Thrashing did us good
HARRY: ROUT WAS A SPUR
HARRY MAGUIRE reckons Manchester United’s thrashing by Tottenham might have saved their season.
United were humiliated by the 6- 1 home defeat this month that led to calls for manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be sacked.
Maguire admits the players were devastated and it felt like the club was facing a crisis.
But since then they are unbeaten in four games in all competitions and recorded impressive back- to- back Champions League wins over Paris StGermain and RB Leipzig to put one foot in the knockout stages.
“After Spurs, we were all devastated and just three games into the season it felt like it was a big crisis,” said Maguire.
“It was strange because we don’t expect to lose games at Old Trafford – and definitely not like the way we did.
“In the first three games we were conceding far too many chances. So as a defensive unit, having kept the most clean sheets in Europe last season, we knew we had to improve.
“We have worked hard in training and since the international break we have gone back to not conceding chances like last year, when we were a solid unit and a solid base.
“It has been important, for me as a defender, to give the forwards every chance to go and win the game. It’s a start, but it is still an early win in the season.”
United hammered RB Leipzig 5- 0 at Old Trafford on Wednesday and Maguire says those standards must now be maintained – starting with Sunday’s league visit of Arsenal.
Maguire added: “It is going to be a long journey, but we’ve got to keep on improving.
“It is the start of a European campaign where, of course, we want to be successful – not just in the group stage but in the knockout stages as well.
“That is the standard we have set and the expectations have set for ourselves.
‘‘ Last season you saw that a lot of our top performances brought us great results.
‘‘ We know we can get to that level again and that the level has to be hit more. It has got to be more consistent.
“I think you have seen that since the international break. We have come back with a great mentality. We needed a reaction – the only way was up.
“We had a bad start to the season, we knew that. We have had a good reaction since.
‘‘ We are disappointed that we did not win the game against Chelsea ( last weekend), but we have another big game against Arsenal coming up and it’s one we have to perform in like we did against Leipzig.”