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2020-21 Performances


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5.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
52
Clean sheets
21
Goals
3
Assists
1
Yellow cards
15
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Needs to practice his attacking headers, he's missed quite a few now.
 
I barely post in this thread mate.

But in any case, if you know you're not one of the afforementioned then nothing to fear, and no need to pop out the green smilies.

The aforementioned don’t exist, hence the green smiley.
 
He went over to where the danger was, knowing the centre areas were covered. It’s standard procedure for a central defender and any suggestion otherwise is a classic case of judging a situation in hindsight.

Bailly wasn’t outnumbered, nor was it a difficult situation for him to handle. Fault is with Bailly because he made no attempt to track the very clear and obvious run which took place right in front of him.
I mean one of the best defenders in the world and one of the best to ever play for United in the breakdown was also questioning why Maguire is going there to an area which is covered by Shaw and Fred. Maybe Rio has an agenda as well who knows.

There is a mistake by Maguire there and there is no point in arguing otherwise, it’s clear as day but yeah the major fault is Bailly who should be moving across and closing the space.
 
Maguire doesn't make a mistake. He moves across to support Shaw, pick up the man he has to allow him to move out to the wide man, as the ball travels to Fulham's right centre half. Happens all the time with the odd way we consistently position our left winger (if anything, Maguire occasionally doesn't get over enough/ get over quickly enough). Bailly is free with Wan Bissaka in a set position goal side of the left-sided attacker. As standard, he should also move across the pitch as the ball transitions to the left side of the pitch, but fails to do so.
Ok, so Rio Ferdinand explained why it was Maguire's mistake to begin with but sherrinford from the caf probably knows more about being a CB than Rio so Maguire is in the clear.
 
I mean one of the best defenders in the world and one of the best to ever play for United in the breakdown was also questioning why Maguire is going there to an area which is covered by Shaw and Fred. Maybe Rio has an agenda as well who knows.

There is a mistake by Maguire there and there is no point in arguing otherwise, it’s clear as day but yeah the major fault is Bailly who should be moving across and closing the space.

I think I know a bit more about defending than Rio Ferdinand
 
How is my agenda obvious?
How many posts do I have in this thread?
How many are negative?

I have said before, that having someone dependably fit like Maguire, is worth his odd mistake, and that I don't care about the price paid, because he is always there, unlike Jones, Rojo and Smalling.

Shouting "Agenda!" at anyone with a dissenting opinion, will not do you any favours.

Because when people blame Maguire for a goal that wasn't his fault it is typically because they have an agenda. And that goal yesterday was not Maguire's fault. Not even a little bit...
 
Because when people blame Maguire for a goal that wasn't his fault it is typically because they have an agenda. And that goal yesterday was not Maguire's fault. Not even a little bit...
If the goal was scored from the exact area that Maguire left (in order to mark a player 30 yards away from our goal with his back towards our goal), how can he not even be "a little bit" at fault? I can understand if people disagree with him being the main culprit, but you've just gone way too far the other way.
 
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Thats nice, cheer up we're top of the league. Are you that unhappy United won and Maguire was as usual put in a solid CB display?

Rio Ferdinand, not Sunday League 3, won everything, with Man United. He literally said it was fine for Maguire to make the decision to move over to where Shaw had vacated, but his partner, should read and understand it and react accordingly. Is he an arrogant cnut too? Or is the only arrogant cnut the person who's lost his head on an Internet forum and is clearly replying through tears?
Props to Rio but he was always measured in his criticism of our players. He said he made a decision and that's all, but all things considered point to that decision being the wrong one.
 
If the goal was scored from the exact area that Maguire left (in order to mark a player 30 yards away from our goal with his back towards our goal), how can he not even be "a little bit" at fault? I can understand if people disagree with him being the main culprit, but you've just gone way too far the other way.

Because Lookman wasn't in that area when Maguire left it. You don't mark a piece of grass, you mark a player. Maguire was picking up a player. Lookman was Bailly's to pick up, not Maguires. Again, this is all basic stuff and this is why I keep using the word "agenda" when people are trying to blame Maguire for that goal
 
You are free to stay on the Everything is Awesome thread while others do what people do in a forum ... discuss the good and the bad.

No I’d just prefer people actually getting over such a trivial thing and moving onto something else, it’s tedious. Actually challenging for the league and unbeaten in god knows how long, but oh no we conceded a goal that 4 players all had a role in, let’s all moan on about it endlessly and pin it on 1 player.
 
No I’d just prefer people actually getting over such a trivial thing and moving onto something else, it’s tedious. Actually challenging for the league and unbeaten in god knows how long, but oh no we conceded a goal that 4 players all had a role in, let’s all moan on about it endlessly and pin it on 1 player.

People will have their say. By the time the next match comes around people will have something else to say. It's never going to change so deal with it or get off the forum.

Guess what you are doing? That's right... moaning!
 
I don't know enough about defending to say if that movement from Maguire was correct or not but when we play against formations with 5 at the back, our Fullbacks don't quite seem to know who they should be marking.

Our 3 midfielders will track their corresponding opposite 3 midfielders (say, in a 5-3-2). So Fred cannot go and press the WB there because that'll leave a man open. The opposition's right forward will drift wide right behind our LB. The opposition wing back will push up to be almost in a position where the winger is. So now Shaw is caught in a 2v1 - does he go press their wing back? Or does he stick to the striker? In this case he went and pressed the wing back and Maguire had to step up and cover the striker.

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The Jose approach to this problem will be to have the LW track back but then you have no outlet and you're under the cosh a bit. The Arteta (attacking) variation on this when they're playing 5-3-2, is to not only push the WB + Striker into that area, but also have Tierney who is their LCB bomb forward and add yet another player there.
Good post which attempts to enhance the discourse.

I can't speak about Mourinho and Arteta because I haven't paid close enough attention to how they deal with opposition transitions at their current clubs. But a lot depends on your intent as a coach imo too which could mean either sacrificing defensive stability for goals or maintaining defensive stability by defending with 6 and attacking with 4 in a deeper defensive block which Mourinho is known for and it has brought him success via a reactive way of playing.

Fred doesn't need to press the Fulham wide receiver because Martial has taken him out of the equation. So Shaw and Fred in tandem have to deal with the potential 2v2 which is their job in a zonal marking setup on their side of the pitch, but for some inexpicable reason, Maguire steps out of his zone and attempts to do Fred's job for him which opens Pandora's box and other mistakes are then made by other players who are zonal marking on the right side of the pitch. Maguire starts the fire by breaking the first rule of what not to do in a zonal marking setup whilst the midfield and defensive structure are intact.
 
People will have their say. By the time the next match comes around people will have something else to say. It's never going to change so deal with it or get off the forum.

Guess what you are doing? That's right... moaning!

No people will moan about Harry regardless. As for the rest of your sarcastic spew... meh
 
Because Lookman wasn't in that area when Maguire left it. You don't mark a piece of grass, you mark a player. Maguire was picking up a player. Lookman was Bailly's to pick up, not Maguires. Again, this is all basic stuff and this is why I keep using the word "agenda" when people are trying to blame Maguire for that goal
:lol:

Do you really think that football is played man-to-man during all phases of play? Why do we even talk about formations? You don't have to mark a player at all times, especially those not presenting immediate threats.

Maguire's decision to leave the defensive line and disrupt the entire shape of the defence to man-mark a guy 30 yards out with his back turned towards our goal opened up a huge space which Lookman just had to run into for a 1v1. Then, instead of saying "Loftus-Cheek wasn't dangerous, so Maguire shouldn't have made Bailly react to his decision to disrupt the team" you're saying "randomly disrupting the shape of the team is fine because someone else will pick up the slack and make up for your decisions". That's just shifting responsibility.

If Bailly had left the defensive line to mark a guy in a CDM's position who presented no immediate danger, you lot wouldn't be blaming Maguire, that's for sure. Now that's what I would call an agenda. I'm not going to take your opinion on agenda posting seriously since you don't seem to understand how football is played.
 
:lol:

Do you really think that football is played man-to-man during all phases of play? Why do we even talk about formations? You don't have to mark a player at all times, especially those not presenting immediate threats.

Maguire's decision to leave the defensive line and disrupt the entire shape of the defence to man-mark a guy 30 yards out with his back turned towards our goal opened up a huge space which Lookman just had to run into for a 1v1. Then, instead of saying "Loftus-Cheek wasn't dangerous, so Maguire shouldn't have made Bailly react to his decision to disrupt the team" you're saying "randomly disrupting the shape of the team is fine because someone else will pick up the slack and make up for your decisions".

You're mental if you don't see that as even a little bit of a mistake. You can call it an agenda but it's quite obvious that you don't understand how football is played, which invalidates your opinion on agendas.

If Bailly had left the defensive line to mark a guy in a CDM's position who presented no immediate danger, you lot wouldn't be blaming Maguire, that's for sure. Now that's what I would call an agenda.

But Maguire didn't leave to go mark a guy in CDM, he left because he saw a 2 v 1 developing v Shaw and it was Fulham striker who moved that way.

Lookman came from the LW meaning there is no left winger in play, AWB should have known that. When a defender moves to cover the full back, the entire back line should push to that direction.

Why was Bailly with his hands up? why was he jogging to the player even after he got the ball?
 
It was a collective feck-up, as is normally the case when goals like that are conceded, where Maguire, Pogba, Bailly and AWB all could have done better.
 
But Maguire didn't leave to go mark a guy in CDM, he left because he saw a 2 v 1 developing v Shaw and it was Fulham striker who moved that way.

Lookman came from the LW meaning there is no left winger in play, AWB should have known that. When a defender moves to cover the full back, the entire back line should push to that direction.

Why was Bailly with his hands up? why was he jogging to the player even after he got the ball?
Even if it were a 2v1 on the wing, is that more dangerous than a 20 yard gap in the middle of defence? If RLC received the ball he still would've had to turn and still would've been 30 yards away from goal, and still could've easily been picked up by Fred. Maguire has no business leaving the defensive line to mark players on the wing, even if they're in a 2v1. What if they get a 2v1 then and overlap for a cross, shouldn't Maguire be in the box to defend that? Going out to cover potential 2v1s on the touchline just leads to problems all over the pitch, in that Bailly has to see "oh shit, Harry's moved, I need to move", and then once Bailly moves AWB sees that and goes "oh shit, Bailly moved, I need to move". Both those actions take time in terms of player reacting to it and executing the movement, during which there are spaces in Maguire's position first, then Bailly's position and then AWB's position.

None of that happens if Maguire doesn't make a pointless move out of defence in order to mark a guy who presents no danger to our goal. He could've told Fred to go mark RLC if he was so worried about his position on the pitch, and Fred would've got there before RLC had the chance to receive the ball and turn towards our goal.

I agree that Bailly should've moved over, as things happened, Pogba should've tracked Lookman's run as well, and AWB shouldn't have been staying below the rest of the defensive line. My main point though is that every mistake that happens is caused by Maguire's deliberate decision to abandon the shape of the team to mark a guy who presents less danger than a 20 yard hole right in front of the keeper does. So to hear people say that "Maguire was not even a little bit at fault" is bizarre. Like I said above, if Bailly had left the defence to go walkabout, people would've been calling him brainless and suchlike. And that's the real agenda here, not criticising Maguire for an error.

This is going to be my last post on the subject as I've made my point a few times over now. If you disagree, that's fine.
 
I have been one of Harry's biggest critics since the day we signed him. Forget about the money, I just didn't think he was good enough for United. His performances at the tail end of last season and the beginning of this one confirmed my suspicions.

But being fair to the lad he's improved massively and seems to have settled down nicely. No doubt Shaw's resurgence in form along with the rest of the defence and midfield has helped.

I don't think being made captain straight away was a wise move as it seemed to hinder him slightly and understandbly so.

He still has his moments that make me squirm, mainly when playing it out from the back but he is obviously an upgrade on what was there before he arrived. Also like plenty of other posters have noted he needs to hit the target with more attacking headers, he gets his head on loads but never seems to even test the GK (bar Burnley, bs referee decision).

All in all a good signing in a tough market to find great CBs. Would love to see him lifting the PL this year after all the abuse he's received.
 
:lol:

Do you really think that football is played man-to-man during all phases of play? Why do we even talk about formations? You don't have to mark a player at all times, especially those not presenting immediate threats.

Maguire's decision to leave the defensive line and disrupt the entire shape of the defence to man-mark a guy 30 yards out with his back turned towards our goal opened up a huge space which Lookman just had to run into for a 1v1. Then, instead of saying "Loftus-Cheek wasn't dangerous, so Maguire shouldn't have made Bailly react to his decision to disrupt the team" you're saying "randomly disrupting the shape of the team is fine because someone else will pick up the slack and make up for your decisions". That's just shifting responsibility.

If Bailly had left the defensive line to mark a guy in a CDM's position who presented no immediate danger, you lot wouldn't be blaming Maguire, that's for sure. Now that's what I would call an agenda. I'm not going to take your opinion on agenda posting seriously since you don't seem to understand how football is played.

I don't understand how football is played yet you're blaming Maguire? You're having a laugh. Bailly is marking nobody. He has to step over and pick up Lookman. This is very basic stuff...
 
I don't understand how football is played yet you're blaming Maguire? You're having a laugh. Bailly is marking nobody. He has to step over and pick up Lookman. This is very basic stuff...
Bailly doesn't have to move if Maguire doesn't leave his spot, which he doesn't need to do since RLC poses no danger. Sigh...

You're the one suggesting a man-marking system in all phases of play and that Maguire has to leave to mark RLC, but that's going to look very weird if both teams play 4-2-3-1. It's obvious that that's not how you play the game.

But yes, since Maguire leaves his space it should be Bailly's job to pick up Lookman in the space that Maguire inexplicably leaves to mark a player who's not dangerous. I'll give you that. But to say that the player who causes the entire disruption in the defensive shape is 0% at fault is ludicrous.

If Bailly passes the ball to an attacker and then de Gea fails to save a shot from the ensuing 1v1 that he should've saved, would you say that it's de Gea's fault 100%? That's how you're judging this situation. All other clusterfecks happen because Maguire breaks the shape in order to mark a player who isn't dangerous to us.
 
Bailly doesn't have to move if Maguire doesn't leave his spot, which he doesn't need to do since RLC poses no danger. Sigh...

You're the one suggesting a man-marking system in all phases of play and that Maguire has to leave to mark RLC, but that's going to look very weird if both teams play 4-2-3-1. It's obvious that that's not how you play the game.

But yes, since Maguire leaves his space it should be Bailly's job to pick up Lookman in the space that Maguire inexplicably leaves to mark a player who's not dangerous. I'll give you that. But to say that the player who causes the entire disruption in the defensive shape is 0% at fault is ludicrous.

If Bailly passes the ball to an attacker and then de Gea fails to save a shot from the ensuing 1v1 that he should've saved, would you say that it's de Gea's fault 100%? That's how you're judging this situation. All other clusterfecks happen because Maguire breaks the shape in order to mark a player who isn't dangerous to us.

You are unbelievable. I will remember all this the next time someone scores and Maguire is marking nobody. Because according to you he doesn't need to mark people. Unbelievable how some don't understand how a defense shifts. I swear some people shouldn't be allowed to remark on threads...
 
Even if it were a 2v1 on the wing, is that more dangerous than a 20 yard gap in the middle of defence? If RLC received the ball he still would've had to turn and still would've been 30 yards away from goal, and still could've easily been picked up by Fred. Maguire has no business leaving the defensive line to mark players on the wing, even if they're in a 2v1. What if they get a 2v1 then and overlap for a cross, shouldn't Maguire be in the box to defend that? Going out to cover potential 2v1s on the touchline just leads to problems all over the pitch, in that Bailly has to see "oh shit, Harry's moved, I need to move", and then once Bailly moves AWB sees that and goes "oh shit, Bailly moved, I need to move". Both those actions take time in terms of player reacting to it and executing the movement, during which there are spaces in Maguire's position first, then Bailly's position and then AWB's position.

None of that happens if Maguire doesn't make a pointless move out of defence in order to mark a guy who presents no danger to our goal. He could've told Fred to go mark RLC if he was so worried about his position on the pitch, and Fred would've got there before RLC had the chance to receive the ball and turn towards our goal.

I agree that Bailly should've moved over, as things happened, Pogba should've tracked Lookman's run as well, and AWB shouldn't have been staying below the rest of the defensive line. My main point though is that every mistake that happens is caused by Maguire's deliberate decision to abandon the shape of the team to mark a guy who presents less danger than a 20 yard hole right in front of the keeper does. So to hear people say that "Maguire was not even a little bit at fault" is bizarre. Like I said above, if Bailly had left the defence to go walkabout, people would've been calling him brainless and suchlike. And that's the real agenda here, not criticising Maguire for an error.

This is going to be my last post on the subject as I've made my point a few times over now. If you disagree, that's fine.

What’s wrong with 20 yard gap in the middle or whatever you want to call it? Different opposition, different approach/tactic. If it’s Liverpool, Maguire wouldn’t done it due to instruction but because it’s Fulham, nothing wrong leaving the spot to go to your man especially knowing there is Bailly to cover. Lookman is striker and we have 2 centre backs, Bailly should have covered it but he didn’t because he played offside and the one to blamed is Bissaka because a full back‘s position should never be behind the last centre back.
 
Man Utd 3:2 Liverpool
He's eating up everything aerially right now and I like that he's doing more driving runs and short passes instead of trying that crossfield long ball all the time.
 
It's difficult for him to play out of the back with no passing options, considering how slow he is.
He has big advantage in the air and he's using it perfectly, most of the headers are easily intercepted by our players so as good as it gets.
 
It's difficult for him to play out of the back with no passing options, considering how slow he is.
He has big advantage in the air and he's using it perfectly, most of the headers are easily intercepted by our players so as good as it gets.

Oh come on, he has options like the other players and he has the captains armband so if he isnt happy with people's movement he's there to reorganize them. He's letting it play out. His troubles were mostly with sloppy touches and making a bad choice
 
Oh come on, he has options like the other players and he has the captains armband so if he isnt happy with people's movement he's there to reorganize them. He's letting it play out. His troubles were mostly with sloppy touches and making a bad choice
This issue concerns all our players, we're just not very good at playing out from the back and through congested areas. Even more difficult for slow players like Maguire, although he tends to dwell on the ball which is annoying.

Surely movement is something coaches take care of during training sessions, no chance Captain or any other player has any influence on that once the game has started.
 
Didn't have s good game imo, slow to react and do a lot of things and it caused problems.
 
Thought he was ok defensively but it was when he was in possession that problems arose of their own making. I hate it when him, lindelof, Pogba and McTominay keep dicking the ball around near our own box, inevitably someone always turns over possession. It gets on my tits every week. We just aren’t good at playing out from the back yet we persist on doing it even when the opposition are crowding in on the ball
 
For a Captain he sure likes to move out of position without telling anybody.

He looks like needs a rest too as he has been quite laboured the last couple of games.
 
This issue concerns all our players, we're just not very good at playing out from the back and through congested areas. Even more difficult for slow players like Maguire, although he tends to dwell on the ball which is annoying.

Surely movement is something coaches take care of during training sessions, no chance Captain or any other player has any influence on that once the game has started.
Isnt it partly down to our midfielders inability to take the ball in tight spaces, maybe its not the best way to play for us
 
Unfairly maligned. He is a really good defender. He reads situations well and he can play a bit too. He's very thoughtful on the ball and while not quite Carrick level quality has a Carrick-esque approach to picking out passes. He is really crucial to our emerging ability to control more of a game with possession and I think he gets far too much stick on this forum.
 
Harry gets too much stick here, but when it takes 80m to bring a player in we expect more than what we’ve seen from Maguire, especially earlier this season.

Two aspects his play I’d like to see him improve: accuracy on his headers on goal and dealing with low crosses into our own danger zone.
 
I have no complaints about Maguire for the last 5-10 games.

I think he's been doing the main man job and leading the backline reasonably well, with minimal feck ups.

Brings the ball out very well too at the right times.
 
Don't think he is a play from the back kind of player. Somehow looks forced and seems to take a few seconds to make up his mind. Resulting in a bit of chaos when suddenly under pressure.
But all our defenders have flaws of their own. And make brain-feck decisions sometimes. The price tag just makes him look worse than he is.
He is not an elite, OMG awesome kind of player and it was a stupid decision to pay so much to get him.
 
Can't expect much more from him when he's partnered with someone like Lindelof, who's basically scared of taking any initiative.
 
Harry gets too much stick here, but when it takes 80m to bring a player in we expect more than what we’ve seen from Maguire

That was never his mistake to make. People rated him while at Leicester, but unlike with Pogba, Maguire was never seen as a generational-type of player. As far as I'm concerned he has improved his overall game since joining, and he should be given the benefit of the doubt regarding his price. Our board decided to spend record-breaking money on a decent+ player and that's what we got. Absurdly enough, people will see the foolishly high transfer-fee and recognize it as foolishly high only to somehow put the blame on the player instead of the board, as if 2+2=3. Thank god our fanbase is starting to recognize Maguire as an important asset regardless of how much money United transferred into Leicester's bank account that one summer.
 
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