Harry Maguire didn’t try to sugar-coat Paul Pogba’s embarrassment attempt to keep his appearance in place when interviewed after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with West Ham.
The Manchester United captain addressed his team-mate’s mistake in his post-match interview with Sky Sports, saying: “He should take one in the face but he’s apologised and held his hands up.”
It’s the least he can do and I’ll get over it as long as he doesn’t do it again on Sunday. Pogba was 15 yards away from where the ball was aimed in his direction. There’s no way that can be excused as being a natural instinct. A professional football knows the rules of the game and he should put his head on it.
Pogba is the very player I can see throwing his toys out of the pram if United don’t qualify for the Champions League. Time will tell but he owes it to us against Leicester City this weekend.
Check out Maguire’s post-match interview below (footage courtesy of Sky Sports):
🗣 "He should take one in the face but he's apologised and held his hands up"
Harry Maguire on Paul Pogba's handball pic.twitter.com/pL2uPfAZfO
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 22, 2020
Despite dropping points in a game many Reds would have told you was a must win match, United sit in third place this morning after Chelsea suffered a 5-3 defeat against Liverpool. We need to beat Leicester knowing Chelsea have a tough fixture facing Wolves.
A win would have put United in a much stronger position going into the game and I can’t say I see many reasons to be confident based on recent displays. The players are slowing down and those asked to come into the team haven’t played like we know they can.
It doesn’t help that we keep making avoidable mistakes in these must-win matches. I’m not just talking about David de Gea’s disastrous FA Cup semi-final last week but Pogba’s handball against the Hammers was another shocker.
The way in which he behaved afterwards made matters worse — pretending to wipe blood from his face when the ball struck his hands…
Read more: United hold key to third place & unsurprising scenes as rival fans ignore stay at home warning
