Manchester United legend Paul Scholes says the current team lacks leadership.

Scholes, who represented United for almost 20 years, was critical of United's display in defeat at Brighton, but reserved much of the blame for Paul Pogba.

"There's a lack of leaders in the team," Scholes told Optus Sport.

"We thought Paul Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader but he wasn't there today. He had another really poor game. He's so inconsistent.

"Pogba's playing the ball out of play, he's overhitting passes, he's hitting passes short, he's getting caught in possession."