This '3rd best defence in the league last year' staple is not a good hill to die on. Maguire's performance thread, last season, spoke of exactly the same things as this one does, just in an attenuated fashion in relative terms beings as he's far worse now than the poor he was then.
But '3rd best defence in the league' is just as meaningless as that time we came 2nd in the league; the reality is, looking at us with a critical eye, post-lockdown return, we fell off a cliff. Maguire has actually declined since he got here, for whatever reason. Incrementally, he has worsened by the month, and that's a concern in itself because his best was servicable at the lowest rung for the elite level of defender, and it was supposed to be built upon, so to see him go in the other direction, questions of what we're doing behind the scenes with these players have to be asked.
As harsh as I am on Maguire, it's completely fair and valid to say that defensively, our midfield is a mess and offers very little protection for the defence behind them, particularly when we're caught high, as we often are. However, as captain of the team and supposed leader, Maguire has the responsibility of organising those around him, inclusive of midfield and the keeper. There is no communication between our CB's let alone spread out to the nether realms of keeper and midfield. It's a big problem, and very easy to see how teams with smart attackers can play between those already confused lines and drag and discombobulate our players even further - we're custom-made for the exploit.
The biggest concern of all with Maguire, irrespective of individual blunders, is that he himself doesn't know what he wants to be as a defender and with no defined role, he's selling himself short and making things even harder than they should be.
If he's an all-out aggressive stopper, be that and take out everything in your path without getting rolled in such elementary ways; the best stoppers get high and tight to their men immediately, and then they wrap them up via touch-contact so that they can't get spun - they don't half amble forward, become unsure and then expose themselves due to their own lack of acceleration or ability on the half turn.
If he wants to be an all-rounder, delegate and stop over-complicating matters by doing too much and be more aware of your spatials so you can actually react in the correct manner instead of flapping.
We can play a high line, but Maguire should be the aggressor with someone sweeping up behind him, which would reduce his need to scramble with the speed of an oil tanker if/when spun. Our communication at the back is absolutely dire, however, and our second man tends to be reactionary and do their own thing on a whim over following any kind system or protocol that they [and the team] can fall back on.
I think all of our CB's fail to measure their own limitations, which is something that any defender worth his salt should do. If you're slow - but a top class defender - you compensate for it and ensure you're never caught lacking through your own terrible positioning or inability to read an unfolding play; if a top defender isn't good in the air, he sure as hell knows how to make life difficult for those challenging aerially, by at least putting his body in the optimal position to disrupt his man.
The list goes on and on - the last defender we had with any of these base principles of understanding was Blind, who, despite being physically unimpressive for a CB, made as big a problem for those he was playing against as was possible. If he outright got muscled off a ball or physically dwarfed, it's fair enough, but at least you could rely on him to be doing everything in the CB playbook to be the best obstacle he could be.
Maguire's about a 6/10 defender playing at about a 2/10 level this season thus far from around a 4/10 post-lockdown. He doesn't have the margins for error that superb athletic defenders or those intuitive marshalls do, so he's nearly always under the kind of pressure I don't think is appreciated.
I've said last season, and will maintain, that the CL is going to be a nightmare for him because he's up against superior minds (never mind ability) who will be able to exploit his own speed of thought to their advantage and that's where all the flapping and 'uncharacteristic' malady takes root.
If we want to get the best out of the backline, the midfield in front of them needs to be shored up and the flanks are going to have to work harder at forcing the opposition infield, which should buy us more time to regain our shape and prevent Maguire's 'heroism' from rearing its head so rapidly.
Fred and McTominay in tandem did a lot more for us on the back end during the first part of the year than given credit for; Maguire was not as exposed then as he became and we need to find a way to play that doesn't ask too much of our CB's who really aren't up to the task of being isolated and worked on.
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