MAGUIRE ISSUES A DIRE WARNING ON DODGY DEFENDING
HARRY MAGUIRE insists the case for Manchester United’s defence isn’t strong enough when it comes to Champions League qualification.
His side’s hopes of securing a top-four finish and return to club football’s elite competition suffered a blow following Monday’s 2-2 home draw with Southampton.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side conceded a 96thminute equaliser, bundled in by Michael Obafemi (inset) from a corner, to miss out on the chance to leapfrog Chelsea and Leicester into third.
United remain in fifth on goal difference with three games remaining, including a showdown at the Foxes on the final day.
Centre-back Maguire said: “Defending set-plays is something we’ve improved on during this unbeaten run. At the start of the season, we had a terrible record conceding set-play after set-play but we’ve been really good lately.
“The guy can’t get a header in at our front post when we’ve got four men around it. We’ll have a look at it and learn from it.
“We’re disappointed. We got control of the game and we had numerous chances to kill the game off and a set-play has killed us in the end.
“We gave them a soft goal. We weren’t good enough on the ball. We gave the ball away far too much as a team, everyone.
“Now we have to dust ourselves down. We have some big games coming up where we have to go for the three points.”
Despite the setback, United are unbeaten in 18 matches and midfielder Nemanja Matic has urged his side to bounce straight back at Crystal Palace
■ tomorrow night. He said: “We have to keep our heads up. If we win the last three games we’re in the Champions League.
“So we have to stay positive and keep working as we were until now. It’s in our hands, we have to recover as soon as possible.
“Three months ago it wasn’t in our hands. We needed Chelsea and Leicester to drop points, which they did. Now we are a point behind Chelsea and it’s in our hands.
“We have to go with everything because we want to play in the Champions League next season.”
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers says the Foxes will not be derailed by problems. They go into tomorrow’s crunch game with Sheffield United with England stars James Maddison and Ben Chilwell struggling to shake off injuries and Caglar Soyuncu banned after being sent off in Sunday’s 4-1 loss at Bournemouth.
Rodgers revealed that his players held their own inquest into exactly how the wheels came off and how they can put it right.
He said: “We’re all hurting from the Bournemouth result. We need to stay calm and that’s very important.
“What I saw in the second half shocked me. There were some home truths after the game but you put that to bed and then you move on. You can’t dwell on a negative.
“They spoke among themselves and I delivered my verdict. They know we sort of let ourselves down in the second half.
“You have to look at the overall picture and what an incredible position we are in.”
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