[A-man]

It’s fascinating to see how the longer Smalling is away, the better people think he is. He’s had a good session in Italy but it’s not like he’s world class and never conceded any goals. As a comparison, so far 2020:
Smalling conceded 8 goals/5 matches, 1 clean sheet
Maguire & Lindelof as pair conceded 4 goals/ 5 matches, 3 clean sheets

 

[RedRonaldo]

It's the same scenario with Pogba unfortunately. Spent 89m on him then discover we need to play him in specific positions and buy several special players upfront and 2 defensive minded midfielders all to get the best out of him. Same with Maguire now. Spent 80m on him then discovered we had to buy one more defender with specific characters to get him to play well. Crazy.

At least Pobga is still by far our most creative/productive player, and even got into the league team of the year last season, and we are still badly missing Pogba creativity in midfield when he is not playing. Maguire is far worst, he is becoming liability at the back.

 

[Old Ma Crow]

Decent enough English central defender but the whole of football must be laughing their arses off at what the club paid. The glazers probably have a dartboard with a Maguire picture on it in the boardroom. It wouldn’t surprise me if the rumoured vetoing of the Fernandez deal was true.

 

[He'sRaldo]

He's a Man Utd player now, nothing to be gained by piling on him when he's in poor form.

I didn't think the fee was worth it but IMO best to get behind him, our club can be a crushing environment nowadays.

 

[Isotope]

It’s fascinating to see how the longer Smalling is away, the better people think he is. He’s had a good session in Italy but it’s not like he’s world class and never conceded any goals. As a comparison, so far 2020:
Smalling conceded 8 goals/5 matches, 1 clean sheet
Maguire & Lindelof as pair conceded 4 goals/ 5 matches, 3 clean sheets

Barca with Pique and Mascherano was always conceded less than us with Rio and Vidic.

 

[Haddock]

He's a Man Utd player now, nothing to be gained by piling on him when he's in poor form.

I didn't think the fee was worth it but IMO best to get behind him, our club can be a crushing environment nowadays.

I agree completely. He's not great but he's capable enough and playing through injury. Our fans pile on too much. These players have enough pressure on them already. Lukaku wasn't totally wrong when he said what he said.

 

[captain666]

Like most of our signings he has managed to turn to shite,our defending is now worse than last season.What exactly are we coaching these players?

 

[WR10]

He’s played a ridiculous amount of minutes. Has no one on the medical team rang a bell yet?

 

[zenith]

He's a Man Utd player now, nothing to be gained by piling on him when he's in poor form.

I didn't think the fee was worth it but IMO best to get behind him, our club can be a crushing environment nowadays.

Exactly, the whole team is under performing and the chickens are coming home to roost.

What we paid is not relevant now. I'm mostly worried that he's being pushed to play through injury and fatigue and it is now showing in performance and he's the next in line to be injured for the long run.

I don't believe it is right to judge him on a game by game basis and like every signing the best time to judge his performance will be next season.

 

[devilish]

I've tried to warn you guys that he's not that good. He's slow, he's not particularly bright football wise and he's not a leader. The stats didn't help either. Apart from last season both Leicester and Hull leaked more goals then the Titanic leaked water. Buy hey, he's English international and all that. Let's spend 80m on the guy. I think Wes and Johnsen in their prime were better then this guy.

 

[He'sRaldo]

I see they've already started putting pictures of him looking frustrated, hands on hips, on the front of articles about our poor performances. Same as they used to do with Pogba.

I reckon it's not long before he becomes a scapegoat due to his price tag, unless he massively improves, or we massively improve.

 

[Dorris]

I've tried to warn you guys that he's not that good. He's slow, he's not particularly bright football wise and he's not a leader. The stats didn't help either. Apart from last season both Leicester and Hull leaked more goals then the Titanic leaked water. Buy hey, he's English international and all that. Let's spend 80m on the guy. I think Wes and Johnsen in their prime were better then this guy.

Nonsense. He’s not an 80m defender, but he’s clearly our best and one of the best in the premier league. You seem to claim there’s bias and overrating of English players yet miss the irony that you lean towards the other extreme and use it as a stick to beat him with. To say he’s Johnson/brown levels is laughable. Stinks of anti English sentiment

 

[devilish]

Nonsense. He’s not an 80m defender, but he’s clearly our best and one of the best in the premier league. You seem to claim there’s bias and overrating of English players yet miss the irony that you lean towards the other extreme and use it as a stick to beat him with. To say he’s Johnson/brown levels is laughable. Stinks of anti English sentiment

He falls in the Johnson and Brown category of being decent but not WC. There's no way he's an 80m rated CB. Also note that both Johnsen and Wes were tremendous players in the prime. The former was, in my opinion, the best CB we had outside Sir Alex's top 4 (Rio, Stam, Vidic and Pally). Brown's career was hurt by injuries but he was a top defender as well.

PS you do notice that Wes is English isn't it?

 

[Dorris]

He falls in the Johnson and Brown category of being decent but not WC. There's no way he's an 80m rated CB. Also note that both Johnsen and Wes were tremendous players in the prime. The former was, in my opinion, the best CB we had outside Sir Alex's top 4 (Rio, Stam, Vidic and Pally). Brown's career was hurt by injuries but he was a top defender as well.

PS you do notice that Wes is English isn't it?

For me he’s better than decent, he’s very good but not world class. I think classing Wes brown as tremendous is very kind to say the least. Yes injuries affected him but surely we’ve got to look at the player he was and not what he could’ve been? He had a very good 07/08 at right back, but fabien Delph had a very good 17/18 at left back for city, we’ve seen time and time again a top team can elevate a player.

With regards to the ps, it was irrelevant at my time of posting as it seemed you were using him as a comparison. If you think Wes brown and Johnson were tremendous defenders, why are you using them as a yardstick to prove how average Maguire is?

 

[Captain Paris]

I agree completely. He's not great but he's capable enough and playing through injury. Our fans pile on too much. These players have enough pressure on them already. Lukaku wasn't totally wrong when he said what he said.

I'm sorry but I totally disagree with this POV.

Why should we lower our standards ? Why should we accept mediocrity because it might hurt the feelings of the players ? I think this is why we fallen so much. No one wants to be held accountable in this club. Everybody should be on Maguire's back because he has not been good enough. I don't care about his price. I care about the fact that he's been brought to improve the defence and this has not been the case. He's been made captain after 6 months ! We are worse than ever, so why should we get behind him ?

We need to demand better performances from our players. If there are no good enough mentally, they should be out.

 

[Isotope]

He's more on the Gary Cahill level. I was surprised when Chelsea got him as I thought they could do much better. He should/would never be the main guy but he's a decent foil for Terry, and good enough to win trophies.

 

[dutchred]

What are coming to.
First Ashley Young as captain. Now Maquire. Neither good enough to be a United player far less a captain

 

[devilish]

For me he’s better than decent, he’s very good but not world class. I think classing Wes brown as tremendous is very kind to say the least. Yes injuries affected him but surely we’ve got to look at the player he was and not what he could’ve been? He had a very good 07/08 at right back, but fabien Delph had a very good 17/18 at left back for city, we’ve seen time and time again a top team can elevate a player.

With regards to the ps, it was irrelevant at my time of posting as it seemed you were using him as a comparison. If you think Wes brown and Johnson were tremendous defenders, why are you using them as a yardstick to prove how average Maguire is?

Johnsen was a top top defender. Stam stole the shine because he was a freak of nature but Johnsen was top quality as well. It's a shame that injury crippled his career with us. Wes was top quality as well. He was pacey, he had technique, he had heart, he wasn't that great in aerial dominance which, I think, was further highlighted by Silvestre's lack of positioning and total uselessness in air dominance. I remember his debut against Leeds at age 17. He humiliated Jimmy Floyd so much that the Dutch striker had no choice but to kick the hell out of him and see red. Wes when in form was at the cusp of WC. Its a shame he was rarely at top condition and when he was, he was played either alongside a dinosaur (Blanc) or a fullback whom, for some strange reason, everyone thought that he was a CB as well.

However as you said, you have to see them throughout their entire career and in that case they have to be labelled as excellent defender but not WC players. Maguire is similar to that if not worse. His strengths are that he's tough as nails. You hit the guy and you'll think you hit a train. Apart from that, everything about him stinks of meah. He's decent in air but he's not as good as Smalling is let alone a Bruce. His distribution of the ball is decent but he's not a Pique let alone a Rio, he's painfully slow, I mean, I can't believe that in modern football a CB whose so slow can survive at top clubs level. We're talking of old Baresi/Bruce speed here. His position is meah, his leadership is meah and his football brain is meah. Which makes me wonder, is he really an 80m CB? I dare to say that if lets say he was a Portuguese/Brazilian/Italian CB playing in the Portuguese/Brazilian/Italian league then he would be 35m-40m tops. The stats doesn't help either. Apart from last season were Leicester had the 7th best defence in the EPL, Maguire was part of two of the worst defenses in the EPL. Leicester were 16th place in terms of goals conceded in 2017-18 and Hull had the worst defence in the EPL the year before. But that's not all. This year, Leicester has conceded less goals then we did and that despite we took their 'best CB'. They are also in 3rd place while we're 5th, 14 points away from them. There's something really wrong when a rival team ends up way better then you despite you having bought their best CB on a record signing fee.

And for the record, I think Rio was the best CB of his generation + England's defence made up of Gaz-Rio-Terry-Cole was the best defence of its generation as well.

 

[noodlehair]

I agree completely. He's not great but he's capable enough and playing through injury. Our fans pile on too much. These players have enough pressure on them already. Lukaku wasn't totally wrong when he said what he said.

I agree in the sense that I think there is too much pressure on him and it isn't helpful when he is getting criticised every week...but I think what should be happening is he's left out of the team for a few games to ease that pressure but also because he simply isn't playing well enough.

Instead he has been made the club captain and we've sent the player who could play instead of him off to Italy. When you reward players for not playing well enough, how are they supposed to realise they aren't playing well enough? Whether he's capable of doing better is besides the point really. Either he is and needs to be pushed into stepping up and showing it, or he isn't and that needs to be accepted.

I think it was a bit different with Lukaku. Even when he played well as he did for much of his first season, he'd get criticised. Maguire has had the odd good game but has been largely praised whenever he's played well, and excuses have been made for him a lot when he's played badly...not unfairly as a new player should get some slack, but slack is not infinite and never ending.

 

[Cassidy]

Nonsense. He’s not an 80m defender, but he’s clearly our best and one of the best in the premier league. You seem to claim there’s bias and overrating of English players yet miss the irony that you lean towards the other extreme and use it as a stick to beat him with. To say he’s Johnson/brown levels is laughable. Stinks of anti English sentiment

I have seen zero evidence of this.

Also Wes Brown was a starting 11 player in a UCL winning side, injuries derailed him. Brown is English by the way

 

[Reditus]

I reckon Maguire would not look out of place in a top side. His issue is failing to be good enough to elevate a struggling side like utd at the moment.

 

[lsd]

He's a Man Utd player now, nothing to be gained by piling on him when he's in poor form.

I didn't think the fee was worth it but IMO best to get behind him, our club can be a crushing environment nowadays.

The problem is he isn't in bad form . He is what he is and no more . A slow defender with poor heading ability and a tendency to drop too deep playing attackers onside .

 

[superdry]

Surrounded by injuries, bad management and underperforming players ...... he probably needs some ptsd therapy!

 

[Bobski]

Had a ball today, acres of space, no-one pressing hard, and the confidence of an early goal. Passed the ball beautifully on a poor pitch.

Needs to bring that level against better teams.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Getting alot of hate from scousers for his celebration was a great goal today

 

[RedIan]

Great game for Harry. Solid defence and looked slick in his passing and what a goal. Hopefully shut a few detractors up. Hes a good player Get behind him.

 

[Stadjer]

I reckon Maguire would not look out of place in a top side. His issue is failing to be good enough to elevate a struggling side like utd at the moment.

He is expected to be our van Dijk but instead he needs to have van Dijk next to him.

 

[Jonno]

Getting alot of hate from scousers for his celebration was a great goal today

What they saying?

 

[mu4c_20le]

What they saying?

Just mocking him for daring to celebrate against a league one side

 

[Jonno]

Just mocking him for daring to celebrate against a league one side

Ha, two words for them, West Brom

 

[Stadjer]

Just mocking him for daring to celebrate against a league one side

He hardly celebrated his goal? He looked like how you would react after scoring a good training or pre season goal?

Lingard did his 'iconic Jlingz' celebration which i thought was a lot weirder than Maguire his celebration.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

I liked him attacking a lot with his drive forwards. Hopefully Ole let him do that against weaker teams more.
Good goal from him. Not how I imagined his first goal for us.

 

[Relevated]

Just mocking him for daring to celebrate against a league one side

He celebrated? The fact there was so much of a lack of celebration made me doubt if he'd even scored.

But one thing I liked was that he was talking to the players after every goal scored. Glad we signed him.

 

[finneh]

Coincidentally on Friday I was saying that I think Maguire would be much better in a 3 at the back, to cover for his weaknesses and allow him more freedom to express his positives.

He's best when breaking into the middle and final third as most teams (particularly rigid defensive teams) struggle to deal with a defender breaking forward.

I also think our squad composition is better suited to this. We have depth at CB but not in CM, the system would suit either Tuanzebe or Wan Bissaka at RB and Williams/Shaw/James/Dalot could rotate the wing back position (in trickier games you'd could have more defensive wingbacks in Shaw and Bissaka with three pure CB's).

 

[A-man]

Coincidentally on Friday I was saying that I think Maguire would be much better in a 3 at the back, to cover for his weaknesses and allow him more freedom to express his positives.

He's best when breaking into the middle and final third as most teams (particularly rigid defensive teams) struggle to deal with a defender breaking forward.

I also think our squad composition is better suited to this. We have depth at CB but not in CM, the system would suit either Tuanzebe or Wan Bissaka at RB and Williams/Shaw/James/Dalot could rotate the wing back position (in trickier games you'd could have more defensive wingbacks in Shaw and Bissaka with three pure CB's).

There are some benefits with 3 at the back for this team, but I feel there is a risk that Maguire ends up alone far out to the left. I like him a lot, but he is very weak man to man when he is off centre. And it looks like some team have put that in to the strategy, to isolate Maguire close to the line.

That said, maybe the benefits make it worth it.

 

[FootyGirl88]

 

[MikeKing]

Better than Van Djik. I don't see Van Djik scoring screamers like that. For 100m that is what you expect every game.

 

[thegregster]

He is 40-45mil+add-ons player.

It just shows how distorted the transfer market is these days.

 

[bsCallout]

Coincidentally on Friday I was saying that I think Maguire would be much better in a 3 at the back, to cover for his weaknesses and allow him more freedom to express his positives.

He's best when breaking into the middle and final third as most teams (particularly rigid defensive teams) struggle to deal with a defender breaking forward.

I also think our squad composition is better suited to this. We have depth at CB but not in CM, the system would suit either Tuanzebe or Wan Bissaka at RB and Williams/Shaw/James/Dalot could rotate the wing back position (in trickier games you'd could have more defensive wingbacks in Shaw and Bissaka with three pure CB's).

I don't agree that we need a back three to accomodate him, or to allow him to play his best. I think it just requires us to be more aggressive and play further up the pitch. A proper CDM alongside Fred or Mctominay and an attacking player would allow cover when a CB goes forward.

We need a CAM and a CDM to push us further up the pitch. A pacey CDM would be ideal in this team. If Matic werent so slow he'd be perfect. That Somoure or however it is spelt seems perfect.

 

[finneh]

I don't agree that we need a back three to accomodate him, or to allow him to play his best. I think it just requires us to be more aggressive and play further up the pitch. A proper CDM alongside Fred or Mctominay and an attacking player would allow cover when a CB goes forward.

We need a CAM and a CDM to push us further up the pitch. A pacey CDM would be ideal in this team. If Matic werent so slow he'd be perfect. That Somoure or however it is spelt seems perfect.

I think playing further up the pitch will exacerbate his weaknesses as he's slow and struggles positionally. He'd be caught out high up regularly.

Yes a great defensive midfielder could tuck in, but personally if we had a great DM then I'd want Maguire to just give them the ball to bring it out; which would defeat the purpose of spending £80m on Maguire