Evra Rounds on Scholes and Neville Over Carrick Criticism

Patrice Evra has launched a stinging rebuke at Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, accusing the pair of undermining Michael Carrick in his bid to establish himself as Manchester United's long-term manager.

Carrick's tenure began promisingly enough, winning six of his opening seven matches in charge. Yet recent results have proven less convincing, with the Red Devils suffering their first defeat under the interim boss on Wednesday evening—a 2-1 reversal against 10-man Newcastle United.

Despite the stumble, calls for Carrick to be handed a permanent deal had mounted during his unbeaten run, which followed Ruben Amorim's exit. That momentum has been significantly dented by commentary from former players turned pundits, particularly Scholes, who delivered a withering assessment of the interim manager immediately after the Newcastle loss.

Evra, speaking to Stake, expressed his bewilderment at the lack of backing for Carrick from those who once shared a dressing room with him. "I hope Paul Scholes' Instagram story is fake, I hope he was hacked," the former left-back said. "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."

He continued: "I really don't understand the lack of support behind Michael Carrick; he's one of us and he's doing very well."

Evra also took aim at Neville and Roy Keane, suggesting their relentless negativity could prove damaging to any manager's prospects. "There's been negative analysis from Scholesy, but also from Roy Keane and Gary Neville," he said.

"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. 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."

Evra's frustration with Neville was particularly pointed, referencing the former defender's ill-fated managerial spell in Spain. "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. So for them to possibly kill the career of a manager, it's a little bit too much."