Danny Murphy thinks Paul Scholes might have “fallen into a trap” after the Manchester United legend revealed that a current Red Devils star tried to confront him. Since retiring in 2013, Scholes has built a reputation as an outspoken pundit, especially when it comes to his former team.
The 50-year-old rarely holds back with his forthright opinions, a trait that recently stirred trouble. During The Overlap Fan Debate, he disclosed that a member of Ruben Amorim’s squad rang him up, upset over a remark he’d made on TV.
The unnamed star even proposed meeting at the club’s training ground to hash it out. “I said, ‘Of course, no problem’, and gave him my number – but he never followed up,” Scholes recalled.
The former England midfielder didn’t specify which remarks had sparked the reaction, but Danny Murphy suspects Scholes may have overstepped the mark with a heat-of-the-moment jab.
“Sometimes in the moment in our job, especially when you’re doing co-commentary, you do find yourself falling into a little trap or getting a bit over the top with your passion or being overly critical because you’re frustrated at watching someone, and you wish you could have drawn it back,” the former Liverpool star said on talkSPORT.
Scholes has long argued that today’s footballers are overly sensitive. “What we say [as pundits] shouldn’t affect a player,” he continued.
“The only people that should affect the players is what the manager thinks, the coaching staff, and their team-mates. Whatever is said on TV should be taken with a pinch of salt.
“I’m not even sure how many players these days watch football and watch what we’re saying. There was one United player who obviously took a bit of offence to what I said, but you just deal with it. If he thinks he needs an explanation or a meeting over a tea or coffee, I’d be happy to give it.”
Murphy’s talkSPORT colleague Simon Jordan agreed, asserting that modern footballers are “too fragile”. The former Crystal Palace chairman said: “We live in a society where people are too fragile and not resilient enough.
“There’s something admirable about people who can say, ‘Well that criticism was fair and I’m going to approach it in that fashion’, rather than being a child about it and saying any criticism is out of bounds.”
Murphy echoed this view, noting: “Top Premier League clubs and top players, generally, have built up a wall of resilience over years to get to the top. Most of them are pretty robust, but there are one or two who you think, oh come on, don’t be so fragile.”
United have faced plenty of criticism this season, with the club teetering on the brink of their worst league performance in decades. With 13 Premier League losses already – the most they’ve ever recorded in a single term – they sit just five spots clear of the drop zone.
Yet, a silver lining beckons in the Europa League, where they’re set to battle Lyon in a quarter-final first leg on Thursday, with the return fixture at Old Trafford to come next week.
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