Scholes is simply the best English player of his generation

Posted Sunday, September 16, 2012 by Dailymail

Two weeks ago we watched a football match in which a £25million new signing scored a hat-trick and came off the pitch to announce that a 37-year-old substitute should be man of the match. That, of course, was Robin van Persie talking about Paul Scholes, who played his 700th match for Manchester United.

He had come on for just 30 minutes against Southampton but, in the words of Sir Alex Ferguson, he ‘brought order to the game’. That ability, for one player to be able to set the direction of a match and to control its tempo, is extraordinary. Paul Scholes is one of the very few in the world who can do it.

I must have trained and played with him thousands of times and in every one of those training sessions and matches that’s what he was doing: bringing order to the game.

Scholes is simply the best English player of his generation
Timeless: Paul Scholes continues to defy the years, scoring the first in another sensational display against Wigan

The best illustration I can give of his talent is that at Manchester United there was always a possession drill in training designed to develop our passing ability, which might be three players against another three players, or six versus six, or nine versus nine. But no matter what the numbers were, the side with Paul Scholes on their team would always win by keeping the most possession.

He reached that historic landmark for United, one of only three men to have made that many appearances for the club, along with Sir Bobby Charlton and Ryan Giggs. And, despite the fact that he scored the opening goal, he will have quickly headed home, ignoring the fuss, just as he has done after the previous 699 games.

In fact, his only concern would have been whether his 700th game had brought a victory for his team.

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