Manchester United defender Harry Maguire says it is easy for the club’s players to “blame the staff and tactics” but they have “got to do better” as manager Erik ten Hag comes under increasing pressure.
The Old Trafford side are 14th in the Premier League after two wins, three defeats and one draw in their six top-flight games this season.
They face Aston Villa away on Sunday (14:00 BST) with club co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe saying a decision over Ten Hag’s future is “not my call”.
“This is my sixth season now and I know what it’s about,” said England centre-back Maguire.
“I know that you go through difficult moments and everything, everyone piles on you.
“We’ve proven over the last couple of seasons with the manager that we can beat anybody when we perform. But the problem has been consistency, and we need to start showing that.”
United go into the game at Villa Park on the back of a 3-0 home league defeat against Tottenham and a 3-3 draw with Porto in the Europa League on Thursday, in which Maguire scored a late equaliser.
They have now conceded three or more goals in 24 matches under Ten Hag.
“No, obviously it’s not good enough. For sure, we’ve got to do more,” added Maguire, 31.
“But as a footballer, it’s easy to look around and blame your team-mates, or blame the staff or the tactics. You’ve got to look at yourself.
“You’ve got to take responsibility and each and every one of us has got to do better in these moments.”
United, who beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final last season, claimed a 2-1 win at Villa Park in February.
However, they ended up finishing eighth in the Premier League with a -1 goal difference.
Ten Hag’s side have a -3 goal difference so far this season, having scored five goals and conceded eight, but Maguire feels they are “playing better than last season”.
“We’ve got to find belief within ourselves, take the belief from what we did last season at Villa Park,” Maguire said.
“The results haven’t been there. Obviously, the performance was really poor against Spurs. Apart from that, I feel like we should have more points on the board.
“But they’re not, so we need to do something about it starting with Sunday. Tough game but what a great place to go.”
