- 9 hours ago
Maguire hits back at ‘no intensity, no desire, no commitment’ claim
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 7 Feb 2025 16:27 CST
- 4 min read
Harry Maguire headed Manchester United into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory against Leicester before fronting up to the media after the game to explain why the club is struggling.
United looked set to suffer another major setback in what has been a torrid campaign when they slipped 1-0 down at the break to a Bobby De Cordova-Reid goal.
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STATS
Harry Maguire
D (C)
Man Utd
Harry Maguire
D (C)
Man Utd
Ruben Amorim made half-time changes to rally the Red Devils, with Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee helping to change the game.
But the tepid nature of the first half leaves big questions over United’s long-term future and after the match Maguire was asked why there was “no intensity, no desire and no commitment”.
“I don’t know. We can’t put our finger on it. We know there’s talent in the team and we’re not showing it. There’s no doubt about that,” he told ITV Sport fresh from netting a dramatic last-gasp winner over his former club.
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🗣️ "Look where the linesman is - he's bang in line with it!"
🗣️ "That's just a poor decision."
Do you prefer games WITH or WITHOUT VAR? 📹#MUFC | #LCFC | @EmiratesFACup | @IanWright0 pic.twitter.com/8zgVrNz3IZ— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 7, 2025
“It’s a bit about confidence. Our record at Old Trafford has been really poor. We lose that bit of belief and it shows. It comes across as our body language being a bit down and lethargic but we need to engage to bring it back and we’ll do that.
“The first half, was nowhere near good enough. We played at a really slow tempo and we deserved to go in at half-time losing. In the second half, we came out with a better tempo and we dominated the game.”
FA Cup promise and Garnacho praise
Maguire, meanwhile, promised the fans that United are doing everything they can to win the FA Cup.
“It’s huge for us. Where we are in the Premier League is nowhere near good enough and we know we can progress in the Europa League. We want to take this competition really seriously. We’re the holders and we’ve got a big responsibility to perform in this competition and we’re looking forward to the next round now,” he said.
Current ETV
Alejandro Garnacho
F (L), M (RL)
Man Utd
Alejandro Garnacho
F (L), M (RL)
Man Utd
ETV Range
€59.8M - €73.1M
The England centre-back also reserved praise for Garnacho, who might have been sold in January, for the way he improved the team.
“He made a big impact. He always does that when he comes off the bench, so credit to him. We knew at half-time we had to bring more directness and pace to the team,” he said. “And also Josh came on and had a big impact.”
Man Utd’s victory will go some way to relieving the mounting pressure on Ruben Amorim, but the nature of the win over Leicester means that Maguire & Co. will still have to go some to silence their critics.
