Erik ten Hag singles out 'dominating' Man Utd defender after FA Cup comeback win

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag showered centre-back Harry Maguire with praise after his impressive performance in Wednesday's 3-1 win over West Ham.

Club captain Maguire was making just his tenth start in all competitions this season, having endured a campaign which has sparked significant uncertainty about his long-term future at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag has preferred the defensive duo of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane this season but was full of praise for Maguire for making the most of a rare opportunity to impress.

"He was dominating the defence, but in offence, he had some really good moments, good passes and was engaging and outplaying opponents," Ten Hag told his post-match press conference. "He played a good game.

"How do we help him? In training. Not long ago, I showed him a video [on] how to outplay opponents and how he can have more impact in possession and building up with his skills.

"He is really high-skilled for a centre-back. He has so many skills and he has to use that in a game."

United stepped their performance up after the break, having failed to impress during the first 45 minutes, and Maguire admitted that the Red Devils were on the receiving end of a heated team talk from Ten Hag.

On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders and Rob Blanchette discuss Manchester United winning their first trophy under Erik ten Hag.

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"He [Ten Hag] went fairly strong, to be honest, he knew we had to up it," Maguire told MUTV.

"We knew it, or we'd lose the game. To come out as well and for them to score a great goal, although we thought it was out. I know you have to play to the whistle and I'm sure we'll get a telling-off from the manager, but the last 30 minutes we found something.

"The crowd sucked the ball into the back of the net at the Stretford End. It was a tough game. The first half we weren't at our best, a bit slow, I don't know why. Maybe Sunday, with the celebrations, as we lacked a little bit of tempo.

"We spoke about the game, tonight was all about winning and progressing. I must say the last 30 minutes were really good, relentless from the lads and great fight.

"After having the goal disallowed, we could have dropped our heads and sulked. But it was relentless and three good goals. The second one is a stand-out from [Alejandro] Garnacho, so really pleased for him and I'm sure he's going to score more match-winners in front of the Stretford End."