Paul Scholes has insisted he did not mean to offend his former team-mate Michael Carrick after a social media barb aimed at the Manchester United head coach on Wednesday night.
Scholes posted that "Michael has definitely got something special about him, [because] United have been c--p last four games," shortly after United lost 2-1 at Newcastle.
Despite the loss, the first since Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim, United sit third in the Premier League and are challenging for Champions League qualification.
And responding to criticism of his comment, Scholes, speaking on the GoodBadFootball podcast, said: "Michael is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in football -- he'd be the last person I would want to offend.
"I messaged Michael anyway. I went straight to Michael and said, 'Look, I never intended to upset you.' And I don't think I needed to say that anyway, and he told me himself he wasn't upset by it.
"I think people have just took it differently from what was meant. The only thing I was saying was that I don't think they played that well the last four games, and he's still managing to get results."
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Scholes' comments were criticised by another former United player, Patrice Evra, who also took aim at perceived negativity from fellow pundits Roy Keane and Gary Neville.
"It annoys me because we want to be in the top four, and those comments are unnecessary, but this is what you do when you work in TV." Evra said. "You can't be positive, you have to be negative."
