I can’t help but feel Koulibaly wouldn’t be the perfect fit for us. Yes, he’s perhaps the best center back available, but does he check the most critical boxes? I don’t think so.
First and foremost we need a leader. If we had someone there today to command the surrounding players, talk to them and maybe tell them to bring the ball down and keep it around for a bit, we would probably not have faced the endless waves Spurs produced. We fell way too deep and I think it’s partly due to the lack of leadership at the back and partly because the players don’t seem to trust the defence and therefore tends to fall back too far.
Imagine Maguire. He captained Hull at a very young age and seems to be the type of leader that would organize the defence. Smalling doesn’t, Jones doesn’t (he just makes it more chaotic), Bailly doesn’t, Lindelöf doesn’t, De Gea doesn’t, none of the full backs does and none of our deep midfielders do either.
Add to that the aerial abiliy he has. Spurs created so many chances through crosses and it’s because Kane will beat Jones and Lindelöf in the air most of the time. He’s stronger, taller and reaches higher. Alli too, when they two get in the box, the ball is out wide and are up against Jones and Lindelöf it’s always going to be dangerous. Maguire is massive, he would help out a lot in that regard.
Lastly, playing out from the back when being pressed is essential if you’d want to dominate games against top opposition, especially away and especially when being a goal or two up. Lindelöf is good at it, none of our other center backs are. Maguire is excellent in this aspect.
I believe that with someone like Maguire there today instead of Jones we’d see a completely different second half. The team would’ve dared to press higher, we’d have retained possession to a larger extent and maybe even controlled the game.
Koulibaly is from what I’ve seen good in the air, but not the level of Maguire. He’s only as tall as Harry Kane. He’s not the calming influence either I believe, and I don’t think he speaks english. He’s a great player, but I don’t think he’s the perfect fit for us and wouldn’t have a Van Dijk-esque impact. I think Maguire would have and we all must hope that by now it’s evident to Solskjær and Woodward that the center back position needs to be sorted out.