Man United captain Maguire: Criticism down to jealousy

Posted Tuesday, November 10, 2020 by

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has suggested criticism of the club is rooted in jealousy, following the 3-1 defeat of Everton on Saturday.

Victory saw United get back on track after back-to-back defeats in the Premier League and Champions League at Arsenal and Istanbul Basaksehir respectively, which had ramped up the pressure on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

"At this club one thing I've noticed in my time here -- I've been here a year and a half -- is we are the most talked-about club in the world," Maguire told MUTV.

"Why? Because we are the biggest club in the world. People don't want us to do well. Why? Probably because of the success we've had in the past.

"We have to live up to that, we have to react to it and don't let the negatives get into our bubble inside the training ground. Sometimes it is difficult for the lads."

Maguire praised his teammates for bouncing back following a difficult week against an Everton side which had been tipped as outsiders for the title following an impressive start to the Premier League campaign.

"We reacted well to two poor results," he said in a video posted on United's Twitter feed. "We felt we were on the right track after [the 5-0 win against RB] Leipzig and we let ourselves down against Arsenal.

"It wasn't good enough as a performance. In the week again we gave them a soft goal and found it too hard to create chances to come back.

"We knew this was an important game to get three points. We reacted well but it is only a start."