Harry Maguire has admitted honest conversations took place in Manchester United’s dressing room after Thursday’s chaotic draw against Porto.
United needed a victory against Porto to ease pressure on Erik ten Hag and they made the dream start to the game when going 2-0 up thanks to Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund.
Although it looked like Porto would face an uphill battle to claw themselves back into the contest after going down by two in 20 minutes, they responded through Pepe in the 27th minute.
Porto scored again just seven minutes later and United went into half-time having surrendered a two-goal lead. Things then went from bad to worse in the second half when the Portuguese side made it 3-2 just five minutes after play had resumed.
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United looked set to suffer a disastrous defeat, but Maguire was introduced to the game from the bench and popped up with a dramatic equalising goal in added time.
Maguire’s goal rescued a draw for United at the Estádio do Dragão but some fans will feel the performance has left United decision-makers with no choice but to part ways with Ten Hag during the international break.
Maguire spoke to TNT Sports and said: “After every match, you analyse and speak amongst yourselves. The manager spoke, a few members of staff spoke and the players spoke as well.
“It’s pretty normal and I’ve been in plenty of dressing rooms when you have a chat and speak about what you can do better. I think when you go 2-0 up away from home at a place like this you’ve got to be a little bit more solid and more secure. There were far too many gaps and crosses coming into the box.
“I think in the first half there were five or six dangerous balls coming into the box and they ultimately punished us for it. We played really well with the ball in the first half, just really poorly without it.
“I think it’s more the mental issue [conceding in quick succession] and it’s something we have to overcome. It probably starts with belief. When we go 2-0 up and concede, does the belief go a little bit between the boys that we can go on and win the game here? So it’s something we need to be aware of.
“We need to make sure when we do concede, we get together and regroup and stick together because that’s part and parcel of football. You can talk about leadership but it’s an easy word to throw out.
“The boys on the pitch have to realise that this has happened far too many times and it’s something we need to reset, refocus and go back to the game plan that got us the lead in the first place. It’s something we must improve. If we want to be successful this season, we can’t be conceding two goals in as many minutes as we did this evening.”
