Scholes picks his ideal midfield partner

The ex-England international has been watching the World Cup with keen interest but took time out to join The Debate, our weekly show, and discuss the latest matters surrounding his former club.

One of the topics of conversation was the outstanding performances of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes in Qatar, inspiring the leading question of which of the current Reds he would rather line up with.

Scholesy had no hesitation with his answer, feeling Casemiro's defensive qualities would best complement his visionary attacking play.

"It’s quite an easy question because of the style of play," he said. "I’d much prefer to play with Casemiro, somebody who I knew could play the position really well.

"He probably reminds me of [Michael] Carrick, [Nicky] Butt, Roy Keane and those type of players.

"With Bruno, I think we would be all over the place and us two together in midfield would be an absolute disaster! Just both of us would want to be up the field, contributing and scoring goals and trying to win games. Look, if I had to choose out of the two, it would have to be Casemiro."

Scholes was asked a follow-up question by host Liam Bradford on whether he'd rather play with Casemiro or Christian Eriksen.

The Denmark international faces a must-win final group game against Australia later today at the World Cup (15:00 GMT kick-off).

"Again, probably Casemiro," was the 48-year-old's response. "I love Christian Eriksen, I think he’s brilliant but a little bit more like me and just worried about the attacking side of things.

"Look, if me and Christian or Bruno played together, it could be 6-6 or 7-6. There could be any score. We’d concede a lot of goals but might score a few! Just having that added security of Casemiro. Like I said, Roy Keane, Nicky Butt, Michael Carrick could play the position perfectly and they’re the type of players I prefer to play with."