[Alejandro Angel]

I do see fault. I gave him a 5/10 today. I thought he, Telles and Lindelof were horrible. Doesn't help that they didn't have a DM in the line up (what was Ralf thinking?). I just don't scapegoat him. If you think any of their goals today were Maguire's fault then you clearly have an agenda and are making him the scapegoat. Fact...

Just stop, he has been a liability for this year. Yes not every utd player played well but he has been the worst. His positioning is shit his leadership is non existent. Who has been worse.... I really can't think of anyone
He is better in a back three with a defensive centre midfielder infront of him, but I can't think of any good teams that play that way. He has been poor for a season and during this game was shit. Chris smalling although not a great footballer always tried to make himself available for a pass from the goalkeeper, Harry just walks about and points he is a lazy idiot

 

[GifLord]

He was marking his man. Do you really expect him to just let that player go when he was clearly the one marking him? Give your head a massive shake. ELanga is on Pukki and is then caught ball watching and just lets him go and then Pogba, our "DM" decides he's not going to cover where he should and just lazes around the pitch. Maguire wasn't great today and Lindelof was even worse (look at his "marking" on the second goal), but to blame Maguire for this goal is plain out hilarious. If Maguire leaves his man and goes to Pukki they just pass it to the guy Maguire was marking. If you can't see this you are either an idiot or...nope...you're just an idiot if you can't see this

He doesn't need to tight mark him ffs. All he needed to do was shadow mark him and then go back to his position but because he went all in, it created a hole in the middle which was then easily exploited by Norwich. He's done this shit numerous times - leaves his position and then there's a counter and we have a big hole in the middle of the backline.

 

[Cassidy]

The defensive as a unit was bad but that was mainly down to shocking defending from the fullbacks (especially Dalot) and non-existent support from midfield. The two CBs played fairly well. Maguire slightly better of the two (due to his very good distribution)

Lets agree to disagree I guess

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

The goals were not directly his fault.

But he is too slow to be the ball winning CB. He should know his limitations amd stick to his position amd communicate.

What boils my blood is that at least 3 times a game he will get a looping ball and proceed to head it back to danger every time.

 

[united for life]

The best thing ETH could do for him is take the captaincy away and let him just be a regular squad member who has to compete for his place on an equal footing with Lindelof, Varane and whoever we bring in.

this is so true. He had no right to be captain in the first place and this proved to be a burden on his shoulders. Take it away, take him off the spot light again and introduce him gradually, if he deserves to go back to the starting 11. He should not be an automatic starter. I am not talking about today’s game, it’s his performances this year in general.

 

[RuudTom83]

The best thing ETH could do for him is take the captaincy away and let him just be a regular squad member who has to compete for his place on an equal footing with Lindelof, Varane and whoever we bring in.

I would agree, let DDG have the armband. Sure it will make headlines but what doesn’t these days…48 hours later the media will have something else to write about.

 

[crossy1686]

Kicking Pogba in the face wasn’t really maguires fault, he was upside down when it happened, but my word he was all over the fecking place at the back for both their goals. Absolute disaster

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Awareness levels of a 87 dementia sufferer I'm afraid.

I'm not absolving Telles and Lindelof of all blame too at times, but the fact he is the leader of the team and ultimately the backline, it's damning stuff.

There's a reason he can play well for England - there's always an extra body in the back line. We all know he has ability to play ball with his feet, but reading the game and general awareness...Championship standard for me.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

What other leading defender continually has debates about culpability on what is beginning to feel like a weekly occurrence? The constant ‘not as bad as Lindelof/Bailly/Shaw’ defence is damning in itself. The club needs rid of this cloud, he’ll never be just any squad player given the captaincy & price.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

He should be following Pukki ffs. He follows the bait like a donkey to the corner flag and leaves their most dangerous goal threat to run unmarked into the penalty area. He lacks football intelligence. Which is, in fairness, the big issue for quite a few of our players.

So he should be out on the wing with Pukki when there is a FB and a winger there? My god, the scapegoating has to stop. Sorry, but the only one who lacks football intelligence is the one who thinks Maguire should have left his man he was marking at the time to pick up Pukki. Had he done that, they would have just gave it to the guy he was marking and people would be bitching about him leaving his man. Bottom line is there were 5 Norwich players and 7 United players yet you guys want to blame the goal on one of the only players who actually marked a man??? Give your head a shake

 

[SadlerMUFC]

He doesn't need to tight mark him ffs. All he needed to do was shadow mark him and then go back to his position but because he went all in, it created a hole in the middle which was then easily exploited by Norwich. He's done this shit numerous times - leaves his position and then there's a counter and we have a big hole in the middle of the backline.

So Maguire created the hole by marking his man while 6 other United players didn't pick up the 4 other Norwich players yet you aren't scapegoating maguire? Do you see the idiocy in that statement? The reason there is a hole is because of two people. First was Elanga who was marking Pukki and just let him go and decided to go ball watching, the second was Pogba who didn't drop into that space and was too busy marking absolutely nobody and jogging lazely around the pitch. Look at the pic posted. There are 7 UNited players and 5 Norwich players yet you want to blame the only United player who actually marked a man? I'd agree not to mark tight if they had more people in attack than we had in defense. But when it's our 7 (plus a keeper) to their 5, marking tight is EXACTLY what you do. If you don't understand that, perhaps you shouldn't post anymore

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Just stop, he has been a liability for this year. Yes not every utd player played well but he has been the worst. His positioning is shit his leadership is non existent. Who has been worse.... I really can't think of anyone
He is better in a back three with a defensive centre midfielder infront of him, but I can't think of any good teams that play that way. He has been poor for a season and during this game was shit. Chris smalling although not a great footballer always tried to make himself available for a pass from the goalkeeper, Harry just walks about and points he is a lazy idiot

WTF are you even talking about??? Your first paragraph is nothing more than just repeating whatever the herd has told you, the second paragraph makes absolutely no sense at all and isn't even worth discussing

 

[Longshanks]

Dalot gets done Elanaga switches off, Pogba can't be bothered to drop in, and both lingard and Sancho failed to track the goalscorer.

Maguire really dosent do alot wrong, dammed if he does, dammed if he dosent. He cant cover every gap and mark every player he actually needs his teammates to help him out aswell and if one or in this case 4 of them fail in there responsibilities it makes his job impossible.

 

[Irwin99]

Pinning it on him constantly is not a fair judgement. That first goal we conceded is full of team errors and very familiar ones too: e.g., full backs switching off, wingers not helping the full backs and a gaping hole in midfield. I've been critical of Maguire and Varane for leaving spaces at times this season but the whole team has to take responsibility.

Despite their form this season, I don't think the next manager coming in is going to look at Maguire, Lindelof and Varane and think he's got immediate problems to solve there. He's going to look at the full back situation and the defensive midfield position and realise that's where the biggest defensive issue is.

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

Kicking Pogba in the face wasn’t really maguires fault, he was upside down when it happened, but my word he was all over the fecking place at the back for both their goals. Absolute disaster

Wait, both their goals?

I have just watched back Pukki's goal and I cannot possibly comprehend how anybody could pin the blame on Maguire for it? What do you think he should do differently?

 

[JB7]

Wait, both their goals?

I have just watched back Pukki's goal and I cannot possibly comprehend how anybody could pin the blame on Maguire for it? What do you think he should do differently?

He should be a wizard with the ability to apparate to exactly where Telles should have been. Not going to Hogwarts was disgusting laziness from Maguire.

 

[Alejandro Angel]

WTF are you even talking about??? Your first paragraph is nothing more than just repeating whatever the herd has told you, the second paragraph makes absolutely no sense at all and isn't even worth discussing

You constantly defend the indefensible, I want a captain who is good at football, yes I know Harry is a good player but is he a elite player no do we as utd fans deserve a better captain, I think we do

 

[UnofficialDevil]

 

[Red-17]

Dalot gets done Elanaga switches off, Pogba can't be bothered to drop in, and both lingard and Sancho failed to track the goalscorer.

Maguire really dosent do alot wrong, dammed if he does, dammed if he dosent. He cant cover every gap and mark every player he actually needs his teammates to help him out aswell and if one or in this case 4 of them fail in there responsibilities it makes his job impossible.

It's just become a self-fulfilling prophecy for some people. Easy to say he's just shit and useless when you blame him for every collective team error we make regardless of if he's actually at fault. Same people probably saying he's largely at fault for the fluke goal against Everton as well.

There is nothing harder than playing as a center back in a team that offers no consistent protection in front of you. If you leave your man to close down, then he is now open, if you don't, then you get the blame for not stepping up. The reality is that the mistake was players further up the pitch allowing the situation to occur in the first place.

 

[Pat Cat]

Our defence has been awful across several managers. Open your eyes, kid.

Sadly that just isn't true, my son. In Maguire's debut season we had the 3rd best defence in the league (having conceded 54 goals the season prior) and last season we had the 4th best defence despite conceding 8 goals in 4 games after he was injured.

And this is all despite having a keeper who refuses to leave his line and wasn't performing well from a shot stopping perspective, being managed by an amateur and not having a specialist defensive midfielder starting regularly.

 

[lex talionis]

A middling performance today. Neither poor nor brilliant.

 

[Anustart89]

The problem with Maguire going walkabout is that is has been demonstrated over and over and over and over again that when he leaves his space, our team is not competent enough to fill in the gaps created by him. Therefore, you’d think that he can’t assume that someone will plug the gap when he creates a massive hole in the centre of defence, and for that reason he should stay in his position instead of chasing players to the corner flags and just deal with the cross once it comes in instead.

We, as a team, even when playing with actual defensive midfielders, are utterly incompetent at compensating for Maguire’s “proactive defending”, so at some point you’d think that the captain would stop leaving his position to create massive exploitable holes in our defence, yet week after week we get these situations where he leaves his position to track a man out to the wing or into midfield and something happens from that area and then it’s everyone else’s fault for not reacting to it. Just stop doing it for feck’s sake.

At some point he has to realise that him leaving his position is something that every team we play against is successfully exploiting and stop doing that in favour of chasing players into non-dangerous positions and leaving dangerous areas wide open.

If we had a competent defensive structure or intelligent defensive midfielders then it would be less of an issue, but the matter of the fact is that we don’t and somebody in our team should’ve copped on to that fact by now, because every bloody opponent has done that and uses it to great effect.

 

[Red_toad]

Kicking Pogba in the face wasn’t really maguires fault, he was upside down when it happened, but my word he was all over the fecking place at the back for both their goals. Absolute disaster

This sums up how people react to Harry. He didn’t touch his face at all unless his face is in the side of his head behind his ear.
Reading this thread he’s getting the majority of the blame for both goals which is laughable. It’s now just a witch hunt against him. Didn’t have a good game, needs to leave for the sake of his career as he’s just scrutinised to hell for the entire duration of every game and every single thing is blown out of all proportion.

 

[Velvet Revolver]

The goals were not directly his fault.

But he is too slow to be the ball winning CB. He should know his limitations amd stick to his position amd communicate.

What boils my blood is that at least 3 times a game he will get a looping ball and proceed to head it back to danger every time.

This! Every single time. Whats even more annoying is he never heads the ball inside the box!

 

[WR10]

Why doesn't he ever aim his headers at a teammate? Like a pass?
He over dominates 70% of his aerial duels but somehow panic heads it to opposition almost every time

 

[RedRonaldo]

Sadly that just isn't true, my son. In Maguire's debut season we had the 3rd best defence in the league (having conceded 54 goals the season prior) and last season we had the 4th best defence despite conceding 8 goals in 4 games after he was injured.

And this is all despite having a keeper who refuses to leave his line and wasn't performing well from a shot stopping perspective, being managed by an amateur and not having a specialist defensive midfielder starting regularly.

Do you have a problem understanding what "defence being terrible across several managers" means?

Despite have one of the most expensive back 4 in the league, under Ole this season we have been absolutely shamble in defence, even now under Rangnick our defending has been a joke at times, despite being very conservative in our game approach. And technically speaking, this season alone we have several managers in charge (3 in total), we have conceded same amount of goals as the bottom 3 team.

Even if you are talking about he seasons prior, we have being terrible at one point under Ole with some of Sunday league level of defending. The only reason we managed not to leak more goals, is that we have been sacrificing our midfield, playing with 2 DM all the time to protect our back four.

 

[Pat Cat]

Do you have a problem understanding what "defence being terrible across several managers" means?

Despite have one of the most expensive back 4 in the league, under Ole this season we have been absolutely shamble in defence, even now under Rangnick our defending has been a joke at times, despite being very conservative in our game approach.

The seasons prior we have being terrible at times with some of sunday league level of defending. The only reason we managed of not leaking more goals, is that we have been sacrificing our midfield, playing with 2 DM all the time to protect the back four.

The fact you think our back 4 has ever been protected or they played in front of DMs is hilarious to be quite honest.

And yes, it's been awful under two different managers cos guess what, they are both terrible managers. The ex Molde coach and a man who'd managed twice in the last decade with both being positions he appointed himself to

 

[RedRonaldo]

The fact you think our back 4 has ever been protected or they played in front of DMs is hilarious to be quite honest.

And yes, it's been awful under two different managers cos guess what, they are both terrible managers. The ex Molde coach and a man who'd managed twice in the last decade with both being positions he appointed himself to

Have you really followed our games over past few seasons at all? Seems you miss the big part of how we've played over past few seasons. It just common consensus here, really.

 

[didz]

Some really good managers have gone to big clubs and made defences that'd been written off look good. It's often the first thing they do.

I understand the argument that Ten Hag will want xyz from his defenders, but an on form Maguire can do some of those things and improve on others. I think he has enough ability to last a season and see where it goes.

Like Rashford, I think he has a good chance next year. If they fail they'll be replaced. Knowing the pace at which our recruitment move, we need a decent number of these lot to improve, cos we'll be lucky to get 5 in and really lucky if 3 of those hit the ground running.

 

[JeffFromHK]

It is obvious that Maguire intended to injure someone with his backheal kick, he just didn't know it was his own teammate at the back. There is no way trailing leg would be that high in the air to "balance himself".

Recall he kicked Batshuayi's groin and quibbled that he was trying to keep Batshuayi's balance? It is the same thing.

 

[Lyng]

So he should be out on the wing with Pukki when there is a FB and a winger there? My god, the scapegoating has to stop. Sorry, but the only one who lacks football intelligence is the one who thinks Maguire should have left his man he was marking at the time to pick up Pukki. Had he done that, they would have just gave it to the guy he was marking and people would be bitching about him leaving his man. Bottom line is there were 5 Norwich players and 7 United players yet you guys want to blame the goal on one of the only players who actually marked a man??? Give your head a shake

He follows the other player to the corner and even looks at Pukki running into the hole him leaving his space creates. Pukki in our Penalty area is far more dangerous than some other rando out there. He lacks awareness and the intelligence to read the play.
The goal is not on him alone but stop trying to defend his mistake. Noone os trying to defend Dalot, Elanga and Pogba for their mistakes in this instance.

 

[11101]

He's a parody at the moment. The most notable thing he did was injure our own player.

Watching Norwich (!) score two and almost more, our defenders were always stuck between two players or two positions, not knowing what to do. It's poor leadership.

He's the Captain of the most frail team in the league, and the leader of the most disorganised defence in the league.

 

[::sonny::]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLVEN1ex/

 

[arthurka]

Super performance. Shame he's playing for a team which is coached by the worst manager in the league and perpetually leaves their defenders exposed. The clueless fanbase who can't recognise this don't help either.

So with Ole playing two holding midfielders but we still conceded all the goals in the world was that still the manager leaving him exposed?

That said his patch now it's just something else, he is having a really tough time.

 

[Pat Cat]

So with Ole playing two holding midfielders but we still conceded all the goals in the world was that still the manager leaving him exposed?

That said his patch now it's just something else, he is having a really tough time.

Have you really followed our games over past few seasons at all? Seems you miss the big part of how we've played over past few seasons. It just common consensus here, really.

Neither of those two are holding midfielders, they're both box to box midfielders being shoehorned into playing the position just like Pogba was shoehorned into playing the position yesterday. Funnily enough the first goal comes from his awful defensive awareness in that situation too.

And yes, that was still the manager leaving him exposed because it isn't just about formations and positions. Our structure has been subpar for a very, very long time.

 

[MadDogg]

Missed the game until 80mins. Turned on the stream and see maguire boot the ball out of play on the left. I won't talk about his defending. But his passing is utterly useless. His short passes lack any pace and his crossfield long passes float in the air far too long and go out of play so many times. We paid 80m for this plank. He's only going to get slower and slower with age.

That's harsh. He played that ball quite a few times in this match and that was the only one which he overhit (although I missed the first 10 minutes). The rest of them found the man and in a few of them got us into a good position at times when we were otherwise struggling to go anywhere.

Maguire's short passing and his passing up through the middle of the field are nothing special (and he tends to take too long to make them), but one thing he is good at is finding our left winger/fullback when they are in a good position.

 

[Red-17]

It is obvious that Maguire intended to injure someone with his backheal kick, he just didn't know it was his own teammate at the back. There is no way trailing leg would be that high in the air to "balance himself".

Recall he kicked Batshuayi's groin and quibbled that he was trying to keep Batshuayi's balance? It is the same thing.

No white text??

 

[::sonny::]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLqJBc7t/

 

[arthurka]

Neither of those two are holding midfielders, they're both box to box midfielders being shoehorned into playing the position just like Pogba was shoehorned into playing the position yesterday. Funnily enough the first goal comes from his awful defensive awareness in that situation too.

And yes, that was still the manager leaving him exposed because it isn't just about formations and positions. Our structure has been subpar for a very, very long time.

That's right so have his performances. I feel sorry for him as he isn't as bad as his performances this season have been. I feel the captain armband and the weight of his fee is truly weighing him down. You are absolutely correct the formation and setup haven't been great but let's not forget that having him running around like a headless chicken isn't helping at all.

 

[JB7]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLVEN1ex/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLqJBc7t/

Are you 9 years old?