As reported by The Metro, Manchester United star Harry Maguire revealed what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told the players before being sacked on Sunday during his pre-match press conference.
The club captain had a particularly bad weekend. Due to his aggressive challenge, his team was reduced to ten men against Watford, and they lost 4-1. Following the game, there were a lot of boos throughout Vicarage Road as fans expressed their displeasure with the manager.
Solskjaer was fired the next morning, according to the club’s official release. The environment in the locker room was dull after the manager was sacked.
Maguire has now admitted that the players were willing to accept blame for their bad performance. He also clarified what Solskjaer said to the players before he was fired on Sunday.
He said:
“The players need to take responsibility for everything. We are the ones that cross that white line, we were in this together, management, staff, and players. The manager has paid the price and we are all so disappointed. We haven’t been good enough, individually, as a team, but we have got to look forward and get the club back to where it once was.”
“Ultimately the recent performances haven’t been good enough. We take a large amount of reasonability for that. We know that. The manager came in and spoke to us. It was an emotional, day. Everyone has got a huge amount of respect for Ole and what he has done. One thing he did say was that he’ll be supporting us and wanting us to win every game.”
While Maguire says all the right things, he hasn’t been able to back it up with his on-field performance. To his credit, he concedes that the team was not good enough and claims that the entire squad respects its now-former manager.
Since then, Michael Carrick has taken over as manager of the first team, and the club is gearing up for some big games in the coming weeks. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the game-winning goal in additional time in their debut match against Villarreal and he will be again rooting to make an impact.
The two clubs’ rivalry dates back to the end of last season when United was defeated on penalties in the UEFA Europa League final by the Yellow Submarine. As a result, it’s shaping up to be another thrilling match, but this time without the Norwegian leader on the sidelines.
It’ll take some time to get used to that, especially given how much the other players admired him. But now is the time for a change, as the club aims to win the major trophies once more.
