Harry Maguire responds to Ruben Amorim's 'worst Man Utd team in history' declaration as 'frustrated' head coach vows to keep 'saying what I see'

Maguire was speaking alongside Amorim in a press conference ahead of United's Europa League match against Rangers on Thursday, the first media appearance since the Portuguese made the disparaging remark about his side on the back of their 3-1 defeat by Brighton on Sunday.

"I think as players, we were frustrated and disappointed, coming on the back of a good away perfoRmance [at Arsenal] and beating Southampton. We have to look at ourselves and take responsibility," Maguire said. "We were going into the game confident we had the belief we could beat Brighton but we didn't perform on the day. I go home and think about how I can help the team get back to where we want to and that's challenging given where we are in the league."

Amorim attempted to explain the reasoning behind his frank comments, which stunned pundits and former players. But he stopped short of apologising. He said: "I was talking more for myself than for my players, because you have a coach that starts a job and loses eight games so it was more for me. I also talked in the same response about I was not helping my players and if you look at every time I speak I never put the spotlight on my players. So I understand I gave you that headline and I’m frustrated sometimes and sometimes I should not say that in those terms. But it is what it is. Sometimes it's really hard to hide the frustration in some moments. But the good thing is that I said the same things in a different way in the dressing room five minutes before and the response was quite normal because I’m really blunt with my players. I say what I see."

It has been revealed that Amorim damaged a television in the club's dressing room as he vented his fury over the Brighton performance. The coach did not directly reference damaging the television but admitted he sometimes oversteps the mark: "I’m a young guy and sometimes I make a mistake. That’s why I don’t talk about it after the game," Amorim said. "This game, I needed to talk and maybe it was a mistake and then I get more nervous and go to the to press conference really nervous. Then you say things that you shouldn’t say, and that’s it. Sometimes you are a young guy, and then do mistakes and you improve. I don’t promise you that I won’t do it again, but I will try to improve."

United are faring much better in the Europa League than in the Premier League, winning three of their six matches while remaining unbeaten. They are seventh in the standings and victory over Rangers would see them take a huge step towards sealing a top-eight place and booking their ticket to the last 16 of the competition. "The most important thing is to think we can improve right away in the next match," added Amorim. "Imagine tomorrow we don't suffer a goal at the start, we score and play well, it will change the environment here and everything."