Harry Maguire stresses players must take responsibility amid Solskjaer sacking

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire believes the squad must take responsibility following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dismissal.

It has been over 24 hours since the announcement came through that the Norwegian had been sacked, with Michael Carrick taking over as caretaker manager for the foreseeable future.

The club is searching for an interim boss as well as a permanent replacement and Carrick doesn’t know how long he will remain in charge.

Carrick spoke about being focused on tomorrow night’s game against Villarreal as United look to secure their place in the next round of the Champions League and played down suggestions that he knows what is in store for the coming weeks.

A draw away from home would be a good result.

Harry Maguire, who has performed terribly this season, also addressed the media on Monday. He paid tribute to the man responsible for bringing him to Old Trafford and making him captain.

“The players need to take responsibility for everything,” Maguire told reporters, as quoted by The Metro. “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 responsibility 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.”

SN’s verdict…

A lot of players are going through bad runs of form, but I wouldn’t dare stretch the narrative to say they threw the towel in or downed tools under Solskjaer.

There were tactical limitations from day one and Solskjaer could only take us so far.

The next manager will need to fix the mess at the back and throughout the spine of the time, without any room for passengers, or crappy apologies on social media.

More Stories Harry Maguire Manchester United Michael Carrick Ole Gunnar Solskjaer