Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has admitted his side’s performances have been ‘up and down a lot’ this season as he issued a rallying call going into the second half of the campaign.
The Red Devils are currently fourth in the Premier League table but Arsenal and Tottenham can go above them in the race for Champions League football if they win their games in hand.
In another turbulent campaign for the club, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked in November after United won just one of their last seven league games under the Norwegian.
The Old Trafford hierarchy brought in Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the end of the season as their search for a new permanent manager continues with the German taking on a consultancy role in the summer.
There has once again been fierce criticism of Maguire’s performances, as well as the displays of the rest of the squad, and the England defender was quick to acknowledge that they’d been far from their best.
While praising goalkeeper David de Gea, who has been the standout player again, in an interview with the club’s official website, Maguire said: ‘He [De Gea] has been amazing.
‘I think a lot of people this year haven’t had the most consistent of seasons, we’ve been up and down a lot, as outfielders and as a team performance.’
Heaping more praise on the Spanish stopper, Maguire added: ‘But for sure David has been there, week in week out, producing big saves for us in big moments.
‘It doesn’t surprise me because David is David, he’s a world class goalkeeper.’
Despite the gloom around Old Trafford, there is still optimism that United can salvage their season.
They may be well out of the Premier League title race already but they can still secure a top-four finish and challenge for the FA Cup and Champions League.
The Red Devils face a mouth-watering European last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain and have been drawn to play Middlesbrough in the FA Cup’s fourth round.
In an attempt to galvanise his team-mates and the club’s supporters ahead of the restart of the domestic campaign next week, Maguire added: ‘It’s really important that we stay in the competitions for as long as we can and find ourselves challenging for trophies at the end of the season.
‘In two months’ time we want to be challenging in the league, for the top four positions, and then in both competitions in the cups.
‘We are in a position where we are not happy with the league position, but for sure we have lots of things to play for, and lots of momentum to gain, and lots of things to improve on.
‘From now until the end of the season we have got to work together as a group, work together as a club and make sure we reach our aims.’
Maguire was pictured out in Dubai earlier this week taking part in a golfing Pro-Am with England team-mate Jordan Pickford as they enjoy some time away from the pitch.