Paul Scholes Warns Carrick on Cunha's Role at Manchester United

Paul Scholes has sounded the alarm for Michael Carrick, insisting Manchester United cannot afford to stumble into the season without a proper centre-forward – and that Matheus Cunha is fast becoming a problem rather than a solution.

The Brazilian endured a torrid afternoon in Sunday’s goalless draw with Everton, standing out for all the wrong reasons in a United side that generally laboured. While several players dipped below their usual level, Cunha’s display was the one that jarred most.

Passes overhit. Touches too heavy. Runs made into the wrong spaces. Big chances spurned. His game felt disjointed from first whistle to last, a performance that read like a checklist of what can go wrong for an attacking player.

Cunha’s role, once again, looked muddled. Last season, Carrick largely used him off the left, where his energy and direct running gave United a different edge. Marcus Rashford’s return has shifted that dynamic. With Rashford now preferred in that wide berth, Cunha has been shunted elsewhere.

At times he has led the line, asked to operate as a kind of false nine. On other occasions, Bruno Fernandes has stepped into that position, leaving Cunha to drift into the No 10 space. The end result on Sunday was a forward who looked neither here nor there – caught between positions, stripped of the clarity and swagger that marked his first campaign at Old Trafford.

He is still working his way back to full sharpness, and there is time for rhythm and confidence to return. Scholes, though, believes the tactical picture is already troubling.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, the former United midfielder did not hide his frustration.

"It's very difficult to watch a Man United team without a centre forward," he said. "Now, what Cunha is, I don't really know what Cunha is, what is he a number 10 or a wide player.

"But he's definitely not a number nine. And watching the United team without a number nine, it's a struggle."

The contrast when Benjamin Sesko came on at the Hill Dickinson Stadium was stark. The Slovenian immediately offered a focal point, stretching Everton’s back line and attacking the box with conviction. His reward came with a classic centre-forward’s goal: timing his leap to perfection to meet a superb Luke Shaw cross and head United back in front – briefly.

That moment should have settled United. Instead, Ainsley Maitland-Niles produced a stoppage-time thunderbolt to crush the away end and strip Carrick’s side of two precious points.

Now the selection question looms. With the Champions League opener against Sabah on Thursday, Carrick must decide whether to persist with Cunha in a hybrid role or lean into the clarity that Sesko brings as an out-and-out striker.

For a manager trying to build a coherent attacking identity, that choice may define more than just one European night.