London – Manchester United great Paul Scholes has warned Alexis Sanchez he must improve following his lacklustre display in Saturday's FA Cup final defeat by Chelsea, saying his performances "can't get any worse".
Former United midfielder Scholes singled out Chile international Sanchez for criticism after a match United lost 1-0 at Wembley, with Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard scoring the only goal of the game from the penalty spot.
United may have finished second in the Premier League table but that still left them a huge 19 points behind champions and local rivals Manchester City.
And Scholes, a key member of Alex Ferguson's trophy-winning teams at Old Trafford, said the likes of former Arsenal favourite Sanchez had to raise their game if United were to close the gap to City next season.
"His performances, well they have to improve," Scholes told BT Sport. "They can't get any worse to be honest with you.
"I think the next few games of next season are vital to him, he needs to get fans believing again and believing they are going to get close to City. They need a big player.
"Paul Pogba does not win you games on his own. Hazard does. Alexis Sanchez doesn't, he's shown that since January, they thought he could, but what we've seen…
"They need two magical players. I think they've got really good players, they haven't got a Hazard, (Cristiano) Ronaldo, (Lionel) Messi, and I know many teams haven't, but the difference between the two was the quality in Hazard, we saw that in big games. United don't have that."
