We need Cantona’s arrogance to thrive
MAGUIRE SAYS UNITED MUST PLAY IN STYLE OF ‘KING’ ERIC
SOUTHAMPTON 1 MAN UTD 1
MANCHESTER UNITED fans still sing affectionately about ‘King’ Eric Cantona, the hero who helped them win that first Premier League title 26 years ago.
They were singing it again on Saturday at St Mary’s, just days after the enigmatic Frenchman puzzled the football world by quoting Shakespeare as he won the UEFA President’s Award.
But Harry Maguire believes this current crop of players need to adopt a bit of that Cantona arrogance – that familiar collar-up strut about their game.
As they dropped two points on the South coast, there was plenty of talent on show from the likes of 21-year-olds Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka – but not enough arrogance.
New United centreback Maguire said: “It’s another game we have deserved to win. We’ve created the majority of the chances and we’ve dropped two points.
“The start of our season has been like that. We deserved to win at Wolves and then conceded two shots against Palace and they scored two.
“We can definitely improve, especially on the ball. We gave the ball away far too much. We were too sloppy and we need to improve on that and show arrogance and be confident. We’re Man United – we want to control games. There were spells where we didn’t control the game and we got punished.”
United did get better after Saints had Kevin Danso sent off – but not enough and this morning they lie seven points off the top, with just one win from their first four games. Maguire said: “That’s how we should play all the way through the game. You’ve seen the confidence of the players when they went down to 10 men. They seemed like they wanted the ball, everyone wanted to create a chance.
“We did enough in that 15 minutes to score a goal. We’ve got to be more clinical. We had numerous crosses, numerous balls across the box, we just needed to stick one in.”
United had just the right start at St Mary’s, as the excellent Scott McTominay found James and he stepped inside to curl home for a lovely goal, the youngster’s third in his first four games.
But United did not build on that goal as Saints floundered, with keeper Angus Gunn twice denying James, Wan-Bissaka blazing over and Marcus Rashford also missing the target. After the break, Saints improved, as Che Adams wasted a glorious chance and Danny Ings saw his glancing header well saved by David De Gea.
But United once again, as has happened too often this season, failed to clear their lines and Jannik Vestergaard headed Saints level with a goal that will have annoyed manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Danso’s dismissal galvanised United again but Gunn remained defiant.
In Wales starlet James, United look to have uncovered a little gem, with his sharp shooting and blistering pace. What they need now is a man to tuck away the chances.An arrogant man.
SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): Gunn 7; Soares 6, Bednarek 6, Vestergaard 7, Danso 6; Ward-Prowse 6, Romeo 6, Hojbjerg 6, Boufal 7 (Armstrong 71, 6); Adams 6 (Long 61, 6), Ings 7 (Yoshida 77, 6). Sent off: Danso 73. Goal: Vestergaard 58.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea 7; Wan-Bissaka 7, Lindelof 6, Maguire 6, Young 7; Pogba 6, McTominay 8 (Greenwood 82); Pereira 6 (Lingard 67, 6), Mata 7 (Matic 76), James 7; Rashford 6. Goal: James 10.