Maguire reacts to draw

Tuesday 08 February 2022 23:47

Harry Maguire admits Manchester United must be more clinical in future after a disappointing 1-1 draw at Burnley on Tuesday night.

While headed chances were on offer for the skipper himself late on, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo, it was in the first half that United really put Burnley under the cosh. Chances were aplenty, and the Reds had the ball in the back of the net three times, only to twice see goals disallowed.

Maguire outlined the disappointment in the dressing room at the failure to score another and put the game to bed before the break.

“Everyone knows in football that crucial goal is the second one,” Maguire told BT Sport.

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“It makes it a little bit more comfortable and then you can really express yourselves.

“We’ve got to win the game, we know the amount of chances that we’ve created. We’ve got to be more clinical, we’ve got to find that second goal.”

United headed into half-time with great positivity after an excellent performance. The team should have led by more than one goal, and Maguire insists the failure to win the game is not just down to failing to finish chances. He believes the defence have to take some responsibility too.

“You come to places like this and we want to dominate the game, of course, but for sure you’re not going to dominate 90 minutes,” he said. “They’re going to have a spell of 5-10 minutes in the game, even if you’re playing well. We’ve played well throughout the game, but there’s been a spell in that where we’ve got to see it out better.

“We’ve got to not concede a goal in that moment, I think it happened against Middlesbrough on Friday as well. We conceded a goal where they had their little spell of pressure. But, of course, we’ve created enough chances in the first half alone to win the football match and we’ve got to be a little bit more clinical from everyone. It’s definitely two points dropped.”

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Maguire’s centre-back partner Raphael Varane headed home brilliantly early on in the game, only to see Mike Dean go over to the VAR screen and rule the goal out.

“I think he’s given it offside [against me],” Maguire explained. “It wasn’t a foul, he said, but he’s given it offside, interfering with the play. I don’t really know.

“I actually made my run early because I mis-timed my run and I just tried to get back onside. It did end up being a little bit of a block but, I think it was Rodriguez who I blocked, I don’t think he would’ve been heading the ball and affecting the goal which Rapha scored.”

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Later, a Josh Brownhill own goal was also disallowed when the linesmen raised his flag for a foul committed by Paul Pogba.

“I think that’s definitely not a foul,” Maguire said.

“The lads are very disappointed. It’s two points dropped and we demand ourselves to win these football matches. The good thing is we’ve got another big game on Saturday to go and prove ourselves, to go and pick ourselves up and win.”

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