, former England international Karen Carney said Hojlund’s frustration was justified.
She explained: "When wing-backs get into positions like Dalot does, he has to give him that pass. He has to put it into him, because that's a tap-in. That's 1-0, and that's a comfortable start.
"But he doesn't and that's a missed opportunity, so Hojlund has every right to go to Dalot and dig him out, because Hojlund has had a lot of criticism for not scoring, that was a chance."
'That's unacceptable! Why on earth has Dalot not passed!'
Video credit: TNT Sports
Scholes was even more disappointed with Dalot, adding: "The frustrating thing is, for 20 minutes we saw them warming up, and that's exactly what they were practising. Into the wing-back, crossing it first time.
"For Dalot not to see that, is criminal really. Hojlund, he's made a great run. For any right-back in world football not to see that is criminal, and that's an easy goal for Hojlund."
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