Harry Maguire reacts.

Maguire: We didn't take our chances

Thursday 02 January 2020 00:22

Harry Maguire felt that Manchester United should have done better in front of goal, as the Reds fell to a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal on New Year's Day.

Despite a bright start from United, which saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side get in behind the Gunners' defence on a number of occasions, it was the hosts that emerged victorious, courtesy of first-half strikes from Nicolas Pepe and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

"We started the game well," Harry said to MUTV after the game. "In the first 10 minutes we created two good opportunities where we should have been a little bit more clinical. And then from there until the half-time whistle they were on top.

“They played with more aggression, more intensity and they pressed us better. So we've got to go back, work hard, improve. In the second half, we huffed and puffed and created some chances, but the key period was from the 15th minute until the half-time whistle and we weren't good enough."

Maguire: It wasn't good enough Video

Maguire: It wasn't good enough

The Reds' skipper gives his verdict on our two-goal defeat to Arsenal in North London...

After the break, the Reds were unable to reduce the arrears, despite showing plenty of endeavour, and Maguire admitted that conceding a second goal so close to the break was a real hammer blow.

"It was disappointing to go in 2-0 down at half-time," he said, "because we should have weathered the storm, especially not conceding from a set play. When we're not playing great we've got to do the basics well and doing the basics is heading the ball out of your box and keeping the ball out of your net.

“We had chances in the second half, but we deserved to lose. We weren't good enough and we'll improve for next week."

With Chelsea dropping points away at Brighton earlier in the day, United went into the game against Arsenal hoping to reduce the gap to the team above them in the Premier League's top four.

Despite the result at the Emirates, our defender hopes that the Reds can regain the winning form from December which has helped us climb the Premier League table.

"Everyone around the club will have seen the [Chelsea] result and maybe thought it was an opportunity to move [closer to] the top four, but no, we are just looking after ourselves.

Solskjaer's verdict on the defeat to Arsenal Video

Solskjaer's verdict on the defeat to Arsenal

In our interview, the manager provides his verdict on the performance and result against the Gunners...

"We're not really looking at other results. We need to put runs together. We need to go on runs, winning runs, and I think if we do that, we'll get in the top four. If we don't find the consistency, like we haven't done in the first part of the season, then we won't.

"We've got to challenge ourselves, to pick ourselves up and definitely improve on that first half."

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