Harry Maguire Says Manchester United 'Deserved' 2-0 Loss Against Arsenal

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has conceded their performance against Arsenal on Wednesday warranted their 2-0 defeat. 

The Red Devils lost at the Emirates Stadium as a result of first-half goals from Nicolas Pepe and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Per Goal's Chris Burton, Maguire said:

"It was disappointing to go in 2-0 down at half-time because we should have weathered the storm, especially not conceding from a set play.

"When we're not playing great we've got to do the basics well and doing the basics is heading the ball out of your box and keeping the ball out of your net.

"We had chances in the second half, but we deserved to lose. We weren't good enough, and we'll improve for next week."

The centre-back added that Arsenal "played with more aggression, more intensity and they pressed us better."

Arsenal were much the stronger side in the first half and took full advantage of that through Pepe and Sokratis. The Gunners largely settled for defending their lead after the break, and United failed to cause them much trouble:

The Independent's Miguel Delaney observed United's difficulties in getting through the Gunners defence:

The Red Devils have scored 32 goals this season, the lowest total in the Premier League's top six.

One of the biggest factors behind that is that while the team excels at hitting opposition on the counter with quick transitions, they frequently struggle to break down opponents who sit back against them, as Arsenal did once they opened up a lead.

United's squad does not possess a great deal of creativity outside of Paul Pogba, who was missing and has played just seven league games this season due to injury.

Even with the Frenchman, they typically rely on him to conjure a defence-splitting pass out of nowhere rather than at the end of a probing team move in which they've lured players out of position.

ESPN's Mark Ogden has not been particularly convinced by them at the back, either:

United conceded 54 goals in the league last season, an average of 1.4 per game. This season they've shipped 25 in 21 matches, 1.2 per game, perhaps as a result of the additions of Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the summer, but it's still not particularly encouraging.

Football writer Daniel Storey put United's results in recent months in damning perspective:

The Red Devils have shown they're capable of producing some impressive performances and results. Early in December, they picked up back-to-back wins against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

They can't do it with consistency, though—they were then held to a 1-1 draw at home to Everton and lost 2-0 to Watford, who were bottom of the table—and they won't be able to do so until they can resolve their issues at both ends of the pitch.