[AFC NimbleThumb]

United face kick & rush attacks outside of the Top6 & he lacks ability/pace.

My issue with signing him is that given the composition of the league & the way we are attacked his major weakness will always be targeted.

Wesley turned him inside out around the 7 min mark yesterday [he gave away a free kock] & it happens game in, game out - sometimes it’ll cost a goal, others it won’t but if you’re a team looking to snatch a win you get your athletic striker to stick to his side.

 

[Cassidy]

I don't think he's average for England or when he was at Leicester. He's not an £80m player but until we get a manager that can actually set a team up right I'm not going to judge him too harshly.

Have you watched England since they moved to a back 4. He has not been very good at all

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

@el3mel said it(I think) and he was 1000% right on him.

You don't pay a WORLD RECORD FEE for a CB for purely an 'upgrade' on your center back options.

You pay that because you think that CB is transcendent and will change your team's fortunes going forward.

He needs to step it up and ASAP.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He's usually pretty solid, just not an £80 million CB. Better than average

Yeah I didn't see an 80 million defender when we were linked with him under Mourinho and I still don't see it. He's good but there are many good CBs out there. Maybe we'll see more under a better manager

 

[iKnowNothing]

Leicester have conceded 9 goals to our 17 so far. Goes to show that a proper system is more important than the individual/personnel.

Edit:
His price tag means that the media will soon start talking about him as the biggest flop this season with Pepe from Arsenal a close second.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Have you watched England since they moved to a back 4. He has not been very good at all

Agreed - I have never been impressed with him in an England shirt - why i was very weary of signing him in the first place.

He has been better then that for us though at least - apart from recently when he's been annoyingly crap.

 

[Kerry Donaghy]

we paid a top fee for an average/good defender, theres a reason why no top club outside the premier league was interested in him. I still dont get why is it a good thing to clearly overpay for a player for the simple fact that he is british?

I mean spanish teams dont overpay for spanish players, nor german teams gor german players, it may be due to marketing or something I guess.

Ive been saying this since the moment we made a statement about buying British last summer, I feared this would happen.

It made sense when I first started watching football about 30 years ago to pay a bit extra for British players because you could only play 4 (may have been 3 or even 5) foreign players in European games.
I vaguely remember we had to drop Peter Schmeichel for Gary Walsh against Barcelona because we had to choose between him, Roy Keane, Dennis Irwin and Andre Kanchelskis as our foreign players.

As I said though, since that rule was scrapped about 25 years ago, a players nationality realistically should have no influence at all on their transfer value, so this insistence on paying a premium for English or British players is farcical.

To be fair, most other clubs hade have realised this, it's just that nobody on our clueless recruitment team got the memo.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

If we're doing hindsight, then it was Soyuncu but I dont think anyone saw him performing like he has this season... Except maybe Leicester

Not so much hindsight regarding Maguire as a transfer and I stated that we would be better served buying Evans during the summer.
Maguires lack of mobility made him imo a big problem regardless of his other abilities. There is slow and then there is Maguire.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Think we always knew he would struggle with pace. If we want to play with a high line he's going to get caught out eventually, that's just the way it is.

Having a rapid centre back next to him like Tuanzebe, Bailly or (muppet mode) Koulibaly would be brilliant.

Anyway, he's not been as bad as people are making out, but expecting him to do everything by himself was unrealistic.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Anyway, he's not been as bad as people are making out...

Clearly not.

It's a predictable reaction from a number of posters on here who have been waiting for a chance to get the knives out. Nothing more, nothing less. He's a good player with certain weaknesses - who, crucially, cost a fortune.

 

[ash_86]

Least of our problems. He's been quite dominant in the air and hasn't made much mistakes (i count 1 against Chelsea league cup). Midfield is the one we should be worrying about. Fix that and defense with can uphold their end of the bargain.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

It's a predictable reaction from a number of posters on here who have been waiting for a chance to get the knives out. Nothing more, nothing less. He's a good player with certain weaknesses - who, crucially, cost a fortune.

Guilty.
Decent player with one weakness making him less productive in all other areas of his game.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Decent player with one weakness making him less productive in all other areas of his game.

Heh, then you're being surprisingly kind.

But, yeah - he's slow. I said so myself before he was announced. He clearly is slow where it matters - on the turn, over the first yards, etc.

I would not, however, say that this makes him less productive in all other areas of his game. A player's lack of sheer rapidity can be balanced out - both by himself and, not least, by the system in which he's employed. This has always been the case, and football has not evolved to the point where a good-to-great CB absolutely has to be rapid.

Our defence, on the whole, actually has improved in terms of clear-cut chances produced against us - compared to last season, and the season before that. To put this down to coincidence - nothing to do with Maguire providing something to make it more stable on the whole, or AWB (a fullback who can actually snuff out danger) - seems unreasonable.

Disregarding more intangible factors (the cohesiveness on the whole), Maguire has added aerial qualities (undoubtedly), physical qualities and - yes - passing qualities (he pushes up with the ball in order to release it adequately to a degree not matched by anyone we had before he arrived).

Oh, and - yeah - you can't judge what I labeled "overall cohesiveness" without factoring in what goes on in front of the defenders. For the last run of matches, we've essentially fielded a positively shite central midfield. Before that, the numbers were alright.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Heh, then you're being surprisingly kind.

But, yeah - he's slow. I said so myself before he was announced. He clearly is slow where it matters - on the turn, over the first yards, etc.

I would not, however, say that this makes him less productive in all other areas of his game. A player's lack of sheer rapidity can be balanced out - both by himself and, not least, by the system in which he's employed. This has always been the case, and football has not evolved to the point where a good-to-great CB absolutely has to be rapid.

Our defence, on the whole, actually has improved in terms of clear-cut chances produced against us - compared to last season, and the season before that. To put this down to coincidence - nothing to do with Maguire providing something to make it more stable on the whole, or AWB (a fullback who can actually snuff out danger) - seems unreasonable.

Disregarding more intangible factors (the cohesiveness on the whole), Maguire has added aerial qualities (undoubtedly), physical qualities and - yes - passing qualities (he pushes up with the ball in order to release it adequately to a degree not matched by anyone we had before he arrived).

Oh, and - yeah - you can't judge what I labeled "overall cohesiveness" without factoring in what goes on in front of the defenders. For the last run of matches, we've essentially fielded a positively shite central midfield. Before that, the numbers were alright.

One can have a weakness in one's game without it impacting other areas of the game. But when the magnitude of that weakness aka how extremely immobile Maguire is, it will impact other areas of the game. Look at our offensive set pieces, we have played floaterscorners a number of times this year just to give Maguire time to position himself. We as a team are extremely afraid of counters partly due to Maguire's lack of mobility. His inability to turn on the spot with the ball, or decide passing direction fast when trying to play out of defence is not good enough due to his lack of mobility.

Having players with weaknesses in their game is not something that can be avoided, but when this can impact how the rest of the team is set up or approach football, then something is obviously wrong. Cohesiveness/holistic view of a football squad is important when evaluating a players ability, but when a player is unable to hold his own individually first, then it is difficult to argue any cohesive positive outcome.

tl;dr If a players weakness in one area of the game is so big that it needs special accommodation from tactical setup to how the team play it is not a good start.

Personally i think Maguire's reading of the game, decisionmaking etc are all very good (despite these being intangiable abilities) and are a reason he has been able to perform.

 

[Ekeke]

Not so much hindsight regarding Maguire as a transfer and I stated that we would be better served buying Evans during the summer.
Maguires lack of mobility made him imo a big problem regardless of his other abilities. There is slow and then there is Maguire.

Evans is pretty slow himself

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Evans is pretty slow himself

Again, there is slow and then there is Maguire.

 

[MadDogg]

I don't dislike him but is he enough better than Smalling to justify an 80 million outlay when we so sorely needed better midfielders and attackers? Absolutely no chance. He's a minor upgrade at best, and you don't spend 80 million on a minor upgrade.

He shouldn't have been a Smalling replacement. He should've been a Smalling partner, and that then should have been a fairly good upgrade. Unless Tuanzebe is able to step up (so far this season he hasn't actually been very good when he's played), Maguire-Smalling is the best combo we have to cover everything we need and also cover each others weaknesses. It was obvious to anyone who had watched him a fair bit that Maguire-Lindelof likely wasn't going to work out as they are too similar and have most of the same weaknesses, and none of our other options are good enough or fit enough.

Rio and Vidic weren't some speed monsters but they both had some, enough to recover from mistakes or bad positioning.

Rio was one of the faster centrebacks around until his injuries slowed him down.

 

[ivaldo]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Google 'Manchester United,' select players and take a look at Maguire.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Google 'Manchester United,' select players and take a look at Maguire.

Class.

 

[VP89]

Evans is pretty slow himself

Evans is far quicker on the turn than Maguire is whenever I watch him. Maguire turns like an oil tanker.

 

[red woppit]

It helps Leicester that that have Ndidi, and a settled midfield. Maguire has been ok for me this season, made a few errors, but every player does that. Think his biggest mistake was missing the header against Newcastle. Needs a more powerful CB alongside him I believe, with a bit of pace. Would like to see Tuanzebe given a good run there.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Evans is far quicker on the turn than Maguire is whenever I watch him. Maguire turns like an oil tanker.

And this is why I don't think Maguire is the right person to build the team around (and why buying him will turn out to be a big mistake in the long run).
Having central defenders that are capable of holding their own 1v1 against fast and agile attackers would make it possible for the team to play a high line/press with the whole team and not be so constricted by having to compress to mitigate for immobile central defenders.

 

[ivaldo]

Having a system and an adequate midfield in place will sort a lot of it out. We still expose our defense far too often for my liking. We give teams too much space and time. You put practically any centre back into our team and they will struggle.

 

[A-man]

It helps Leicester that that have Ndidi, and a settled midfield. Maguire has been ok for me this season, made a few errors, but every player does that. Think his biggest mistake was missing the header against Newcastle. Needs a more powerful CB alongside him I believe, with a bit of pace. Would like to see Tuanzebe given a good run there.

Is Tuanzebe fast? I’ve seen him play a few times but never seen him use any extraordinary speed.

 

[Isotope]

Having a system and an adequate midfield in place will sort a lot of it out. We still expose our defense far too often for my liking. We give teams too much space and time. You put practically any centre back into our team and they will struggle.

Are you saying that spending 80m on a new CB doesn't make any difference?

 

[ivaldo]

Are you saying that spending 80m on a new CB doesn't make any difference?

No. Are you implying spending £80mil on a new CB will solve all our problems.

 

[Isotope]

No. Are you implying spending £80mil on a new CB will solve all our problems.

Solve all problems? I'm not sure how you come to that deduction from my question there. But I'm sure that having good centerbacks there would make our team much better defensively.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

No. Are you implying spending £80mil on a new CB will solve all our problems.

You are making yourself look like a fool with that post mate. Clearly you didn’t get the message that Ole has mentioned last season, we need more than one window and by means whoever we decide to sign last summer won’t solve all our problem.

 

[Irwin99]

Much better!

 

[ivaldo]

You are making yourself look like a fool with that post mate. Clearly you didn’t get the message that Ole has mentioned last season, we need more than one window and by means whoever we decide to sign last summer won’t solve all our problem.

That’s literally the point I’m making. Who’s the fool?

 

[ivaldo]

Solve all problems? I'm not sure how you come to that deduction from my question there. But I'm sure that having good centerbacks there would make our team much better defensively.

I’ve used the same logic you’ve used with me. It’s a bit silly really isn’t it?

 

[roonster09]

There was one moment when De Gea took goal kick and passed the ball to Maguire in the box, he carried the ball good 20-25 yards and then passed the ball to midfielder, that's his strength on the ball, shame he isn't doing it a lot. Very good dribbler.

I thought he had good game today.

 

[Yagami]

Love him

 

[WR10]

There was one moment when De Gea took GK and passed the ball to Maguire in the box, he carried the ball good 20-25 yards and then passed the ball to midfielder, that's his strength on the ball, shame he isn't doing it a lot. Very good dribbler.

I thought he had good game today.

Absolutely. He did it on 3 occasions in the game. He spread play to one of the wings setting up a solid attacking transition breaking a press.

 

[AltiUn]

Thought that was his best game in a United shirt tonight, he and Lindelof were imperious.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

That’s literally the point I’m making. Who’s the fool?

What point? A point with no sense of it isn’t a point. Why are you making a fool of yourself acting like you made some point.

We need both centre back & midfield equally. We tried to solve our midfield in the past 3 seasons & had Herrera in midfield last season and look at what happened? We were still outside top 5 and still shite. That’s the reality mate, it won’t sort a lot of it out.

 

[arthurka]

Doesn't inspire me with any confidence what so ever. His passing was off tonight. He left McT and Young for dead with his passing from defense on couple of occasions.

 

[PoTMS]

He's a good player but he's made no difference to our defending or attacking. For 80m you'd expect him to shore up the team like Van Dijk did. We still look suspect at the back and doesn't score enough for us as he should.

 

[ivaldo]

What point? A point with no sense of it isn’t a point. Why are you making a fool of yourself acting like you made some point.

We need both centre back & midfield equally. We tried to solve our midfield in the past 3 seasons & had Herrera in midfield last season and look at what happened? We were still outside top 5 and still shite. That’s the reality mate, it won’t sort a lot of it out.

Seriously, have a word with yourself. Take 30 seconds out of your day and actually read what’s been written. I’ve literally told you whatever ridiculous view you think I hold is not in fact true. And instead of actually accepting that, you’ve doubled down and called me a fool again. Talk about irony.

 

[Van Piorsing]

I believe in Slab Monster.