The Dutch coach is under mounting pressure at Old Trafford (Picture: Getty)
Harry Maguire says Manchester United’s players are not distracted by the speculation surrounding Erik ten Hag’s future and insists everyone is ‘sticking together’.
The Red Devils may have secured their place in the final of the FA Cup but the nature of their collapse against Coventry City at the weekend has only raised more doubts and questions over Ten Hag.
United are currently sat in seventh place in the Premier League table and will almost certainly miss out on Champions League qualification after falling 16 points adrift of fourth-placed Aston Villa.
There have also been some undercurrents of discontent within the squad, with Alejandro Garnacho ‘liking’ two tweets criticising his manager last week – though the teenager quickly unliked the posts and was back in the squad against Coventry.
While Ten Hag is expected to remain in charge up until the Wembley showpiece against Manchester City next month, rumours are swirling that he could be replaced shortly afterwards with Thomas Tuchel emerging as the latest name in the frame to replace him.
With seven games still left to play this season – six in the Premier League and one in the Cup – former United skipper Maguire is adamant the players are focused on finishing the season strongly despite the growing speculation regarding Ten Hag.
Asked about the noise surrounding Ten Hag’s future at United, Maguire told Sky Sports: ‘Well, listen, I’ve been at this club a long enough time to know that the noise around the place is always here – whether it’s with the manager or whether it’s with the players.
Ten Hag may be managing his final matches for United (Picture: Getty)
‘There’s players under a huge amount of pressure and when you lose football matches or go on bad runs, the manager becomes under pressure as well.
‘We all know that. It’s about maintaining our focus, our aims for the season, and sticking together.
‘We believe that we can still achieve things this season. We’ve got an FA Cup final to play for, Premier League games to fight in, and we’re all in this together: the manager, the players, the fans, the staff. And we all want the same thing and that’s to be successful.’
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Probed on whether United’s recent habit of forfeiting leads is a psychological issue, Maguire continued: ‘Yeah maybe.
‘I think football is a strange game in terms of when you’re winning football matches it brings confidence and when you get hurt in a football match and you concede late on maybe the next game you’re thinking about that a little bit.
‘But there’s so much experience in our team, in our squad, that we know we can do better. We’ve got to improve on that aspect.
‘When we get leads in games, this club demands winning football matches. And you’ve got to be able to see games out better than what we’ve shown in the last month or so.’
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