Manchester United captain Harry Maguire admits he is ’embarrassed’ by the club’s record from corners in the Premier League this season. Maguire headed in United’s first corner goal in the 2021/22 competition as the Red Devils beat Leeds United 4-2 at Elland Road on Sunday.
In the slashing West Yorkshire rain, the Sheffield-born defender headed home Luke Shaw’s corner to break the deadlock after 34 minutes.
Victor Lindelof, Jadon Sancho, and Bruno Fernandes combined superbly to add a second in the dying stages of first-half stoppage time.
Rodrigo’s freak goal and Raphinha’s equaliser within the same minute in the second half could’ve easily taken the game away from United.
But Ralf Rangnick’s substitutes saved the day, as the Red Devils refound their footing before Fred and Anthony Elanga ensured they returned to M16 with three valuable points.
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After full-time, Maguire explained his shame about United’s lack of threat from set-pieces, particularly corners, this season.
He told Sky Sports: “[It’s] embarrassing. Every time I see the stat, I feel embarrassed myself. I’m a big part of that set-play routine and trying to score from corners, but as a team, as a group, we’ve been nowhere near good enough.
“It’s a big part of the game, and for sure, if we score more from corners and set-plays, we’ll be higher in the table.
“I know you can play all this pretty football, but set-plays are a massive part of the game, and this season’s been nowhere near good enough on that behalf.”
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The manner of Maguire’s goal will come as a monumental relief for Rangnick, his backroom staff and the players.
Before the trip to Elland Road, United hadn’t scored from 139 Premier League corners this season.
And now one has gone in, there will be new hope within the squad that they can start adding more set-pieces goals to their repertoire in the season run-in.
United moved four points ahead of fifth-placed West Ham United with the win, with Watford up next at Old Trafford next weekend.
Maguire also expressed his delight with the result, especially given the away side’s early collapse in the second half.
He continued: “Yeah, I think that’s the most pleasing aspect of the game. We have got to start the second half better for sure.
“The first goal is obviously really lucky on their behalf, it gets them right back in the game, and then they scored a good goal, and we had to fight back, we had to stick together.
“We knew it was a tough place to come, but we knew we had the qualities to hurt them. We spoke about it at half-time that we needed to score more goals in the second half, and we managed to do that.”
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