Harry Maguire faced the media after a strong individual performance as Manchester United fell to a 2-0 defeat on Boxing Day.
After losing five games so far in December, it hasn’t been a merry month for Manchester United or Ruben Amorim. Fans know patience is required, but the United first-team needs to give something back rather than struggle against relegation fodder.
United’s 2-0 defeat to Wolves only shows how much work Amorim has on his hands with this squad. Like Santa Clause, he has a list and he’ll be checking it twice. He’s going to find out who’s suited and who’s not.
Matheus Cunha opened the scoring directly from a free-kick to embarrass Andre Onana, who, to his defence, was sandwiched by two opposition players. The first Wolves goal came after Bruno Fernandes was sent off for two bookable offences.
There was no way back for Amorim’s men as Hee-Chan Hwang’s 99th-minute goal, set up by Cunha, sealed a huge win for Vitor Pereira’s Wolves.
Harry Maguire reaffirms Ruben Amorim solution
Amorim has repeatedly stressed that he is not getting enough time with United’s first team on the training pitch due to fixture congestion.
This is not an example of the United head coach making excuses for himself but proof that adaptation is needed on his part as well as the team.
One of the biggest problems facing this United side is defending set-pieces, after conceding goals from 18 in 2024.
Cunha’s opening goal came directly from a corner kick, leading to Harry Maguire being asked about United’s issues. He said the players need to work harder to amend their set-piece woes.
“When it keeps happening, you can’t really put it down to luck, but it’s tough to take that teams have scored twice from a corner. I think the Tottenham one’s a foul, that’s quite clear. I haven’t seen this one back.
“Sometimes, with set-plays you’ve got to hold your hands up and say you can’t do much about it, but there’s others where you’ve got to look at yourselves and improve on it. I think the Bournemouth one [scored by Dean Huijsen] was tough – a great header, a great ball.
“Tonight, yeah, it’s disappointing to go down to 10 men, not really give them anything, look really solid in the second half, and to concede again [like that], especially the first of the game.
“Set-plays are so important in football matches and they decide games. A lot of the games when they are tight and 50-50 are decided with the first goal. The first goal has been a set-play far too many times against us, and it’s disappointing.”
Maguire continued by stressing more time is needed on the training pitch.
“How do we resolve it? Work more on the training pitch.
“I think teams now are maybe targeting our area of set-plays. The strange thing is that I don’t feel like we are conceding many chances from them. They’ve had a few set-plays tonight and we’ve dealt with them really well and then they’ve gone and scored from one.
“I think it’s about hard work, keep the belief and things will change. We have players who can defend the box well. They will change; we’ve just got to stick together.”
Déjà vu for Manchester United fans
United have conceded directly from a corner twice in the last week.
The first came in United’s 4-3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Altay Bayindir was at fault for two of the goals United conceded that night. One of them came directly from a corner kick by Son Heung-min, whose strike put Tottenham into the semi-finals.
There were suggestions that Lucas Bergvall hindered Bayindir but the Turkey international needs to be stronger in those situations. The same can be said about Onana for Cunha’s opener on Boxing Day.
Once upon a time it was a rarity to see a goal scored directly from a corner.
United fans have witnessed it twice in the last week – but at the wrong end of the pitch!
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
