Harry Maguire believes Manchester United’s problems are not related to tactics, claiming the players are “not mentally focused”.

United boss Ruben Amorim labeled his side “probably the worst in the club’s history” after the weekend defeat to Brighton.

The Portuguese clarified today that he was referring to his efforts since replacing Erik ten Hag in November.Rather than criticize the players, however, veteran defender Maguire insisted they must take their share of the blame.

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United have gone behind in each of their last five league games and conceded the opening goal inside five minutes three times.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow night’s Europa League game against Rangers at Old Trafford, Maguire said: “If I can explain it, we’ll change it straight away.

“We have players who have won many trophies in club football but we are not playing well enough as a team.

“We conceded a goal to Brighton. We talked about it before the match. The first goal against Nottingham Forest was set play – and against Bournemouth.

“These are not things that are strategically a problem. You have to be mentally prepared to win the match. At the moment we are not getting small margins because we are not mentally focused.”

Rangers will be a tough test – Maguire

A win against Rangers would secure United a place in the knockout stages but Maguire is not expecting an easy night against the men north of the border.

He added: “We’re expecting a tough game, we know they’ll come here and give it everything they’ve got and bring a great support.

“They’ve done very well in the competition so we’re expecting a tough game but we’ll focus on ourselves and make sure we perform after a tough defeat at the weekend.

“We will go into the game confident that we can perform and get the three points.”