Harry Maguire believes Manchester United’s problems are not tactical and claimed the players are “not mentally focused”.
United manager Ruben Amorim described his side as “perhaps the worst in the history of the club” after the weekend defeat by Brighton.
The Portuguese made it clear today that he was referring to his own efforts since replacing Erik ten Hag in Novemberrather than criticize the players, but experienced defender Maguire insisted they must take their share of responsibility.
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United have gone behind in each of their last five league games and conceded the first goal inside five minutes three times.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s Europa League game against Rangers at Old Trafford, Maguire said: “If I could explain it, we would change it straight away.
“We have players who have won many trophies in club football, but we are not playing well enough as a team.
“We conceded a goal to Brighton. We had talked about it before the match. The first goal against Nottingham Forest was a set-up – and against Bournemouth.
“These are not things that are a tactical problem. You have to be mentally prepared to win a match. At the moment we don’t have the small margins because we are not mentally focused.”
Rangers will be a tough test – Maguire
A win against Rangers would secure United a place in the knockout stages, but Maguire is not expecting an easy night against the men from north of the border.
He added: “We’re expecting a tough game, we know they’ll come here and give everything they’ve got and bring a lot of support.
“They’ve done extremely well in the competition so we’re expecting a tough game but we’ll focus on ourselves and make sure we play after a tough defeat at the weekend.
“We will go into the game confident that we can play and get the three points.”
