SadlerMUFC
Thinks for himself
Laughable attempt to wash Maguire off the responsibility.
Go check Maguire position when the ball was played to Kane in a more complete sequence. Starting from 31st second in this clip.
Maguire dumbfoundedly followed that ginger Swede too far up the pitch for no good reason. That guy would be picked up by our midfielders like Matic and Elanga easily if he's to receive a pass. Going so high up the pitch, Maguire left acres of space in his defending zone, and by the time he realized he needed to drop his mark, it's too late as Maguire found himself in no man land. Then his awful tactical awareness kicked in. He ball watched instead of assessing his situation around him.
So Maguire got strung along go chasing and reacting Spurs passing sequence once the long pass to Kane well in motion. Maguire went into panic mode and spread that disorganization around. Kane held up the ball but blocked by Varane to have any progressive option going straightforward at our goal: Maguire still overran backward behind anyone for a second. How exactly Varane lost a duel to Kane here? Varane was on the wrong side of Kane because the ball was played into area left by Maguire, that angle wise favored to Kane. An unnecessary overcommitting tackle would result in a cheap foul, or replicate a Maguire special against Burnley. Kane is no Lukaku with a loose touch and bad hold up play. He was unplayable to Man City CBs with his hold up play not long ago.
Maguire's position right this moment means that Telles and Dalot had to adjust their position too, according to Maguire as lowest defender in the line; instead of holding their step in according to the play: pushing Tottenham out of our box, and playing a offside trap outside the penalty box. This has a domino effect in Fred having to cover the pocket of space just in front of and between our of last defenders, instead of being alert to Son's position.
Next he reacted to Kane layoff for Romero and again overstepped while ball watching. And continued to ball watch from when the pass played into Son, to Son taking 2 extra touches, and releasing the pass. No awareness of Romero movement, nor tactical responsibility to organize the defence around him, as a captain and last line defender.
Going frame by frame, it could have as well been Maguire, who potentially played Reguilon on side, in case the goal went into VAR review.
So, even when ignoring and excusing the unfortunate own goal clearance attempt, it's still a shitshow all round from Maguire this sequence of play. Terrible tactical awareness. Can't read the play even when his team mates around him bought him time to correct himself. Slow even in reactive mode. That in turn negates his organizing skill (if it is a thing) and the captain authority given to him. He just played as another individual in this defensive unit, and a bad one at it.
It's rich to throw DDG under the bus in this sequence of play. DDG had no need to step up at all at any time during this sequence. If he positioned himself higher, he would do a Henderson, opening up the goal for Son, Reguilon to have a shot, in which it would become a schoolboy GK error, even if no goal conceded.
This is nothing more than the ananlysis of someone looking to blame Maguire. The biggest problem in this entire build up is Dalot. Look at how far away he is from his man. And he had plenty of time to get over. But instead he waited until the ball was already over there to make any attempt to pick up his man. The rest is Maguire trying to bail him out and unfortunately, his block attempt ended in an OG