Nachrichten

Manchester United salvaged a draw from the jaws of defeat on Thursday night as Harry Maguire rescued a point against Porto.

This was another chaotic Manchester United performance as Erik ten Hag fights to keep his job at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag needed a result in Portugal and saw United go 2-0 up after a superb opening 20 minutes.

United then completely folded and saw Porto roar back to go 3-2 up as former Chelsea target Samu Omorodion caused no end of problems.

Bruno Fernandes picked up another red card but United still found a late leveller with Harry Maguire heading home to make it 3-3.

Whether this result eases concerns about the Ten Hag reign is another matter, but at least United managed to avoid defeat in the end.

Harry Maguire reacts to Manchester United draw

United only have two points from two Europa League games and what looked like being a morale-boosting win ended up being a rather frantic evening.

Substitute Maguire was the hero off the bench as one of Ten Hag’s all-too-familiar centre back substitutions paid off at the other end of the pitch.

Maguire spoke to TNT Sports after the final whistle and noted that United have a ‘mental issue’ in terms of conceding goals quickly.

Maguire watched much of the game from the bench and feels that United need to be a little more solid when the going gets tough.

The defender added that Untied have collapsed ‘far too many times’ and called on everybody to improve in order to enjoy a successful season.

“When you get 2-0 away from home in a place like this, you’ve got to be a little bit more solid and a little bit more secure. There were far too many gaps, too many crosses coming into the box for sure,” said Maguire.

“It’s more probably of a mental issue, it’s something we’ve got to overcome. It starts with belief. When we go 2-0 up then concede, does the belief go a little bit between the boys that we can go on and win the game? It’s something that we need to be aware of, something that we need to focus on.

“The boys on the pitch have obviously got together, they’ve got to realise that it’s happened far too many times. They’ve got to realise that every time we concede it’s something that we need to reset and refocus and go back to the game plan that got us the lead in the first place.

“If we want to be successful this season, we can’t be conceding two goals in as many minutes as we have done this season,” he added.

Owen Hargreaves hails Harry Maguire

Maguire’s comments really struck a chord with former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

The ex-England international was on punditry duty and told TNT Sports (03/10, 22:25) that he felt Maguire showed real leadership in his interview.

Hargreaves liked that Maguire didn’t throw anybody under the bus and fronted up in front of the media after a disappointing result.

Hargreaves added that Maguire understands the expectations and the pressure at United but feels that Ten Hag has no semblance of consistency right now.

“First of all, Harry spoke great,” said Hargreaves. “He really did, showed leadership coming out, he didn’t throw anybody under the bus, any teammates or his manager.

“But look, football at this level, especially at a club like Manchester United, is about results – end of. Erik keeps saying ‘okay, we won a trophy’ and he’s right, they have won trophies, but you have to get results consistently.

“You look at the teams at the top, whether it’s City, whether it’s Arsenal, they’re getting results all the time, you know how they’re going to play all the time, you know who’s going to play all the time. Manchester United are chopping and changing all the time.

“At the top of the pitch, in midfield, in defence, they’re not getting results, they’re not playing great football, so you’re going to get questions. Harry has been there for six years and he knows it, he knows how difficult it is to deal with the pressure when you’re not getting results,” he added.

Maguire has not been called up by England for this international break and he may welcome some time to freshen up.

Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez struggled against Porto and Maguire may well be banging on the door for a start in the near future.

Related Topics