Harry Maguire admits players 'owe' Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and discusses defensive woes
By Tom Gott
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has confessed that the players let Ole Gunnar Solskjaer down in their 5-0 defeat to Liverpool and urged the squad to give the manager the reaction he deserves.
Solskjaer's job has been left hanging in the balance after the woeful defeat, in which United looked tactically inept but were also hampered by some poor individual performances, with Maguire one of many to disappoint.
All eyes will be on how United respond in Saturday's meeting with Tottenham Hotspur, in which Maguire challenged his team-mates to step up and give Solskjaer the performance he deserves as an apology for their recent form.
"It's been tough, it's been disappointing," Maguire told Sky Sports. "When you look back at the result and the performance it was embarrassing. Nowhere near good enough for this club. It's been a tough week. I'm not going to say we've moved on easily.
"It's one of the lowest I'm sure all the players have felt in their career. You go home and you don't sleep much, you've got thoughts running through your head. 'If only I did this or this'. If I'm being honest I went home and I just looked at myself and what I can do better and take full responsibility on my shoulders.
"I hope every player in the dressing room is looking at themselves, taking full responsibility on their shoulders and not pointing the finger and blaming anyone else. You look at yourself first and foremost when you have a result like this and a period like this.
"We let the manager down against Liverpool. We let the fans down, the club down, us as players. So we have to take huge responsibility for that. Do we owe him a performance? Of course we do."
Maguire also took the chance to analyse United's poor defensive record. They've shipped 11 goals in their last three games and have managed just one clean sheet in 21 outings.
"We've conceded far too many goals. I take a big responsibility for that," he said. "I take responsibility for my own performance but also the defensive performance as well.
"I'm the captain, I've been a mainstay in the defence for over two years. We've had some good runs but at the minute we're not defending well enough. My performances haven't been good enough and I'm looking to get back to the form I've shown prior to the injury in the last two seasons.
"From the start of the season we've conceded too many chances and we've been punished this week with the chances in the first half. We gave them chances and they punished us. You can't do it against these good teams and you can't always get away with it.
"If I could tell you why, we'd do something about it. We're working on it, we're analysing it. For sure, this week has been nowhere near good enough.
"We don't generally look at stats. That's something I'm sure the staff are looking at but we look at the performances and results. This past week we know we've conceded far too many goals and far too many chances. We know we have got to improve."