Scholes tells Fernandes to 'keep your mouth shut' after Hull defeat

Paul Scholes has told Bruno Fernandes he had no standing to criticise Manchester United’s performance after the 2025-26 Premier League opener, following the club’s defeat to Hull City at the MKM Stadium.

Fernandes spoke to the media after the loss, saying United had repeated the same away-game mistakes as last season, pointing to excessive ball retention by the goalkeeper in the opening 20 minutes and a failure to deal with Hull’s set-piece threat. “Same mistakes as we did last season, every away game we give too much of the ball to them,” the captain said. “The most frustrating thing is that we lost the game.”

Scholes, speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, was unimpressed. “When you perform the way he did as well, I think it’s probably best to keep your mouth shut, because he didn’t have his best performance either,” the United legend said.

Fernandes was part of a midfield that also included new signings Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, both of whom were substituted in the second half as Hull outmatched the £85m duo. Scholes was equally critical of United’s recruitment in the engine room, suggesting the new arrivals had not represented a clear upgrade. “I saw the central midfield the other day and I thought ‘that is no better than last year,’” he said. “When you’re recruiting players and looking for a different team, you think, ‘I’ve got to get better.’ To me, on Saturday, that wasn’t better than Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro together.”

United are expected to add a third central midfielder this window in the form of Brighton’s Carlos Baleba, with a £70m deal reported to be close to completion. That would bring the club’s total outlay on midfielders this summer to approximately £135m.

United’s next Premier League fixture is at home to Ipswich Town at Old Trafford on Sunday, 30 August.