Harry Maguire confessed that he and his Manchester United teammates were on the end of a half-time rollicking from Erik ten Hag during Wednesday's dramatic 3-1 FA Cup win against West Ham.
The Red Devils narrowly made it through to the FA Cup quarter-finals thanks to a spectacular 90th-minute strike from Alejandro Garnacho and Fred 's rather fortuitous clincher in injury time. United, now targeting an unprecedented quadruple, had gone 1-0 down early in the second half thanks to Said Benrahma's emphatic effort. An own goal from West Ham defender Nayef Aguerd drew them level on 77 minutes before their South American duo's injury-time intervention.
At half-time, Ten Hag was far from happy with his side's display. Club captain Maguire revealed that the Red Devils boss felt the need to berate his players for their under-par performance.
"He went fairly strong to be honest, he knew we had to up it. We knew it or we'd lose the game," the 29-year-old defender told MUTV post-match.
"To come out as well and for them to score a great goal, although we thought it was out. I know you have to play to the whistle and I'm sure we'll get a telling-off from the manager, but the last 30 minutes we found something.
"The crowd sucked the ball into the back of the net at the Stretford End. It was a tough game. The first half we weren't at our best, a bit slow, I don't know why. Maybe Sunday, with the celebrations, as we lacked a little bit of tempo. We spoke about the game, tonight was all about winning and progressing.
"I must say the last 30 minutes were really good, relentless from the lads and great fight. After having the goal disallowed, we could have dropped our heads and sulked. But it was relentless and three good goals. The second one is a stand-out from Garnacho, so really pleased for him and I'm sure he's going to score more match-winners in front of the Stretford End."
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While Ten Hag wasn't pleased with United's first half-display, the Dutch tactician ended up delighted with his team's reaction and picked out Maguire for special praise after the game.
"Harry Maguire had a good game, [Tyrell] Malacia, [Marcel] Sabitzer, and of course Garnacho especially in the second half," Ten Hag noted to ITV. "It was not easy as we have seen. After Sunday, it is never easy after a cup celebration and of course you have to get back to business as usual. That was our task, we did it and found a way to win. Our resilience. It was magnificent and great from the team.
"I had a strong feeling that we could win the game, and you could see the belief and the composure. There was never a moment of panic and we had bad luck with the first goal being disallowed."
