[Poborsky's hair]

Even though I don't think he's the captain we need, I hope he has a very good season and gets back to his best level. Probably starts with Lindelöf today, but I'm excited to see his partnership with Martinez.

I agree we need a better captain but unfortunately the squad lacks any real leaders atm, so he gets the pass for me with the armband.

Once he forms that partnership with Lisandro i think people will be in shock, he will be one of our POTY contenders again. Actually whoever he makes the partnership with because I think ETHs structure and way of play will suit him in the end. Something we lacked so much under Solskjaer who was just a woeful coach and who let him and other players exposed a lot.

Hopefully we can overcome our midfield issues as well because lack of proper no6/DM will not help Harry and co but fingers crossed the defence can get it right despite that.

 

[sewey89]

He looked slightly better than last season. Can we count that as a positive ?

 

[TOKUGAWA-X]

Impressive performace from our captain considering all the talk about the captaincy and supossedly the arrival of Martinez meant he was gonna be on the bench.

Quite the opposite, the Maguire - Martinez combo looked amazing like many of us thought.

Great start, no doubt.

 

[SmallCaine]

He cannot play in a high line, either Ten Hag needs to drop back and play on the counter or drop him, a good passing display but all over the place defensively, clearly at fault for the 1st goal.

 

[The United]

Good with tackling.

But, god, his regular 5 or 6 touches before passing to the player next to two yards got me annoyed. He has to pass faster in this system.

 

[Berbaclass]

I thought he was quite good today personally

 

[Giant Midget]

At fault for the first, passing still in slow motion.

But wasn’t as bad last season. Not a high line player, Varane needs to be in his place.

 

[McGrathsipan]

He's an average player.
United will never win anything with him as the captain and the fulcrum of defence.
A massive problem

 

[Kush]

Still doesn't read balls being played into the channel, slow and cumbersome to react

Was good with his passing though

 

[Classical Mechanic]

At fault for the first, passing still in slow motion.

But wasn’t as bad last season. Not a high line player, Varane needs to be in his place.

How is he at fault for the first? As I saw it Welbeck was very clever in occupying the space between the two centre backs in the game but on the goal he's on Maguire's blind side whilst Martinez can see him. Welbeck's starting position was closer to Martinez. The player that can see him needs to take responsibility in that situation no?

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Still doesn't read balls being played into the channel, slow and cumbersome to react

Was good with his passing though

Got to agree with this. Was much more impressed with his passing today than I usually am but just didn’t seem to be at it on defence.

 

[Giant Midget]

How is he at fault for the first? As I saw it Welbeck was very clever in occupying the space between the two centre backs in the game but on the goal he's on Maguire's blind side whilst Martinez can see him. The player that can see him needs to take responsibility in that situation no?

Okay, partly at fault. He stepped up to play Welbeck offside and was too late.

 

[Someone]

Not sure what game were you people watching. He's so shaky and poor with the ball, and that won't work long term.

 

[#07]

With Maguire we all know the story. When the game is in front of him he looks fairly good. When the ball is being played in behind him he just can't keep up. Welbeck ran him and Martinez like a fun run and Welbeck isn't exactly a god of movement up top. Toney et al we look at today and think: 'Man Utd playing a high line? Tasty!'

 

[Amarsdd]

He cannot play in a high line, either Ten Hag needs to drop back and play on the counter or drop him, a good passing display but all over the place defensively, clearly at fault for the 1st goal.

Clearly? How? You are talking like he was way behind all of the defensive line. There was basically only centimeters between him and the defensive line. It was just a good run by Welbeck.

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

He was the better of the two centre backs today but my biggest issue with his performance was that he was often too slow on the ball.

 

[The_Midfielder]

Clearly? How? You are talking like he was way behind all of the defensive line. There was basically only centimeters between him and the defensive line. It was just a good run by Welbeck.

should De Gea run towards the ball or stay higher?

 

[Cassidy]

He was fine, quite obviously people don’t like him and are being biased.

I’m not a fan of him but he wasn’t bad today

 

[Trequarista10]

He cannot play in a high line, either Ten Hag needs to drop back and play on the counter or drop him, a good passing display but all over the place defensively, clearly at fault for the 1st goal.

Agreed. The more I think about it, the more apparent it is - there are so many knock on effects from his lack of pace.

For the 1st goal today, Welbeck gets in behind. Now, if it was Varane or someone with pace, they may be able to get back enough to put pressure on Welbeck, but Maguire is virtually instantly about 10 yards behind. This means Martinez has to scramble across, leaving Shaw with a 2 v 1 in the box. Maguire doesn't even have the pace to get into Martinez's position or get to the front post to try and block the cutback.

And this wasn't even in a high line position, we were fairly deep at the time. This same problem will continue and it will be exacerbated when we're defending higher up the pitch. We concede an enormous amount of goals at the back post, and it's usually because our full backs get dragged inside because Maguire is lumbering back after being caught out. Shaw in particular has gotten a lot of criticism when we concede goals like this, but he's completely helpless if consistently faced with trying to defend a 2 v 1 in that position.

We have two genuine options to start ahead of him now in Martinez and Varane, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Maguire was starting by default when the alternatives were Lindelof, Bailly and Jones, but there's no way he should be keeping Varane on the bench.

 

[Amarsdd]

should De Gea run towards the ball or stay higher?

what?

 

[Classical Mechanic]

should De Gea run towards the ball or stay higher?

De Gea should've dived on a pretty slow cross but he won't because he's afraid of putting his head where a foot might be.

 

[Footyislife]

He just doesn't fit the high line system. His slow pace & brains leaves easy gaps to exploit & creates chaos for our defense. Then somehow all our players end up looking incompetent when that's not true.

Keep it simple. Until we get a decent RB, DM & the team has gelled, play Varane instead. Don't sell Bailly yet.

 

[InspiRED]

He played on Welbeck for the goal but I actually thought he was a lot better today. He picks a good pass. He is still very slow though (though does seem quicker than last season). Is he Utd quality? The fact the question persists is damning really.

 

[JPRouve]

I thought he was quite good today personally

He showed his good and bad sides. He was a big reason in our troubles during the first half by hanging onto the ball the way he was doing, he allowed Brighton to regain shape and organize the press with ease. When he was playing with urgency, his passing and ball carrying were pretty good. Defensively I thought that he was alright at the exception of a couple of instances.

 

[JeffFromHK]

He played on Welbeck for the goal but I actually thought he was a lot better today. He picks a good pass. He is still very slow though (though does seem quicker than last season). Is he Utd quality? The fact the question persists is damning really.

it is well settled and proven that he fits a low-block only and never fits a high-line.
3 different manager persist playing him on the highline and hurt themselves.

 

[Berbaclass]

He showed his good and bad sides. He was a big reason in our troubles during the first half by hanging onto the ball the way he was doing, he allowed Brighton to regain shape and organize the press with ease. When he was playing with urgency, his passing and ball carrying were pretty good. Defensively I thought that he was alright at the exception of a couple of instances.

Good summary.

 

[Giant Midget]

He could be Ferdinand and Vidic combined in his defensive skills, but his lack of pace will never fit in this defensive system. Either EtH completely changes his philosophy and we sit deep and play on the counter, or Varane and Bailly start ahead of him.

 

[bond19821982]

Was better. I don't think he was reason for Welbeck's onside run. DDG should have come up or Martinez should have blocked his cross pass. Shaw was also no where to be seen.

My only problem with him - why is he manhandling the forwards. Couple.of times he just pushed or pulled them by their shirt .

 

[SmallCaine]

Clearly? How? You are talking like he was way behind all of the defensive line. There was basically only centimeters between him and the defensive line. It was just a good run by Welbeck.

It wasn't just the poor offside line, remember welbeck did not score the goal. Once he got outpaced by welbeck he ambled back to do literally nothing. People keep blaming Fred for losing his man but maguire is just as much to blame there he should have tried to cut the cross off, he does better shaw doesn't get dragged inside and can actually defend the scorer coming in late.

 

[the hea]

One of our best players today, that doesn't say too much on a day like today, but still a big improvement from last season.

 

[JeffFromHK]

He showed his good and bad sides. He was a big reason in our troubles during the first half by hanging onto the ball the way he was doing, he allowed Brighton to regain shape and organize the press with ease. When he was playing with urgency, his passing and ball carrying were pretty good. Defensively I thought that he was alright at the exception of a couple of instances.

I agree. His passing is very good for a CB. But I think he has some sort of "lower table team" mentality - 1. no urgency when build up from the back (it is useful when you play a relegation team to waste time); 2. gets panicky and lump the ball forward aimless when get pressured. 3. lack of scoreline awareless (when we are 1 goal behind at 75 min, worldclass CBs will adjust their play style and start to speed up the build up, but Maguire seems to lack awareness of that and plays in his usual "slow" buildup pace.

 

[lsd]

Clearly? How? You are talking like he was way behind all of the defensive line. There was basically only centimeters between him and the defensive line. It was just a good run by Welbeck.

He deliberately stepped up because he did not want to be in a race with Welbeck who was causing him problems and unfortunately he stepped up too late and posted him onside.

The second goal you can't blame him but for some reason he had swapped positions with Martinez and for me that's good biggest problem.

His positioning is terrible he is constantly in the wrong place at the worst time and I'm not sure what can be done about that.

We know he is slow and that's just only going to get worse we can't improve that, can we improve positioning? Hopefully but I don't know.

What he does well is he can tackle and is a good defensively.

I can't see him and Martinez working well though for me it has to be Varane and one other

 

[Stadjer]

Thought he was fine today. Maybe he could have played Wellbeck offside but it was very close and mostly just a very well timed run from Wellbeck. Also had some good long passing to the left flank.

Not a fan of him and i would prefer a Varane/Martinez duo but he did okay today.

 

[bosnian_red]

This guy has absolutely no awareness for off the ball runs.

 

[JPRouve]

I agree. His passing is very good for a CB. But I think he has some sort of "lower table team" mentality - 1. no urgency when build up from the back (it is useful when you play a relegation team to waste time); 2. gets panicky and lump the ball forward aimless when get pressured. 3. lack of scoreline awareless (when we are 1 goal behind at 75 min, worldclass CBs will adjust their play style and start to speed up the build up, but Maguire seems to lack awareness of that and plays in his usual "slow" buildup pace.

Agreed. Despite the fact that I don't dislike and thought that he was good enough today during the game I kept thinking that it was like United having O'Shea has an actual starter instead of being a valuable backup. Maguire is good enough for United but he doesn't have the mentality or intangibles of a starter, there is something wrong with the way he acts.

PS: The comparison with O'Shea is in the context of a player that is quite obviously good enough for United and valuable in the squad but not a definite starter.

 

[Dosse]

Both goals came through his "channel" . Not directly his fault alone both but you would expect more control?

 

[Andycoleno9]

Playing opposition player onside becoming his trademark. Average and slow.
He will play next few games, feck up more goals and then Eth will realise that he is shit

 

[Amarsdd]

It wasn't just the poor offside line, remember welbeck did not score the goal. Once he got outpaced by welbeck he ambled back to do literally nothing. People keep blaming Fred for losing his man but maguire is just as much to blame there he should have tried to cut the cross off, he does better shaw doesn't get dragged inside and can actually defend the scorer coming in late.

He's covering for the cut-back esp in that occasion when we were outnumbered and Martinez was already onto Welbeck and Shaw onto the other attacker in the middle. If he had done what you said and there was a cut-back, that area Maguire was covering would have been wide open.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Liked his aggression today. Finally looking like a captain for once

 

[Amarsdd]

He deliberately stepped up because he did not want to be in a race with Welbeck who was causing him problems and unfortunately he stepped up too late and posted him onside.

The second goal you can't blame him but for some reason he had swapped positions with Martinez and for me that's good biggest problem.

His positioning is terrible he is constantly in the wrong place at the worst time and I'm not sure what can be done about that.

We know he is slow and that's just only going to get worse we can't improve that, can we improve positioning? Hopefully but I don't know.

What he does well is he can tackle and is a good defensively.

I can't see him and Martinez working well though for me it has to be Varane and one other

Oh I'm not saying he isn't at all to fault there. I just didn't like the poster saying "clearly" there which implied it was just Maguire's fault.