Paul Scholes believes Joshua Zirkzee made the ‘wrong decision’ passing to Harry Maguire in the dying moments of Manchester United’s 2-2 draw at Liverpool, denying himself of a Diego Forlan-esque winner.
After a difficult start with United, Forlan made himself an overnight hero with a pair of second-half goals at Anfield, which consigned Liverpool to their first home loss in almost a year midway through the 2002/03 season.
Zirkzee’s struggles in the early stages of his Old Trafford career have often been compared to those experienced by Forlan, with the Dutchman managing just three league goals since his summer arrival from Bologna.
The young forward was even hooked by Ruben Amorim just 33 minutes into United’s previous defeat to Newcastle and there has been some speculation he could quit the Red Devils this January.
But Amorim has repeatedly thrown his support behind Zirkzee and the attacker was brought on for Rasmus Hojlund in the 86th minute as the Red Devils searched for a winner on Merseyside.
Deep into stoppage time, Bruno Fernandes found Zirkzee in a great position but rather than take a shot on goal, the Netherlands international cut the ball back for Harry Maguire, who wildly blazed his effort over the bar.
Speaking at his post-match press conference once the dust had settled, Amorim defended Zirkzee and insisted he had made the ‘perfect decision’ not to shoot.
‘For me, I think it was the perfect decision because he can shoot but he put the ball more in the centre,’ the United boss replied when asked whether Zirkzee should tested Alisson rather than pass to Maguire.
‘The ball was really slow for Harry to score but sometimes you cannot do it.
‘But Josh made a good decision in my opinion.’
Scholes, though, disagreed with Amorim’s assessment while speaking on Premier League Productions, claiming Zirkzee will be aware that he made the ‘wrong decision’ in the moment.
‘It could have been [a huge moment] for him,’ the legendary former United and England midfielder said.
‘We were talking before about Diego Forlan, he was in a very similar position. Forlan couldn’t score a goal for United and he scores there and he’s a big hero forever.
‘It was that end, that side of the pitch and it’s the only thing he’s thought about, scoring the winning goal at Anfield.
‘Zirkzee had a great chance to do it. He’ll probably look back and think, “Well, I probably made the wrong decision”, but he’s a player lacking in confidence.
‘He has been dragged off after half an hour [against Newcastle], his chin is on the floor and he comes on at Anfield in a really difficult place.
‘He gets in a really good position, great run, great ball into him and you think, “Come on, this is it for you!”, and he didn’t quite take it.
‘But I’m hoping that there’s opportunities in the future where he will probably change his mind.’
Scholes was encouraged by United’s all-round display against the Premier League leaders and hopes Amorim uses it as a ‘blueprint’ going forward.
He added: ‘That was a proper performance today. To go to Anfield and go toe to toe with the best team…
‘They beat Manchester City who have been the best team for four or five years but that performance was nothing like this. This was better.
‘I know they didn’t win the game like they did at City but I take more out of that performance than actually winning against the champions.
‘I think, now, that’s the blueprint, that’s the way they go forward, that’s the standard.
‘By now, the manager should know his players. He has chopped and changed so much and this has to be [close to his strongest team].
‘Who else can come into it? Luke Shaw, possibly if he’s fit. Leny Yoro at centre-half, Alejandro Garnacho, possibly, but I don’t think he quite gets into it.
‘If that starting XI is fit then they have to play until players perform badly and they don’t get into the team.
‘That’s the standard that they’ve set and they have to reach in games to come. I can’t see any reason why they can’t do it.’