[0le]

Lets not forget Rashford dribbled past VVD a few weeks ago. Ramos is prone to the odd mistake. Defenders will be caught out. Its the nature of the game. You also have to remember that Liverpool have three midfielders who work tirelessly off the ball. Man City work tirelessly off the ball. Those players in the Italian or Spanish leagues wouldn't necessarily translate that form in the Premier league either. Rio was prone to the odd mistake at a similar age to Maguire. If Rio at that age was in this squad now, people would also be saying he isn't good enough.

I'm not saying Maguire is the best ever defender. But a lot of you have unrealistic expectations for him and other players such as Martial and Pogba. The reality is we are struggling this season because we don't have a midfield and have at times lacked genuine width. When this is sorted out, you will see the players perform better, including people like Maguire. It is also fair to acknowledge perhaps the coaching could be better too.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Who could have known? Surely the people at the club are football experts so their opinion and understanding are superior to the caftards meek understanding of football? Oh, I am blown away by this magnificent revelation in hindsight. Surely this was part of the football experts at the clubs magnificent plan for this rebuild?

 

[Sunny Jim]

This transfer and the Coutinho one to Barca is one of those very rare times that makes me feel I know more about football than some top execs at clubs.

I feel the same way. Yes he is an upgrade on Smalling but not worth what we paid for him. We are marginally better now.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Who could have known? Surely the people at the club are football experts so their opinion and understanding are superior to the caftards meek understanding of football? Oh, I am blown away by this magnificent revelation in hindsight. Surely this was part of the football experts at the clubs magnificent plan for this rebuild?

Im pretty sure roughly 50% of Caf users knew.

 

[Sunny Jim]

Last season after 13 matches in the PL we had conceded 19 goals and so far we have conceded 15 goals. Maguire is a good player without a doubt, never worth the ridiculous we spent on him, I'll always think that AWB was the truly necessary purchase for the backline and the rest should have been focused on midfield, specially after losing Herrera and Fellaini

This. The pressing needs were RW and CM. Not Maguire.

 

[Cassidy]

Guess the honeymoon period is over then, I thought it would last a little longer.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Im pretty sure roughly 50% of Caf users knew.

Nah. 25% at most. Remember being overwhelmed by the number of people saying that it was Maguire or bust during the summer on here when I tried to make the case that we should spend the Maguire money on midfielders.

 

[Deglobalise Football]

Criminal decision.

Said very, very few people at the time...

 

[Kerry Donaghy]

I'm afraid we've fallen for the classic 'over-hyped England player' trick here.

If Harry Maguire was any other nationality, he's a £10-15 million pound player max.
The same goes for Wan Bissaka.
When we made a statement at the end of last season about buying British, I feared this would happen.

Someone needs to update our clueless recruitment team on the fact that, since the limit on the amount of overseas players in European games hasn't existed for about 25 years, it now doesn't matter if a player is from England or Ethiopia, it shouldn't have any bearing on their transfer value.

 

[DRM]

Said very, very few people at the time...

I doubt it.

 

[Hawks2008]

Disappointing so far but it's ok because he can head the ball and he has character or something

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

It was stupid to spend so much money on him when we needed to bring in a striker and a midfielder. We are experts at wasting money and also letting players go for very little.

I think Maguire can do well in a compact team, but we are just not a great unit. I also think his confidence might not be the highest at the moment.

 

[Deery]

What worries me is strikers can strike straight through him he doesn’t get a tackle or a block in. It has happened about 6-7 times now and I think forwards have caught on to it.

 

[Apokalips]

Always believed he needed a guy like Smalling next to him to cover his weakneses. Never been a big fan of either Maguire or Lindelof and the pair together do not strike me with any real confidence. 80m was always way too much, despite how much large swathes of our fan base protested to the contrary.

I like him as he's a good player, but not sure he'll be a great one. I also hate how he walked in the door and Ole was already talking about captaincy, it all feels like people don't have to do much anymore to prove themselves worthy at this club.

 

[RUCK4444]

It’s easy to say we should have bought a striker or midfielder but our defence needed addressing as well, leaked far too many goals, Maguire was available and would have gotten a move elsewhere, sometimes you have to buy when the opportunity arises.

Similarly the players we wanted in Midfield and Striker positions probably weren’t willing to move, transfers are an area I would prefer we take time with and sign the right players rather than overpaid squad fillers, we’ve just got rid of a load of these.

Maguire will be very good with the right partner that’s pretty clear imo. I’ve said before that I would have liked Smalling next to him and if we don’t replace Lindelof then I would bring Smalling back because he would be far cheaper to bring back than replace with somebody better.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Nah. 25% at most. Remember being overwhelmed by the number of people saying that it was Maguire or bust during the summer on here when I tried to make the case that we should spend the Maguire money on midfielders.

It pretty much was as Ole wanted a British CB, so this narrowed down our options.

 

[arthurka]

I find it very strange that he seems incapable of closing down players in one v one situations. He always seems to leave players a lot of space to shoot or find another players in a better place.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

It pretty much was as Ole wanted a British CB, so this narrowed down our options.

Smalling is still British right? Jones, Tuanzebe? If we had troubles with the homegrown quota, which we don't, would it not be better to buy a younger player. Buying starting quality players to fill the quota is not cost effective.
If we wanted a PL proven (for some reason) centre-back during the summer, we should have bought Ake.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

I find it very strange that he seems incapable of closing down players in one v one situations. He always seems to leave players a lot of space to shoot or find another players in a better place.

Strange? He is as mobile as a sloth.

 

[Deery]

I find it very strange that he seems incapable of closing down players in one v one situations. He always seems to leave players a lot of space to shoot or find another players in a better place.

100%, it’s very worrying, if I remember right that’s why we got rid of Evans and he wasn’t half as bad.

 

[arthurka]

Strange? He is as mobile as a sloth.

Never steps up to press a player who is preparing to shoot. You don't need pace to do that, Chiellini isn't fast at all but he does it all the time.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Never steps up to press a player who is preparing to shoot. You don't need pace to do that, Chiellini isn't fast at all but he does it all the time.

Even Wes Morgan is more mobile than Maguire.
Chiellini before his injury, despite being well into his 30ies, was far more mobile than Maguire.

Only player I can compare to Maguire is Mertesacker.

 

[Majima]

Even Wes Morgan is more mobile than Maguire.
Chiellini before his injury, despite being well into his 30ies, was far more mobile than Maguire.

Only player I can compare to Maguire is Mertesacker.

£80m Mertesacker.

Doesn't bode well does it?

 

[Fosu-Mens]

£80m Mertesacker.

Doesn't bode well does it?

A fair amount of us stated that his lack of mobility would be a huge issue and that he was overrated as F. Suprise, it turns out to be true.

Doesn't bode well for the club when a number of internet fans would do a better job at identifying targets than the so-called football experts at the club.

 

[Majima]

A fair amount of us stated that his lack of mobility would be a huge issue and that he was overrated as F. Suprise, it turns out to be true.

Doesn't bode well for the club when a number of internet fans would do a better job at identifying targets than the so-called football experts at the club.

I hated his signing in the summer. I was also one of the few against it. For surprise, surprise his lack of mobility & organising ability. I actually posted Leicester forum' debates where they were happy to see Maguire go, universally agreed that he wasn't their best defender or leader & that Evans is actually the one regarded as their best & leader... and was completely shot down.

It is funny indeed where your worst fears actually come true. How many scouts have we got at the club again? Hundreds wasn't it?

 

[Majima]

A fair amount of us stated that his lack of mobility would be a huge issue and that he was overrated as F. Suprise, it turns out to be true.

Doesn't bode well for the club when a number of internet fans would do a better job at identifying targets than the so-called football experts at the club.

Thread is closed so i can't post my quotes properly.

June 13th:

Maguire is a decent defender, but £80m+ come on now, Gary Cahill was better than him.

He's slow and cumbersome, he is also prone to the English trait of giving the ball away under pressure.

I really hope we stay away.

Is he even a good partner for Lindelöf anyway?

I'd rather go into next season with Lindelöf + whoever, if it meant overpaying dramatically for him.

The Leicester fans quotes in particular are right on the money.

City & Liverpool both exposed Maguire last season. He's a slow CB who's susceptible to quick movements & pace. Cracks under opposition pressing.

We are planning to attack next season aren't we? Why do people think these weaknesses won't be amplified even further under a more attacking setup?

Look at some of the comments made on the Leicester City forum about him:

Maybe the dourness of last season has made me more critical of individuals at the club but I felt that Maguire seemed to be at the thick of a lot of the defensive mistakes we made last season. His positional awareness was at times laughable and he turns as if he's shifting a wardrobe. I wouldn't be against keeping him but for the sums being banded around we'd be getting much more than he's really worth

Their fans regard Evans as their best defender and the real brains at the back for them. That's what makes Maguire look good. In the similar way, Blind made Smalling look good under LVG:

Maguire is no better than the majority of the centre backs playing for any of those sides. What they lack is an organiser and leader. Maguire certainly isn't either of those things. He's an average PL centre back who is extremely good at bringing the ball out from the back. A secondary skill for a CB. He looks good next to Evans but then so does Morgan and without Evans we always look liable to concede. You stick Maguire next to Smalling or Koscielney and he'll look just as ropey as he does alongside Morgan for us.

No way Maguire would have anything close to the impact on Man Utds or Arsenal's defence that Van Dijk has had at Liverpool. Matip and Lovren are around the same quality as Kosceilny, Smalling, Lindelof etc but with Van Dijk next to them they look twice as good. Maguire has proven over the past two years that he's no leader or organiser and that's what these teams need. What they'd get is a similar player to what they already have but at a massively inflated price.

Doesn't this sound like more of the same that we already get from Jones/Smalling & co?

Maguire is not the answer people.

I really hope we stay away.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

I hated his signing in the summer. I was also one of the few against it. For surprise, surprise his lack of mobility & defensive organising ability. I actually posted Leicester forum' debates where they were happy to see Maguire go, universally agreed that he wasn't their best defender or leader & that Evans is actually the one regarded as their best & leader... and was completely shot down.

It is funny indeed where your worst fears actually come true. How many scouts have we got at the club again? Hundreds wasn't it?

People also thought that we would fight for the title prior to last season or that we would be able to compete for a top 4 spot this season. Some fans wear some extremely red-tinted glasses.

TBH, most of the 60+ scouts that we employ are working on identifying potential youth players.

 

[Untd55]

The issue with our defence is that we may have conceded fewer goals than last season, but we have the same number of clean sheets as we did at this point last season. We have conceded in every one of the last 9 Premier League games, dating back to the 14th September, and only have 2 clean sheets thus far.

We are positioned 17th for clean sheets this season. We don't just concede about a goal per game on average; we actually concede a goal per game in reality. Is this improvement really worthy of the £130m expenditure? Not for me.

I feel any real defensive improvement has come due to Bissaka. He is the third-highest tackling player in the Premier League this season with 55. That is the same number of tackles our top-tackling player made all of the last season: Shaw. He has made a noticeable difference to our right side in terms of defence. I think he was needed, but Maguire was not. Other areas needed to be prioritised before splashing £80m on a centre-back, particularly when we had lost Herrera and Lukaku.

Maguire has had a very minimal impact on the team. I think he has been a very average to poor signing, considering the £80m fee. It seemed like in the summer we were prioritising signing a defender who can pass over a midfielder who can pass, which is ridiculous.

 

[GenZRed]

Good thing we spent so much money on him in the summer. If we didn't, we would have a sloppy defense that concedes last minute goals under pressure.

 

[kidbob]

Good player but the problem now is that we need to spend huge money on a 'Vidic' to accompany him. Hopefully Tuanzebe is that player but you shouldn't spend 80m on a guy that needs a particular partner to make him look better. With all the money we have spent on Bailly, Lindelof and Maguire are we really in a much better position than we would've been by keeping Johnny Evans? I don't think we are when you think what 140 million spent might have meant for the rest of the team. Not criticising Maguire at all but more the fact that he was worth half of what we paid. This club used to be known for 'obscure' signings like Vidic and we need to get right back to it.

 

[A-man]

Good player but the problem now is that we need to spend huge money on a 'Vidic' to accompany him. Hopefully Tuanzebe is that player but you shouldn't spend 80m on a guy that needs a particular partner to make him look better. With all the money we have spent on Bailly, Lindelof and Maguire are we really in a much better position than we would've been by keeping Johnny Evans? I don't think we are when you think what 140 million spent might have meant for the rest of the team. Not criticising Maguire at all but more the fact that he was worth half of what we paid. This club used to be known for 'obscure' signings like Vidic and we need to get right back to it.

United have spent quite a lot in other areas as well if you consider transfers and salaries over those years. During the years where those three defenders joined for 140 million, Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez, Fred, Matic, and Mkhitaryan joined for about 370 million. I would argue paying 140 million for 3 central defenders is not a problem compared to buying those 6 for 370 millions.

 

[Adnan]

Smalling is still British right? Jones, Tuanzebe? If we had troubles with the homegrown quota, which we don't, would it not be better to buy a younger player. Buying starting quality players to fill the quota is not cost effective.
If we wanted a PL proven (for some reason) centre-back during the summer, we should have bought Ake.

The reports at the time indicated that we were looking for a physically dominant CB and we were even strongly linked to Diop at West Ham and Koulibaly from Napoli. £60m for Diop was the price suggested by the media and the Napoli President wanted in excess of a £100m for Koulibaly and I believe we were right to look elsewhere. But unfortunately we ended up paying £80m for Maguire and our manager shot himself in the foot by relegating Smalling to 4th choice, so he left on loan.

But the CB that absolutely fit the criteria mentioned above, was a 20 year old called Ibrahima Konate from RBL in Germany. At 20 years of age he was considered among the best CBs in the Bundesliga, which is a incredible feat for such a young player, and was a stand out option which should've been seriously considered due to his allround game and potential. He IMO has Van Dyke potential and was more than capable of carrying the likes of Lindelof and Jones through games on his back due to how blessed he is athletically/physically. He also had experience of playing in a high press which he excelled in and was equally just as good at defending deep due to having good positioning and a very strong aerial game.

 

[kouroux]

It’s easy to say we should have bought a striker or midfielder but our defence needed addressing as well, leaked far too many goals, Maguire was available and would have gotten a move elsewhere, sometimes you have to buy when the opportunity arises.

Similarly the players we wanted in Midfield and Striker positions probably weren’t willing to move, transfers are an area I would prefer we take time with and sign the right players rather than overpaid squad fillers, we’ve just got rid of a load of these.

Maguire will be very good with the right partner that’s pretty clear imo. I’ve said before that I would have liked Smalling next to him and if we don’t replace Lindelof then I would bring Smalling back because he would be far cheaper to bring back than replace with somebody better.

That same logic got us Sanchez too. I just hope our club doesn't process stuff the same way, "we have to get him before someone else does" isn't a very good strategy

 

[RUCK4444]

That same logic got us Sanchez too. I just hope our club doesn't process stuff the same way, "we have to get him before someone else does" isn't a very good strategy

Bit of a strange comparison Sanchez and Sancho. Difference with Sancho is we would be buying his potential, of what he might become, Sanchez was past his best.

 

[kouroux]

Bit of a strange comparison Sanchez and Sancho. Difference with Sancho is we would be buying his potential, of what he might become, Sanchez was past his best.

Sancho ? You were talking about Maguire in the post I quoted

 

[Ekeke]

I think he'd play better next to a better CB partner than he has, like Smalling, potentially Tuanzebe if he impresses when given chances... or like I said before the start of the season, we'd still need to buy another CB if those 2 arent what Ole wants. Not what you want after spending £80 million on a CB but thats reality of where we are.

 

[A-man]

Last season after 13 matches in the PL we had conceded 19 goals and so far we have conceded 15 goals. Maguire is a good player without a doubt, never worth the ridiculous we spent on him, I'll always think that AWB was the truly necessary purchase for the backline and the rest should have been focused on midfield, specially after losing Herrera and Fellaini

I think you have the wrong data. United conceded 21 goals after the first 13 matches last season. That means the improvement this year is 40% so far. It is not a small difference. 6 less conceded goals per 13 matches correspond to 18 less conceded goals over the whole season.

 

[kouroux]

I think you have the wrong data. United conceded 21 goals after the first 13 matches last season. That means the improvement this year is 40% so far. It is not a small difference. 6 less conceded goals per 13 matches correspond to 18 less conceded goals over the whole season.

You're correct it is 21 goals conceded in 13 PL games, I had 21 in mind but somehow wrote 19 *facepalm*

Spoiler

• Man Utd versus C Palace
• Score0 -0

• Man City versus Man Utd​
• Score 3 - 1
  ​
  • Bournemouth versus Man Utd​
  • Score 1 - 2​
• ​
  • Man Utd versus Everton​
  • Score2 - 1
    ​
    • Chelsea versus Man Utd​
    • Score 2 - 2​
  • ​
  • Man Utd versus Newcastle​
  • Score 3 - 2​
• ​
  • West Ham versus Man Utd​
  • Score 3 - 1​
• ​
  • Man Utd versus Wolves​
  • Score 1 - 1​
• ​
  • Watford versus Man Utd​
  • Score 1 - 2
    ​
    • Burnley versus Man Utd​
    • Score 0 - 2​
  • ​
  • Man Utd versus Spurs​
  • Score 0 - 3​
• ​
  • Brighton versus Man Utd​
  • Score 3 - 2​
• ​
  • Man Utd versus Leicester​
  • Score 2 - 1​
• ​

 

[A-man]

You're correct it is 21 goals conceded in 13 PL games, I had 21 in mind but somehow wrote 19 *facepalm*

Spoiler

• Man Utd versus C Palace
• Score0 -0

• Man City versus Man Utd​
• Score 3 - 1​
  • Bournemouth versus Man Utd​
  • Score 1 - 2​
• ​
  • Man Utd versus Everton​
  • Score2 - 1​
    • Chelsea versus Man Utd​
    • Score 2 - 2​
  • ​
  • Man Utd versus Newcastle​
  • Score 3 - 2​
• ​
  • West Ham versus Man Utd​
  • Score 3 - 1​
• ​
  • Man Utd versus Wolves​
  • Score 1 - 1​
• ​
  • Watford versus Man Utd​
  • Score 1 - 2​
    • Burnley versus Man Utd​
    • Score 0 - 2​
  • ​
  • Man Utd versus Spurs​
  • Score 0 - 3​
• ​
  • Brighton versus Man Utd​
  • Score 3 - 2​
• ​
  • Man Utd versus Leicester​
  • Score 2 - 1​
• ​

No problem, I still understood your comment and you have a point.

If they continue to play lIke the last match, we will soon see both 19 and 21 conceded also this season ...

 

[Suedesi]

This guy has articulated United's transfer shambles in 5 minutes and anyone who thinks Ole's done well in the transfer market needs to have a listen.