Patrice Evra has hit out at Paul Scholes after the Manchester United legend uploaded a scathing social media post about Michael Carrick following Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle at St James’ Park.
The Red Devils saw their unbeaten run under Carrick ended on Tyneside, with goals from Anthony Gordon and William Osula either side of a Casemiro header giving the hosts all three points.
Newcastle’s win was made even more remarkable given they played the second half with 10 men following Jacob Ramsey’s dismissal just before the interval.
After the game, United legend Scholes uploaded a story on his social media that has triggered a huge backlash. The 51-year-old said: “Michael has definitely got something special about him Cos Utd have been CRAP last 4 games. Night!”
He has, however, since deleted the post about his former teammate.
Now, speaking to Stake, Evra has expressed hope that Scholes was hacked – but couldn’t resist taking aim at his old friend’s personality, suggesting he was quiet as a player but can now dish it out far too harshly.
“I hope Paul Scholes’ Instagram story is fake, I hope he was hacked,” said the Frenchman, who won five Premier League titles playing alongside the pair.
Newcastle were impressive in their 2-1 win over Man Utd | PA
“To be honest, I’m not surprised at that from Scholesy. He was the quietest player I’ve ever played with in my entire career.
“Now, in the media, he drops bombshells. I really don’t understand the lack of support behind Michael Carrick, he’s one of us and he’s doing very well.
“There’s been negative analysis from Scholesy, but also from Roy Keane and Gary Neville. It annoys me because we want to be in the top four, and those comments are unnecessary, but this is what you do when you work in TV. You can’t be positive, you have to be negative.”
Five facts about the Premier League | PA/GETTY/REUTERS/GBNEWS
Evra also went after Gary Neville, suggesting the Sky Sports pundit is also guilty of being too critical.
“Most of these guys get a managerial job and get fired straightaway,” he continued.
“I said to Neville: ‘It’s easy to talk on TV. When you were at Valencia, they asked you for paella, and you gave them fish and chips.’
“After three months, they said goodbye. People can’t forget what they have done as a manager.
“As players, they’re legends, but as managers, they haven’t done a great job. So for them to speak and possibly kill the career of a manager, it’s a little bit too much.”
Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick were once teammates at Manchester United along with Patrice Evra
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PAUnited had, prior to Wednesday night’s match, strung together some impressive victories.
Carrick saw off Manchester City in his first game, with Pep Guardiola’s side easily dispatched following goals from Bryan Mbeuno and Patrick Dorgu, before then proceeding to beat Arsenal, Fulham, Tottenham, Everton and Crystal Palace.
The fallen giants don’t play again until they host Aston Villa on March 15, in a must-win fixture for both teams.
Villa will go into that contest on a low after crashing to a 4-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge earlier this week, with that result representing a substantial blow to their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
