Alejandro Garnacho faced criticism for wearing “two earrings” during his warm-up at Manchester United, while Antony’s celebrations in the FA Cup were labelled as “naff.”
United faced Coventry in the semi-finals at Wembley on Sunday, where they struggled despite initially holding a three-goal lead.
Erik ten Hag’s side eventually secured victory on penalties, but Graeme Souness and others were unimpressed by the demeanour of some United players.
The Liverpool legend has taken aim at Garnacho in particular, telling talkSPORT of the Argentina international winger: “Garnacho, for me, is an exceptionally talented young man. But I worry about it. It’s just an observation—call me old-fashioned, call me a dinosaur—but he’s got two earrings in the warm-up on the pitch.
He’s a young boy just learning the game. Coming back to the point that Joe Cole would have made about good senior pros, pointing out to younger guys how you live your life, how you act, how you train, and your attitude towards life.
And I just worry—it’s an age-old thing; it’s not a new thing at Manchester United—they have always been the most glamorous club in this country, and just like Bayern Munich in Germany is called FC Hollywood, I think you can use the same term to talk about Manchester United.
They get too much too soon at Manchester United. They get so much attention, Manchester United players, and I think it’s to their detriment.
Especially in the modern game, when the kind of rewards these boys get, they get far too much far too soon. I think Marcus Rashford is a case in point. He’s 26; he should just be approaching his best years, but it looks like his best years have gone.”
Souness has also blasted Brazilian forward Antony for his penalty shootout celebrations, which saw him cup his ears in the direction of devastated Coventry players.
The Scot added: “For a player to act like that, it’s naff. You just don’t do that as a Manchester United player. It wasn’t Real Madrid you’d just knocked out. It was Coventry, a team from the Championship. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it from him, doing daft stuff.”
While questions continue to be asked of United in what has been another inconsistent campaign, with speculation suggesting that Ten Hag may not be in a job at Old Trafford for much longer, the Red Devils are now looking forward to another FA Cup final derby date with arch-rivals Manchester City on May 25.