Good game from him today. Kept us tight at the back and passed it well I thought. Fortunate to get away with the grapple in the box, but it’s not like we don’t see defenders doing it regularly.
5
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 52
- Clean sheets
- 21
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 15
- Status
Was quality today, looking much more assured.
Not really though. I'm just saying that if our centre halves were really solid we wouldn't need to change the composition of the team to specifically cover for them.
If I criticize him after Spurs it's kneejerk and a one-off, if I point this out after a 0-0 draw it's not needed. When are you allowed to post an opinion on a player then?
True in one way I suppose.
But I think it's more when Pogba is in there, especially combined with Matic we have way too little in the way of legs and cover in there.
Most centre back combos would struggle with that as a combo.
We're currently having to double back and go secure, a bit like when we lost to City 6-1, the wild days of the Cleverley-Anderson combo were over forever.
I agree with that. Pogba and Matic as a double pivot lack either the legs or the interest to shield the defenders. Fred alone? Maybe, we don't know because once Ole copped on to the fact he did a double switch and left Pogba out completely which I can respect in terms of it being a brave move, but why did we never give Fred or McTominay a run alongside Pogba? Maybe that would've been enough and wouldn't have forced us to neuter the attack as much, and have Pogba and Bruno switch between attacking and defending in a 4-3-3 rather than the 4-2-3-1 that we keep shoehorning players into to be able to play (James and Mata today).
im embarassing?
sure
i've seen the same comments last year when he was doing similar small mistakes and everybody were just shaking them off like nothing
That confirmed my perception of him at this point. Good defender, nice ability to ping balls forward, but has a tendency to do idiotic things. Can't quite trust him 100%. A kind of mutated, improved Phil Jones.
He's embarrassing for pointing out a poor ball-watching mistake the £80m defender made?
Almost as large as the gaps in our defence
He started every league game for us last season, playing every minute, he's certainly no Phil Jones!!
It's just a difficult set of players to shape I think.
It's the classic scenario where the best team doesn't necessarily have all the best players in it - something that screwed England up in the supposed golden era.
Pogba and Bruno are almost like our Gerrard Lampard equivalents, but at least we're not trying to play them as a midfield 2!
Pep managed to get a system working where they had De Bruyne and Silva as two attacking mids, with a defensive guy behind.
But neither Matic, Fred or McTom are that man. The way we try and get round it is by having two of them in there.
Maybe a 5-3-2 would give more security and allow you to put a Pogba - Fred/McTom/Matic combo in with less risk, but then Shaw and Wan Bissaka aren't good offensively. Telles looks to have good potential at left wing back at least.
Glad I'm not manager.
im embarassing?
sure
i've seen the same comments last year when he was doing similar small mistakes and everybody were just shaking them off like nothing
That would be because they were nothing.
When you’re constantly moaning about tiny “errors” by a player you don’t personally rate and you’re struggling to get anyone else on board with your crusade, it’s a good time to reflect on your own opinions.
Games like these make me think we should be going 3 at the back in every game.
He would be allowed to step into midfield and Fred-McTominay could use some of his composure and passing.
Reminds me of Carrick the way he moves with the ball, just needs to take decisions faster.
He would be allowed to step into midfield and Fred-McTominay could use some of his composure and passing.
Reminds me of Carrick the way he moves with the ball, just needs to take decisions faster.
Our best player today. Cool, calm and collective!
I largely agree, but I think that a big reason why we can't fit our best players in the same team is because Ole is so stubborn with the 4-2-3-1, which hinders us a lot.
I was very critical of Ole before the Newcastle game because he kept insisting on putting Pogba in that CDM role, so dropping him was a positive thing for me since it meant that he looked at the team rather than "I like 4-2-3-1 and I'm going to put my best 11 players on paper in it no matter what", and I posted that many times over. That is why I was quiet after Newcastle since he dropped Pogba, and really enjoyed the PSG win, because he switched it up tactically to great effect.
But today, again, we're back with a 4-2-3-1 with James and Mata shoehorned in as wide players despite one being a counter-attacking player and one a possession based player. What was the plan, to unlock a tight defence with Mata or counter with James?
It's good that he's spotted that the defence (50% of which is made up of players he signed for £130m) is leaky as feck, but his annoying insistence on the 4-2-3-1 means that the only way to protect it is to change the players occupying the '2', which is what he has done. I think that we'd be doing much better if we'd played a 4-2-2-2 or a diamond. We have six midfielders who are all pretty good (McTominay, Fred, Matic, Pogba, Bruno, vdB), and playing with two strikers would mean that we'd have rotation options there too with Cavani/Greenwood being back-ups to Martial/Rashford (I'd have Rashford on the bench personally but I don't see Ole doing that). Instead, we're removing attacking players from the formation and then have to put James in the starting XI for no reason other than him being a winger.
Having four central midfielders on the pitch who'd interchange, roam and share the responsibility in attack and defence would give us much more attacking impetus than simply removing an attacking player to be able to keep playing in the manager's preferred formation.
So anyway, Harry Maguire, eh?
Gaps of a team that conceded zero goals? Good oneHe's embarrassing for pointing out a poor ball-watching mistake the £80m defender made?
Almost as large as the gaps in our defence
He started every league game for us last season, playing every minute, he's certainly no Phil Jones!!
Yupim embarassing?
sure
i've seen the same comments last year when he was doing similar small mistakes and everybody were just shaking them off like nothing
Lucky not to concede a penalty, weird cover for lindelof.
People praise him for having a good game > Redcafe in a nutshell
Some people have no capacity to analyse anything beyond what the scoreboard says. I don't know how many times I pointed out that goals last season came from 'uncharacteristic' defensive mistakes from all our defenders. The normal response was "look how few goals we conceded!!!", and is still used as if few goals conceded = no mistakes or errors were made. Or how it doesn't matter how few points we amass during a season in terms of how we've performed, since the only important thing is that 16 teams got less. If we got 2nd with 42 points those people would say that we're progressing as a team.
Somehow you have confused Maguire with Lindelöf there mate.
He tried to choke someone
They do, but they also have two fullbacks who have double figures in assists two seasons running. Their midfield workhorses are more there to cover the gaps the attacking fullbacks leave — we sort of have the opposite in our fullbacks.
The fact you can’t decide if it was a penalty or not, sort of shows he was stupid for doing it and some referees would give it.
I’m not quite sure why it was giving another look at the pitch side. Then again, I’m still not sure how Pickford stay on the pitch last week (not that I’m losing any sleep over that).
I’m not quite sure why it was giving another look at the pitch side. Then again, I’m still not sure how Pickford stay on the pitch last week (not that I’m losing any sleep over that).
Was good today, especially in the first half. Funny how some people think he is covering for an out of position Lindelof. It's definitely the other way around most of the time.
Absolutely a penalty against him and I don't know why anyone would argue otherwise.
No one in the top 6 would take him, he would start for Barcelona, Madrid or any other top team. He's not good.
Got lucky with the pen but apart from that played well.
I don't remember Chelsea creating anything, only save De Gea made was when Werner shot from left side which was a nothing shot.
Defensively we were good, they cleared everything and also won possession higher up the pitch few times.
Defensively we were good, they cleared everything and also won possession higher up the pitch few times.
Isn't that exactly what a defender is supposed to do? Did you seriously just say "how could he have his best game when Chelsea hardly threatened?"....ummmm....exactly!?!?
When are our supporters going to forgive Maguire for his transfer fee? You guys really need to figure out that he did not set his price. Leicester did. And once you realize that, you may also open your eyes to realize that Maguire isn't just our best defender, but he is also one of the best defenders in Europe. And he's one of ours so try supporting him...
Never. You have United fans in this thread disappointed that he didn’t concede a penalty in order for them to come here and push their agenda. Pathetic thing to see really.
This is not a push mate. You will always expect this type of hold, hustle & touch in the aerial duel especially in the box, there is nothing strong in that challenge, too soft for penalty. Even McTomminay got the same treatment in first half, fell and no penalty.
Big fan of mental gymnastics some posters in here are resorting to in order to convince others that it was not a pen.
Maguire had his both arms wrapped around Azpi who has taken a better position in front of him. It was a clear obstruction from Maguire's part and we're lucky VAR got that one wrong.
Maguire had his both arms wrapped around Azpi who has taken a better position in front of him. It was a clear obstruction from Maguire's part and we're lucky VAR got that one wrong.
Thought he was very good other than that stupid chokehold. Him and Lindelof both showed good ball playing ability today. His one pass to Rashford was really good, hope to see more of this. About time we start doing this with the pace we have in attack.
Although to be fair, having Fred and McTominay in midfield helped our defence a lot.
Although to be fair, having Fred and McTominay in midfield helped our defence a lot.
Get rid of Smalling, he'll give too many penalties with his hand grabbing obsession. Maguire did it and wait.. ok point is, hand grabbing,, shirt pullings or extreme example (Mag's choke hold) are still too common, usually it doesn't get punished. VAR system still have so many grey areas and therefore still easier to be exploited.
That said, very good performance, showed no indication he recently was injured.
Good. Thankfully and admirably he always get fit and back from injury a.s.a.p. Cheers and even when he's injured on the field, he tend to play it out as best as he can until the end. If only our injured CB squad can have the same level of dedication and carefulness.
Having good support from midfield helps defense tremendously. No wonder we had one of the best defense stats last season.
If you recall, our best defense runs last season is when Fred-McT play isn't it, and then Fred-Matic followed by McT once he's back. Our defense gets worse once Pogba replaced either on of 'em but we do improved in attacking slightly, but that probably has more to do with Martial and Greenwood upping their game post-lockdown. Even before that, our common suspects in defense always make mistakes though, but usually covered by Fred, McT and Matic.
That said, very good performance, showed no indication he recently was injured.
Good. Thankfully and admirably he always get fit and back from injury a.s.a.p. Cheers and even when he's injured on the field, he tend to play it out as best as he can until the end. If only our injured CB squad can have the same level of dedication and carefulness.Having good support from midfield helps defense tremendously. No wonder we had one of the best defense stats last season.
If you recall, our best defense runs last season is when Fred-McT play isn't it, and then Fred-Matic followed by McT once he's back. Our defense gets worse once Pogba replaced either on of 'em but we do improved in attacking slightly, but that probably has more to do with Martial and Greenwood upping their game post-lockdown. Even before that, our common suspects in defense always make mistakes though, but usually covered by Fred, McT and Matic.
Yeah, there’s was a foul similar on us but Sky didn’t seem to give us a replay of every angle in sooper-dooper slo-mo.
Another incident why this type of thing has happened before and never given a penalty.
If that had happened on the other end, with a Chelsea centre back grabbing one of ours, a lot of you would be saying it's a clear penalty.
I think it should have been a penalty. Maguire got lucky. Spared from the inevitable criticism that would've came.
I think it should have been a penalty. Maguire got lucky. Spared from the inevitable criticism that would've came.
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