YESTERDAY'S MAN

Last updated : 28 September 2005 By Editor

There was a time when Paul Scholes could lay claim to being the best midfield player in Europe. Other, more flamboyant team-mates may have hogged the limelight, but it was Scholes who opponents usually feared the most.

If Roy Keane has been the heartbeat of the Manchester United team over the past decade, then Scholes has been their fixer. The man who dragged United out of trouble, the man who came up with a goal when it was needed most.

So where has that Paul Scholes gone in recent seasons, and more importantly, will he return? His decision to retire from international football with England was supposed to help to prolong his United career, but, if anything, it appears to have done the reverse.

Never off the pace in his pomp, Scholes regularly looks more than half a yard off it these days. He trudged across the turf last night with the game passing him by and when Benfica equalised through Simão, he seemed to shy away even more.

Indeed, it is performances such as this that have caused some to question the merits of United’s decision to offer him a new four-year contract at a time when, two months short of his 32nd birthday, he appears to have forgotten what it was that made him such an exciting talent.