Manchester: Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has hit back at Paul Scholes after the former England footballer spoke of their game as being boring.

Scholes recently said that United lack creativity. The Dutchman, however, on Thursday replied that if Scholes is so concerned, he should be saying it to assistant coach Ryan Giggs – who is a close friend of the former United midfielder – or United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward rather than openly saying it in the media.

“You have a fantastic expression for that in England: ‘sticks and stones can break my bones, but names (words) will never hurt me. He (Scholes) doesn’t have the responsibility (of being manager), so he can say everything,” van Gaal was quoted as saying by express.co.uk.

The coach also questioned why Scholes was saying all these things adding that it could be because he was getting paid by some media houses.

“Why he is saying something? For the benefit of the club or the benefit of himself? I don’t want to defend myself because I cannot defend, because he is a legend and he has a lot of resonance, so I hear. But when you are a legend, you have to speak with the manager or his friend, Ryan Giggs, or Ed Woodward, but not this way, because he will be paid by the BBC or Sky,” van Gaal said.

“When Scholes thinks I should go, then I go. But he is not the man with responsibility for that decision – he is not (one of) the Glazers or Ed Woodward.”