Maguire: The boys are devastated
TranscriptHarry says the lads are down, but that now is the time to stand up and be counted...
Harry, a shock result tonight - what did you make of the performance? “Not good enough. We didn’t perform to the level we’ve been playing at. We didn’t play at an intensity that we’ve played at. We didn’t play at an intensity we’ve been playing. We haven’t created enough to win the game. We didn’t see it coming; we prepared well and were fully confident. We fell behind to a soft goal, but we felt that we could come back, like we’ve done numerous times this year, and come back and win the game. We got ourselves back into the game and we felt like the next goal would be crucial, and we managed to get that and we just didn’t kick on; we didn’t find that spark. Then from that position we can’t lose the game. You’ve thrown away a point. It’s probably the first time they’ve been in our box in the second half and they managed to score, so we’ve got to look at it and got to improve. For sure, he can’t be taking a touch and controlling it and having a shot in our box with no-one around him. It’s not good enough.” A couple of incidents to talk about in that first half. I looked like David [De Gea] might have been fouled by Billy Sharp and then you were involved in an incident where it looked like we’d equalised but you were penalised. What was your view of that? “It’s incredible. There’s no doubt that billy Sharp’s is more of a foul than what I did at the other end. Maybe people will say both are fouls, but definitely not David’s is and that one isn’t. I jumped for the ball. I don’t think I actually touched the keeper. I think he just touches me in the back; my arms are nowhere near him. I think the referee will look back and know he’s made a mistake.” You got the equaliser with 25 minutes to go and you thought it was only going to go one way… “Well, we have great belief. At half-time we knew… we knew we didn’t perform well in the first half, but we had belief that if we scored the next goal we could go on to win the game. We scored the next goal. It was an important goal, and we never found anything extra to push - that little spark or inspiration. Something was missing. Like I said, we have to improve, we know that it’s not good enough for this club. We’ve got to win games, especially at Old Trafford, especially to teams who are where they are in the league. But for sure, we’ve got to improve.” We’ve got no time to worry about it because we’ve got a game every three days. In a way, is that good that there’s another big game coming up? “Yeah, it’s the best thing possible. When you do get a defeat, there’s nothing worse than waiting to get back out on the pitch to play and put put things right. The boys are devastated in there, if I’m honest. It’s a really quiet dressing room. The boys are so disappointed; we didn’t expect it, we came into the game confident. We’ve got to pick ourselves up. Tomorrow is a new day, although we are still disappointed and it hurts, but Saturday is a big game and we’ve got to bounce back. It’s all good and easy when you’re winning football matches and you’re playing well, but now it’s time to stand up and be counted. When you get kicked down, it’s how quick you bounce back and Saturday’s a big one and we’ve got to get three points.”