I can never understand why there was no other CB in the world that was better than Maguire. Or maybe there were but someone had a hard-on for British players
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The media and a large chunk of our fanbase spent almost the entirety of last season, complaining about how 'Jose wasn't backed' and if he only had Maguire. The club got hoodwinked into thinking that a) the biggest problem at the club was CB b) Maguire was some mythical solution to our problems
Jose was absolutely right about the need of a new CB. It's really comical that this board full of lunatics rejected Maguire and then paid a record fee a year later. Not to mention they couldn't identify any other target.
From giving Jose a new contract and then not backing him, giving Ole the permanent role early and then signing a limited CB for that fee. This board deserves to be sacked before anyone else.
Ridiculous. We needed a new CB because of Mourinho.
He had spent a lot of money at the time of purchase on Bailly and Lindelof. We would have had to pay way over Maguire's worth the season before too. But it became a more pressing need this summer once again because of Mourinho and his selections.
We had a terrible defensive record last season due to his tactics and undermining his CBs when he was saying they werent good enough in the summer, despite them having a good defensive record before that. We conceded a lot of goals early on in the season and then he did peculiar things like having Ander in a back 3 against Spurs, where we got walloped and added to the bad defensive record. Then there was McTominay as 3rd CB. Then there was Fellaini playing deeper than any DM to help Lindelof who was struggling in the air. All the while we were conceding huge amounts of goals. It didnt help that De Gea was a weak point in goal as well last season.
Without Mourinho sabotaging them we were always going to have a much better defensive record this season even if we had exactly the same players. So its no surprise Smalling is smashing it in Italy away from Fellaini, McTominay and Ander being a CB next to him, or Ashley Young at right back, or Lindelof in the air. None of which would he have had to deal with this season if he had stayed to play with Maguire.
Not really it's just easy to say with hindsight. If Pogba hadn't been injured all season the midfield wouldn't be talked about so much.
Look at it another way. Instead of Maguire buy a CM to start on the bench with Matic and Fred (as McTominay and Pogba are first choice). Smalling gets injured for most of the season like Pogba and we're relying on Lindelof and the injury prone Rojo, Jones and Tuanzebe. The story becomes 'not buying a CB has held us back'.
Letting Smalling go was a mistake but its a number 10 we need more than a CM in my opinion.
Maguire was also seen as important as a future 'leader' in this squad. Something it lacks. He'll likely be captain next season.
The pressing needs were/are RW, CM, AM AND Maquire (CB) If we only were to sign one of them it still would of left us well short in other areas.
100% of us were in agreement that we couldn't go through another season with the chuckle brothers, Lindelof, Rojo and Bailly as our main CBs. Maquire was a necessity and the fault lies directly with the club for not at least signing Maquire +1 or 2. If we were only to sign say Bruno we still would of been left defensively frail. The perfect scenario would of been signing Maquire, Ndidi and Bruno and I'm sure we'd now be firmly cemented in a top 4 position. Signing one other instead of Maquire wouldn't have improved us.
Not really. We needed new CB because our options were complete dogshit.
Regardless of defensive record (which mostly was because of negative setup), every CB we had was/is shit.
They are not shit though. Before we have had a great defensive record and often looked solid. Our attack has been a bigger problem for a long time. We have focused on the wrong areas and now have a tiny squad without enough qualify in midfield and up front.
The best CB in Serie A this season clearly isnt shit. Most likely you know nothing about defending
Harry Maguire can be effective, as a pressing and powerful CB when we have a mobile and strong CB next to him. The fear of leaving space behind when you have an averagely paced Lindelof who has as much strength as most academy graduates, most be chilling. Maguire has been good for us. He will be truly great when you put a highly mobile CB next to him. Tuanzebe ought to have a go now.
And there is also the small fact that defending isn't limited to the back four, they only are the last line of defense. Our defensive problems since SAF last years have been our midfield chronic inability to be an actual shield, often it doesn't even slowdown opponents, they simply can run down the middle and are on our back four at full speed.
I like Maguire and which that we signed him when he was at Hull but he wasn't the most efficient signing and CB were we needed to focus in order to improve our defense. None of that comes from hindsight because many posters said the same thing for many years. The only season where we looked solid in this decade was when Carrick was at his best and he was dominant defensively and in terms of ball recycling.
Man Utd 2:2 Aston Villa
80 fecking million. Good fecking job Woodward
Fecking ogre.
Going from bad to worse for him. Each match is worse than the previous one.
If he was at least good in the air but he isn't, he climbs on people backs. I swear the only thing he does better than Smalling is his on the ball ability. What a waste of money.
I like him but leave him back on corners...fecking fouls every time.
He is the oppositions best defender on corners as he fouls someone every single time.
More waste of money than Lukaku and Di maria as he almost has no resale value at all. Biggest robbery this decade in football.
I think it's funny how he got away with using his hands challenging for duels for Leicester but the refs has started calling every little touch after he came to United. At the moment he is useless in the air because it's a foul every time. And people thought Smalling were being handsy.. this guy wow.
So mediocre today
Maguire, Matic and Mata should have a race just for the banter.
Another 'good' player like Pogba but isn't one that elevates us when things arent going well it seems.
Leicester look much better without him to be honest.
Absolute wank at the minute.
Is anyone really shocked that Leicester’s second best centre half last season wasn’t actually worth a world record fee and wouldn’t miraculously transform into VVD.
Smalling is the standard for how you rate posters knowledge about defender. I usually don't bother much with those. A few still rate Smalling and Jones on the same level with those "chuckle brothers". Piss easy to spot.
80mil 
Always thought that people were getting far too excited by his bursts forward and ignoring all the rather obvious problems in his game. His pace, agility and reading of danger are all sub optimal, to put it mildly. Not really a leader and his passing ability was wildly overstated. He is a box defender, how does he eventually fit into a Utd team that is challenging, looking to play a higher line and dominate the game?
He was all over the place in that first half today, yes not helped by Williams struggling but still a very poor display.
He was all over the place in that first half today, yes not helped by Williams struggling but still a very poor display.
80mil
every time i think about it, it feels like a punch to the gut. ridiculous.
I'm very worried about Maguire. He is actually declining with every performance, which is terrifying for a CB you've spent almost your entire summer budget on.
I never thought it possible, I was certain he would at least bring stability, confidence and leadership to our backline. I wasn't expecting Virgil Van Dyk, Rio, Stam or Vidic. I also wasn't expecting Phil Jagielka. At present, Maguire is looking like just a standard English CB. Very concerning.
I never thought it possible, I was certain he would at least bring stability, confidence and leadership to our backline. I wasn't expecting Virgil Van Dyk, Rio, Stam or Vidic. I also wasn't expecting Phil Jagielka. At present, Maguire is looking like just a standard English CB. Very concerning.
A lumbering sack of shit. For £80m you expect someone who is world class and this guy is certainly not that. A lot of people (including Ole it seems) were enamoured with the idea of him being our next leader at the back, but really he's not even been missed at his former club and is living off his showing at the WC.
We would be no worse off with Smalling.
We would be no worse off with Smalling.
Has the opinion here already changed from “all Ole’s signings are great we should give him more money” to “a total waste of a player” or has this just happened on the AWB thread?
So was it Woodward who identified this guy as his CB target and decides to spend most of his budget on? Woodward was actually the one who didn't think he was worth that kind of money the year before when he had a better season. We can only blame him for not signing Maguire and sabotaging our season under Mourinho.
This unbelievably stupid signing is on Ole not Woodward.
He can hopefully do better under a better manager. It was too much money for him particular when we needed the money to buy midfielders and strikers.
I thought he was supposed to be good under preasure, a ball playing CB comfortable on the ball that would help stop “The endless penalties” Smalling was supposedly going to give away grabbing shirts and hauling people back.
If he was worth 80 mil Smalling must be a similar price. I really do hope he somehow pulls himself out of this slump because right now I would rather have Blind and Smalling back as our CB’s.
If he was worth 80 mil Smalling must be a similar price. I really do hope he somehow pulls himself out of this slump because right now I would rather have Blind and Smalling back as our CB’s.
Merson the Oracle.
Still think he'll come good eventually although Lindelof is performing better at the moment.
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