Is Paul Scholes a Hack?

Seriously, how much of a hack is Manchester United’s Paul Scholes? This past weekend, Manchester United’s Paul Scholes came on late in the game versus Arsenal and zipped around the park his usual array of killer through balls. Scholes picked out Rooney with a lovely chip. He fed Chicharito. Overall, he was his usual calm on the soccer ball and skillful self. However, he also doled out his usual array of tackles, or better said, hacks.

It started out with a rough tackle from behind on Marouane Chamakh which there was just no reason at all for the tackle. And then he got into it with Nasri, after Scholes dove in wildly against Chamakh again.

Arsene Wenger had this to say about Scholes:

“You ask me was Scholes a fair player: I say no,” said Wenger. “I’m sorry, for me he was not a fair player. There’s a little bit of a darker side in him, sometimes, that I did not like. I respect him highly as a quality player but I did not like some things he did on the football pitch and I have the right to say that. It’s not because you are older suddenly that you are a saint.

“I feel the pitch was good, the referee was good and the tackles of Paul Scholes were bad,” was Wenger’s only observation.

There’s not question Scholes is a legend of a football player and he will go down as one of the greats in the game. But does that give him the right to take players out with rough challenges? Of course not. It’s a shame that this is a part of Scholes game, since he is such a talent and smooth player when he has the ball at his feet.

Take a look at this ugly tackle by Paul Scholes on Sergio Busquets in the UEFA Champions league final. There’s just no place for a tackle like this when someone could get seriously hurt.

“Deschamps screamed! Not a great tackle” – Paul Scholes on Manchester United versus Juventus epic encounter in 1999. Scholes would miss the final because of this poorly time tackle or hack.