Manchester United captain Harry Maguire defended the players' role in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's demise.

Twenty-four hours after Solskjaer's sacking, Maguire spoke to the media ahead of United's Champions League trip to Villarreal.

He insisted: "It's been a hard time for us as players given the respect we had for him. We've been on a journey together. The emotion around the place was difficult to be in. We wanted to succeed and the result wasn't good enough. It's a result business. The players need to take responsibility. We are in this together. Ultimately the manager has paid the price, we are all so disappointed by that. We know we haven't been good enough. We have spoken about that. The lads want to succeed.

"As a group of players, we've done everything we can and the lads have given everything. The results haven't been good enough. The manager came in and spoke to us and everyone has a huge amount of respect for Ole. He's a legend of the club and will remain a legend. He will be supporting us and will want us to get back on track. It shows the value of the man.

"All players will go through tough times and the recent results have been good enough. Collectively we haven't been good and results have shown. We've paid the price. We need to find the right mentality and produce the right performance tomorrow."