He was a great buy. We just need a partner for him and phase out lindelof . I have no clue why we gave Bailly another contract
An apology to Harry Maguire
- Thread starter Schmeichel's Cartwheel
- Start date
This basically.
How closely do people watch him? Because he doesn’t do the organising of the defence because Lindelof seems to do an awful lot of telling Harry where to be and sorting out peoples positions at set pieces and so on. I’m not a massive fan of either of them but watching them Lindelof is the boss of the two.
Yesterday I think showed more that Bailly is rubbish and not fit to be 3rd choice and neither is Tuanzebe. Maybe Lindelof can be a 3rd choice if we can bring someone better in but I’ve always felt Harry needed someone to organise him like a good experienced CB who is better than Lindelof.
Are we pretending we haven’t seen games like yesterday with Maguire plenty of times?
When was the last time that happened?
He is a good defender, solid most of the time, but has a few glaring weaknesses and it's fair to criticize him when it costs us. I can't think of any top team that he'd walk into, but that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have a place here, at least for now.
It's very simple we've lost PL 4 games all season with Maguire the least in the PL
Without him we've lost 2 games back to back
We can talk about how we are still poor from set pieces(even though he's won the most aerial duels in the PL and the ONLY one who defends them well)
We can talk about how poor our ball progression was(even though he's the only CB in the top 50 most progressive players in Europe)
But if you think things wouldn't have been different with him in defence you're intentionally choosing not to see how vital he is to the team his availability has made people take him for granted
Without him we've lost 2 games back to back
We can talk about how we are still poor from set pieces(even though he's won the most aerial duels in the PL and the ONLY one who defends them well)
We can talk about how poor our ball progression was(even though he's the only CB in the top 50 most progressive players in Europe)
But if you think things wouldn't have been different with him in defence you're intentionally choosing not to see how vital he is to the team his availability has made people take him for granted
Strange view. It's no coincidence that since we signed Maguire United have transformed from 6th to 3rd & 2nd, reached various semi finals and now a final.
You probably just don't like him because of his fee, size of forehead or holiday destination?
Crazy post. He'd literally walk into City's team alongside Dias, Liverpools team alongside VVD, Chelsea, Leicester, etc.
He looked worth every penny of that 80m last night as he sat in the stands. Defending was frantic and disorganised. His ability as a player and leadership qualities were never more evident as he sat on watching.
I think we’ve gone through various stages of thinking Maguire/Lindelof or Maguire/Bailly could be decent partnerships, not great, but ok, do a job against most sides. Last night showed definitively, if Maguire was out for a significant period, we’d be screwed.
He’s so much better than anyone we’ve had since Rio and Vidic, which is scary really.
i hate smalling more than anybody, but Maguire is levels beneath him. Put a healthy Smalling on this squad we still competing with the EPL with city. Maguire is still a huge problem, don't let the injury fool you.
I like Smalling he is a good defender but he is atrocious on the ball.
Maguire is an all round better centre-back and a leader.
Maguire a huge problem?!
He's our only very good centre-back and our captain, we should be building the team around players like him, Bruno and Rashford.
Shaw's been excellent all season, if you'd like to pretend he hasn't off the back of 1 match then by all mean feel free. It's not just RedCafe seeing as he made both Carragher and Neville's TOTS, and I suspect he'll also make the PFA one as well. But yes, only RedCafe rates him. Great post.
Im not sure where to start with this, but no it’s all wrong.
Maguire is an excellent CB with a couple of flaws in his game that will stop him ever being the best CB around. However, the key for us is that he brings way more to the table than just his own ability as a player. He's an organiser of the entire backline and a leader among the team. Given that our team really lacks leaders, he stands out even more.
Don‘t think that is true Dias, Stones and Laporte in front of him. Liverpool yes but so would Phil Jones. Chelsea mmmm don’t see him replacing Thiago or Rudiger but maybe.
You forgot the white text.
Nope. Stones plays with Dias because he complements him well and they have Laporte on the bench, whose top level was way closer to Van Dijk that Maguire’s ever was.
You’re probably right on Liverpool & the rest though.
As always, the opinions on Maguire seem to be overcompensating a lot for the sometimes overly harsh criticism that he receives. He’s absolutely crucial to us, but he’s not world-class. He’s a good and reliable defender that we’ve been missing for years, but he’s not capable of transforming the side in a way that Dias/Van Dijk transformed theirs.
Better than the rest, but that isn't a great metric, Maguire is a good defender but still doesn't fill me with confidence.
If Maguire wasnt English he'd be much higher rated by the majority of fans.
He's been one of the best centre-backs in the Premiership this season.
But on social media at least it's not fashionable to acknowledge this.
I bet the same people who dont rate Maguire are the same who didnt rate Carrick too....
He's been one of the best centre-backs in the Premiership this season.
But on social media at least it's not fashionable to acknowledge this.
I bet the same people who dont rate Maguire are the same who didnt rate Carrick too....
I agree, I think that is a fair assessment of him.
Maguire has better defensive stats this season than all 3 or them, they just happen to be playing in a better team overall than Maguire.
He also has the best defensive stats in the league this season for centre back, so I don't see how Rudiger and Silva are better than him.
What are "defensive stats"? The likes of Jagielka usually outperformed the likes of Rio Ferdinand in many "defensive stats" if you mean tackles/aerials/blocks etc. CB is just about the most style-dependent position on the football pitch where stats (aside from the basic ones like goals conceded and clean sheets) are pretty much useless as a player's quality assessment tool.
I love Harry, I think he was definitely over-priced, but he's a great captain and we're lucky he's some sort of machine that can play every game.
Even his terrible attacking heading has become somewhat endearing.
Even his terrible attacking heading has become somewhat endearing.
The answer to that appears to be yes. Usually happens on here to be fair, current assessment of a player is deemed as always applying.
Maguire has definitely improved as the season has gone on but he had plenty of poor games. Hopefully he doesn't revert.
If Bruno got injured we’d just shift Pogba to 10 & play Rash & Greenwood on the wings. I honestly think losing Maguire is the bigger blow.
I don't know if Maguire is prime Vidic or not but I know he is not our problem. Solid defender with ability to carry the ball, very underrated.
Bailly on the other hand is a scrub, big mistake to give this clown a new contract. It would be one thing if he was a solid defender when fit, the fact is, he is sub par at best even when fit which is rare in itself.
Bailly on the other hand is a scrub, big mistake to give this clown a new contract. It would be one thing if he was a solid defender when fit, the fact is, he is sub par at best even when fit which is rare in itself.
And utter shit
No where on God's green earth is Maguire levels beneath Smalling.
That comment by him is so ridiculous its worthy of revoking full member status. Never seen a defender who has to rotate his body 180 degrees in a mechanical manner just to make a simple sideways 5 yard pass.No where on God's green earth is Maguire levels beneath Smalling.
This
Stop the knee jerk threads. He has looked lost many time before and we have given away all kinds of stupid goals even when he is available. We have conceded so many set pieces this season.
Just watch them and you’ll see the difference.
Ive always said it, but I'll say it again, he is easily the best CB we have had at the club since Rio and Vidic started to drift off the pace. The last two games just give more context to this opinion, he might not be Rio in how loud and aggressive he is in organising his back line, but my god do we look a wreck without him.
I love Victor, but we really need a partner for Maguire that can also command the defence and stop the steep drop off in quality if we ever miss Harry again, but I don't think that will be this year unfortunately.
I love Victor, but we really need a partner for Maguire that can also command the defence and stop the steep drop off in quality if we ever miss Harry again, but I don't think that will be this year unfortunately.
He is not average. Enough said about that.
That's a fair summary.