Harry Maguire has criticised Manchester United’s ‘naïve’ approach in their 2-1 defeat to Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Erik ten Hag’s side struggled to find any attacking fluidity in Rasmus Hojlund’s absence and went behind in the 65th minute as Calvin Bassey opened the scoring for Fulham.
Maguire, who some considered fortunate to stay on the pitch after his studs-up challenge Saka Lukic in the first half was only deemed a yellow card, netted a late equaliser for United in the 89th minute.
But United were caught in their push for an injury-time winner as Adama Traore led Fulham’s counter-attack and provided the ball for Alex Iwobi, who finished low past Andre Onana.
The result leaves United eight points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, who beat Nottingham Forest with a 4-2 win on Saturday, and Maguire believes his teammates should have been ‘more cautious’ in their bid to score a winner against Fulham.
When asked about United’s performance in their defeat to Fulham, Maguire told MUTV: ‘Over the 90 minutes, disappointing really.
‘The first half was an even game, minimum chances for both teams, they had a couple from set plays, the start of the second half we lost Casemiro and that set us back a little bit as well, we didn’t find our rhythm for the first 15, 20 minutes and they got the deserved lead.
‘It was a very soft goal to concede again, set plays are an area we knew they were strong on from the first half.
‘And then I thought the reaction was really good, all the boys pushing, all the boys fighting, doing everything they can to get back into the game and we thoroughly deserved the equaliser and then we went on, we pushed, we pushed, we had all the pressure, all the momentum, the belief was there that we were going to go on and win the game, in the end we probably threw too many bodies forward, left the middle of the pitch open and they punished us with a clinical counter-attack.
‘This season we’ve scored numerous late goals, numerous late winners, we had great belief we would go on to win the game.
‘Obviously, in hindsight now we can all sit here and say we should’ve been more cautious, we were far too naïve, we can look back and I’m sure we’ll assess it in terms of areas we can improve on.
‘Ultimately over the 90 minutes we didn’t do enough to win the game.’
Maguire also admits he considered a deliberate red card in order to stop Traore in the build up to Fulham’s injury-time winner.
‘They’re bringing a player on with fresh legs,’ said Maguire.
‘Obviously it’s pretty lucky how the ball falls to him and then we know what he’s good at.
‘I was on a booking myself, in hindsight maybe I should’ve just brought him down but then you miss next week.
‘It’s easy to say now but it’s disappointing to lose a game. The lads gave everything, the reaction from when we went a goal down was brilliant, maybe we should’ve started a bit quicker in the first half and the first half of the second half.’
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