Harry Maguire’s claim that Manchester United were “improving” and should be aiming to win the Premier League title have come back to bite him.
Maguire stated his ambitions for United in May 2021, after the team had finished second behind Manchester City and were looking forward to the Europa League final against Villarreal. United ended up losing the final on penalties to the Spanish side and have been stuck in a rut ever since.
Having finished third and second in the past two seasons under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United are currently languishing in seventh, six points adrift of Champions League qualification. They are guaranteed to end a fifth straight campaign without silverware and are braced for more upheaval, with interim boss Ralf Rangnick ready to step aside for Erik ten Hag to take over.
United’s season is threatening to end in a whimper, with just one win from their past seven matches in all competitions, and their problems appear even more acute when looking at Maguire’s words from 11 months ago. Speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap , the United captain was bullish about his side’s ambitions, insisting they could close the gap to their rivals.
"I think we are improving. From last season to this season we are definitely improving,” Maguire said. "We've actually been on a good run ourselves and I think the run Manchester City have been on has just been incredible. You have got to give them credit. They broke away with something like 20-odd games on the bounce.
"We dropped some silly points in silly games. We know we can do better in some games and be a bit more ruthless in others, and really have great belief in the bigger games that we can go and win that game. But the main thing is improvement. We've got to be winning Premier League titles. Second isn't good enough, and I'm sure the lads all agree on that."
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Maguire himself could do with an upturn of form having endured his worst season in a United shirt. The 29-year-old has been heavily criticised for his performances this campaign, which has gone downhill quickly after the initial promise brought by the arrivals of Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho.
United will look to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat against relegation-threatened Everton when they take on bottom side Norwich City at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. According to ESPN , Rangnick has been told it is imperative for United to qualify for European football next season, meaning there is a great deal of pressure on the interim boss.
“It doesn’t help at all to look at the table every weekend and speculate and anticipate what might happen, how many points we might need. Right now we are not the favourites for sure for number four,” the German manager said after the Everton defeat. “But the season is not over, we still have another eight games to play and then it’s time to draw the right conclusions and take the right decisions for next season.”
