Paul Ince lambasts Maguire for getting Man Utd, Leeds verdict horribly wrong

Harry Maguire, Tyler Roberts Leeds v Man Utd April 2021

Paul Ince questioned Harry Maguire’s claim that Manchester United showed intensity and tempo during their draw with Leeds United.

Both sides played out a largely dull affair at Elland Road on Sunday, each taking a point at 0-0. Neither side had too many clear-cut chances, with the first half largely uneventful. The second half promised better action, including a series of quick-fire chances, but the point proved a fair result.

Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lauded his players for stopping a big Leeds threat. Counterpart Marcelo Bielsa, meanwhile, praised midfielder Kalvin Phillips for his display.

In his own post-match assessment, Red Devils captain Maguire said that he felt the match had a good “tempo”.

He told Sky Sports: “We created a few chances, a couple good enough to win the game, we kept them to a minimum, we were solid. We just couldn’t find that edge.

“The tempo was there, the intensity was there, both teams were trying to play the right way.

“There just wasn’t that little bit of quality and quality in the final third is where it matters and putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Speaking in response, ex-Man Utd midfielder Ince and fellow pundit Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink questioned Maguire‘s verdict.

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Asked if the team’s inconsistency had been on show, Ince said: “Yeah exactly, sometimes you can be fooled by a result and think a team’s playing well. But you saw against Burnley last week, we saw again today, they’re just so inconsistent.

“Harry mentioned about tempo and intensity that they had. I didn’t see it. I don’t know what game he was playing in, you didn’t see it did you Jim?”

Hasselbaink replied: “It was not a high-tempo game, but I must say when you go to Elland Road now for the top five, the top six, it’s not an easy place to go.

“You don’t get a result easy here and it was not that easy for Man Utd.”

Ince: Man Utd, Leeds ‘kids’ game’

Luke Shaw, Kalvin Phillips Leeds v Man Utd

Ince added: “It’s a tough place to go, you can understand that. But when he talks about the tempo was there, the intensity was there, it wasn’t there.

“It was that bad, the ref blew up before the four minutes of injury time. It was just a bad performance from both teams, the quality was poor, sometimes it was like watching a kids’ team play.

“They were giving it away, to me to you, kick it out of play. They need to play a lot better on Thursday.”

United return to action to face Roma in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

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