Harry Maguire | Signed

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diarm said:
I love how not playing football for a couple of months makes Smalling 50 times better than he is for so many on here.

It's possible to be a crap footballer and a crap defender. Smalling manages to be both with bells on.

You can't be a great defender when you are as careless as he often is. He switches off far too often, making basic errors, losing the man he is supposed to be marking, giving away stupid fouls or scoring silly own goals while trying to clear balls with the wrong foot.

The amount of times he fecks up, only for the mental gymnasts on here to blame everyone and anyone else instead of him always makes me laugh. He's been the biggest naked emperor of all the underachievers we've seen in the shirt over the last several years.
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The only true part there is about him being a grabby defender, but he's never been penalised for that so far.

If he was as bad as you say he wouldn't have survived 10 years at the club. He IS a good defender, especially 1v1.

Obviously his on the ball skills aren't brilliant which is why he'll never be seen as a top player.
 
NewGlory said:
Why is that? AWB will very likely be the best right-back in the world. Maybe as soon as this coming season. Maguire is a decent CB, and we desperately need one, but Maguire will never in his entire lifetime be even top 5 CB in the world. Just not going to happen. He is worth more than AWB only because he's more proven and because we need him. Otherwise - meh
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You have answered your own question. Plus there is nothing to suggest Awb will become the best right back in the world after one decent season. I hope he does obviously now that we have signed him but it is far too early to make such a claim. Maguire is a international regular and seasoned Premiership central defender. He is more of a sure thing than Awb.
 
Smalling will have to change his game a lot with VAR, that's true.

But people seem to miss the point, no one is really defending Smalling that much, I personally just think it's laughable that Bailly is held up to be a better player or better choice than him, when its based on so little, Bailly has achieved nothing for us, and has looked good for such a tiny amount of time.
 
UncleBob said:
Why would Smalling be a better fit next to Maguire ?

Smalling's defensive ability is atrocious.
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Smalling’s defensive ability is his biggest asset, he’s actually a very good defender. His flaws are the fact he can’t pass, can’t run with the ball and his ball playing in general is fecking awful.

I think Smalling would get into every other team outside of Man City and Liverpool and he’s been our best defender as a whole over the past 5 years, when alongside a ball playing organiser/leader Smalling looks very good and his pace and pure defensive ability would complement Maguire well.
 
Judas said:
Smalling will have to change his game a lot with VAR, that's true.

But people seem to miss the point, no one is really defending Smalling that much, I personally just think it's laughable that Bailly is held up to be a better player or better choice than him, when its based on so little, Bailly has achieved nothing for us, and has looked good for such a tiny amount of time.
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It's hilarious. Bailly has shown consistently for two years now that he's a worse defender than Smalling or Jones.
 
The whole one defender, one footballer idea of a CB partnership isn't really relevant in the modern game, or at least not for good sides. They all have to be decent on the ball. You only have to think how uncommon it is to see good centre halves put the ball into the stands to know that the old style of playing in that position is dead. The real shame for Smalling is that he never really improved on that front after signing.
 
Ekeke said:
It obviously is good enough because we came 2nd in the league with him playing weekly despite our tactics not being particularly good and other players not being in form. And that was just 2 seasons ago
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The only reason we finished second that season was because of our defensive tactics, and players actually finishing their chances and De Gea being sensational.

Smalling will never be good enough to be a starting CB in a team striving to achieve serious things, at the highest level.
 
Judas said:
Smalling will have to change his game a lot with VAR, that's true.

But people seem to miss the point, no one is really defending Smalling that much, I personally just think it's laughable that Bailly is held up to be a better player or better choice than him, when its based on so little, Bailly has achieved nothing for us, and has looked good for such a tiny amount of time.
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Thats pretty much it for me, i know what Smalling is and it's sad fact but he's the best we have. For me i would sell Rojo and Bailly tomorrow both have sadly turned out to be complete wastes of space. Injury prone and not great when they are fit.

It is laughable when i see people saying they are higher up the pecking order than the current first choice defender. When in reality both of those guys are probably now vying to be 5th-6th choice at best with Tuanzebe returning and the possibility of a new signing.
 
Nick7 said:
It's hilarious. Bailly has shown consistently for two years now that he's a worse defender than Smalling or Jones.
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Baillys biggest problem is that there is an accident waiting to happen in every game. People complain about Jones but Bailly is worse because of the way he dives into situations. 4 times out of 5 he survives - the last the opposition get a goalscoring opportunity. Having said that - the potential is HUGE. In terms of physique, pace and tackling - he is probably top-3 in the Premier League. It's just that it isn't enough
 
Classical Mechanic said:
I honestly think it will be Ax or Lindelof to play alongside Maguire. Ole wants ball players in the position.
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Lindelof will obviously (and rightfully) get first shot at the spot. If it works, that's our defence sorted.

It's if it doesn't work out (which is a decent chance of happening due to the lack of pace) then it will get interesting. I actually think Ole will try to give the other options (Jones, Bailly, Tuanzebe, Rojo) a shot first because of their better ability on the ball, but ultimately they'll all fail yet again and we end up back with Smalling. It's exactly what has happened almost every season in the last five years.

Even though I am somewhat of a Smalling fan, I really do hope Lindelof takes the opportunity and we get our defence sorted out for the next few years. Of course, this all depends on us actually signing Maguire which is looking questionable.
 
Ekeke said:
It obviously is good enough because we came 2nd in the league with him playing weekly despite our tactics not being particularly good and other players not being in form. And that was just 2 seasons ago
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That was mostly cause of De Gea. Last season when De Gea finally dropped form, our defense was found to be as shit as we all thought it is.
 
Adam-Utd said:
The only true part there is about him being a grabby defender, but he's never been penalised for that so far.

If he was as bad as you say he wouldn't have survived 10 years at the club. He IS a good defender, especially 1v1.

Obviously his on the ball skills aren't brilliant which is why he'll never be seen as a top player.
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So have Young and Jones, and both of them have been mostly terrible. Anderson also survived for 8 or so years, and this will be Rojo's sixth season at the club.

No surprise that we have been this bad in the recent years, when half of the squad shouldn't have been here for many years.
 
diarm said:
I love how not playing football for a couple of months makes Smalling 50 times better than he is for so many on here.

It's possible to be a crap footballer and a crap defender. Smalling manages to be both with bells on.

You can't be a great defender when you are as careless as he often is. He switches off far too often, making basic errors, losing the man he is supposed to be marking, giving away stupid fouls or scoring silly own goals while trying to clear balls with the wrong foot.

The amount of times he fecks up, only for the mental gymnasts on here to blame everyone and anyone else instead of him always makes me laugh. He's been the biggest naked emperor of all the underachievers we've seen in the shirt over the last several years.
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No one is saying he’s infallible or that he’s perfect. Not many defenders are. What people are saying is that he is a better defender than our other current defenders, which is true.
 
Jones was thought to be better then Chris 'Hodor' Smalling and yet Chris remained first teamer. Then Rojo was signed to bring some Argie toughness and ball playing skills to our defence. Soon afterwards Bailly was signed and then Lindelof. We were told that those would seal Smalling fate as Mou is never wrong in terms of CBs. Yet...here we are

Maguire might be a decent defender but he is not WC. He is also slow which means he will need someone rapid alongside him. Now who is the most rapid CB at United? Ah Smalling
 
UncleBob said:
His positioning and decision making is bobbins.
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I wouldn’t class it as bobbins. I’d say he has a mistake in him, like any other defender we have. Singling him out as the biggest issue is my problem, rojo, Jones and possibly even Bailly should be sold before him. I have no issues replacing our defenders but we cannot clearly do it in one window so they need to be prioritized
 
Smalling is a good defender and right now, is a much better option than Bailly despite being shit on the ball.
 
Smalling is a good defender. Always has been. Those who argue to the contrary have always been halfwits that would be better served playing tiddlywinks.

That said, I’d still take Maguire.
 
The media are fantastic aren't they.
You make an opening bid of 70 million, along with City.

Since then, absolutely nothing. Yet the media continue to push stories to keep the clicks coming and the punters interested.
 
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lysglimt said:
Baillys biggest problem is that there is an accident waiting to happen in every game. People complain about Jones but Bailly is worse because of the way he dives into situations. 4 times out of 5 he survives - the last the opposition get a goalscoring opportunity. Having said that - the potential is HUGE. In terms of physique, pace and tackling - he is probably top-3 in the Premier League. It's just that it isn't enough
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The difference between Bailly and Jones is that one is 3 years older and has had about 5 years more worth of chances to actually put up a consistent season together. I'd prefer to keep Bailly based on that alone.
 
davidmichael said:
Smalling’s defensive ability is his biggest asset, he’s actually a very good defender. His flaws are the fact he can’t pass, can’t run with the ball and his ball playing in general is fecking awful.

I think Smalling would get into every other team outside of Man City and Liverpool and he’s been our best defender as a whole over the past 5 years, when alongside a ball playing organiser/leader Smalling looks very good and his pace and pure defensive ability would complement Maguire well.
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I don't understand how anyone can call Smalling a good defender after his performance at Chelsea in Mourinho's first season at United. I mean, Kante danced around him like he was Lionel Messi. It's still the most embarrassing performance I've seen from a centre-back.

Smalling is good in the air -- that's all. Any defending that requires the use of his feet is embarrassing because his feet are cinder blocks.
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
The only reason we finished second that season was because of our defensive tactics, and players actually finishing their chances and De Gea being sensational.

Smalling will never be good enough to be a starting CB in a team striving to achieve serious things, at the highest level.
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Our defensive tactics were performed poorly. It required a lot of good play from the CBs, whereas a good defensive system reduces the amount of action the CBs needs to take. Ours werent protected, they were exposed but they were up to the task.

Players should finish their chances and De Gea is paid to be sensational.
 
195 pages for a transfer that hasn’t happen or may not even happen. Imagine if it’s actually happening! I wonder what was the record of pages in a transfer thread. Vidal? Sneijder? Alexis? Berbatov?
 
I've really tried to work out why United would be willing to make Harry Maguire their statement signing of the summer and I still can't see how this really makes sense in the long-term. If you already had your centre-back pairing sorted and you were signing Maguire as a ready-made option who could reliably fill in at a moment's notice, I'd totally get it. I wasn't exactly keen on us signing him a few weeks ago but I could see what Pep was thinking - "Stones is injured? No worries, we can put Maguire in for a couple of games!" But as the guy United are going to spend half their summer budget on, and as the guy tasked with being the catalyst for you to become a regular top four side again, and as the guy who'll regularly lead you to trophies? Harry Maguire's the guy you're putting this on?

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a solid centre-half, but right now you could potentially get Alderweireld and Koscielny for half roughly half the price and achieve just as much over the next two/three seasons with either of them next to Lindelof. Sure, you'd have to change things around again in 2022 but I have a feeling you'll be doing that - or similar - with Maguire anyway. And much like the situations you've gotten yourselves into with Sanchez, Lukaku, and Pogba, the wages you're surely going to give him will make it impossible to send him anywhere else if things don't quite work out. I think he's better than what you've currently got but not by the margins required to become a top side again.
 
robinamicrowave said:
I've really tried to work out why United would be willing to make Harry Maguire their statement signing of the summer and I still can't see how this really makes sense in the long-term. If you already had your centre-back pairing sorted and you were signing Maguire as a ready-made option who could reliably fill in at a moment's notice, I'd totally get it. I wasn't exactly keen on us signing him a few weeks ago but I could see what Pep was thinking - "Stones is injured? No worries, we can put Maguire in for a couple of games!" But as the guy United are going to spend half their summer budget on, and as the guy tasked with being the catalyst for you to become a regular top four side again, and as the guy who'll regularly lead you to trophies? Harry Maguire's the guy you're putting this on?

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a solid centre-half, but right now you could potentially get Alderweireld and Koscielny for half roughly half the price and achieve just as much over the next two/three seasons with either of them next to Lindelof. Sure, you'd have to change things around again in 2022 but I have a feeling you'll be doing that - or similar - with Maguire anyway. And much like the situations you've gotten yourselves into with Sanchez, Lukaku, and Pogba, the wages you're surely going to give him will make it impossible to send him anywhere else if things don't quite work out. I think he's better than what you've currently got but not by the margins required to become a top side again.
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Koscielny :lol:
 
You could do a lot worse than Smalling or Bailly as your third choice center back. The emphasis must be on getting rid of Jones and Rojo so Axel can get game time.
 
I'm surprised people think so poorly of Smalling. Looking at the CBs that we have right now, I'd list him at #2 behind Lindelöf (granted, I haven't seen enough of Tuanzebe yet to rank him with conviction). Granted, his ball skills are bad (which is why he won'get back into the England squad), but he's fast and solid in the air. I'd have him on the field before Jones, Bailly and Rojo without a doubt. If he sign Maguire, I think he'd be #3 and still play a fair share of games. And I'd be fine with that, there's nothing wrong with him as a backup.
 
Smalling is grabby but he is a good defender. As for his technique it's not even that bad, he just lost confidence around 2016 and now tends to panic when under real pressure. Under SAF and LVG, Smalling was an unimpressive but solid overall defender.
 
robinamicrowave said:
I've really tried to work out why United would be willing to make Harry Maguire their statement signing of the summer and I still can't see how this really makes sense in the long-term. If you already had your centre-back pairing sorted and you were signing Maguire as a ready-made option who could reliably fill in at a moment's notice, I'd totally get it. I wasn't exactly keen on us signing him a few weeks ago but I could see what Pep was thinking - "Stones is injured? No worries, we can put Maguire in for a couple of games!" But as the guy United are going to spend half their summer budget on, and as the guy tasked with being the catalyst for you to become a regular top four side again, and as the guy who'll regularly lead you to trophies? Harry Maguire's the guy you're putting this on?

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a solid centre-half, but right now you could potentially get Alderweireld and Koscielny for half roughly half the price and achieve just as much over the next two/three seasons with either of them next to Lindelof. Sure, you'd have to change things around again in 2022 but I have a feeling you'll be doing that - or similar - with Maguire anyway. And much like the situations you've gotten yourselves into with Sanchez, Lukaku, and Pogba, the wages you're surely going to give him will make it impossible to send him anywhere else if things don't quite work out. I think he's better than what you've currently got but not by the margins required to become a top side again.
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Didn't you post almost the same thing few days back?
 
I actually think Jones is a better defender than Smalling he just can't be relied upon to stay fit.

Smalling's only better in the air imo but I think he relies on pulling and grabbing far too often because they would have the better of him if he wasn't holding them.

VAR will end Smalling.
 
robinamicrowave said:
I've really tried to work out why United would be willing to make Harry Maguire their statement signing of the summer and I still can't see how this really makes sense in the long-term. If you already had your centre-back pairing sorted and you were signing Maguire as a ready-made option who could reliably fill in at a moment's notice, I'd totally get it. I wasn't exactly keen on us signing him a few weeks ago but I could see what Pep was thinking - "Stones is injured? No worries, we can put Maguire in for a couple of games!" But as the guy United are going to spend half their summer budget on, and as the guy tasked with being the catalyst for you to become a regular top four side again, and as the guy who'll regularly lead you to trophies? Harry Maguire's the guy you're putting this on?

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a solid centre-half, but right now you could potentially get Alderweireld and Koscielny for half roughly half the price and achieve just as much over the next two/three seasons with either of them next to Lindelof. Sure, you'd have to change things around again in 2022 but I have a feeling you'll be doing that - or similar - with Maguire anyway. And much like the situations you've gotten yourselves into with Sanchez, Lukaku, and Pogba, the wages you're surely going to give him will make it impossible to send him anywhere else if things don't quite work out. I think he's better than what you've currently got but not by the margins required to become a top side again.
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When was the last time you watched Koscielny play? he is finished now mate.
And the reason Maguire is a statement signing is that he fixes a clear hole in our defence.
What does a statement signing mean?
We need signings that fit Ole's style and get back to challenging titles, not just get players on their name.
 
Marcelinho87 said:
I actually think Jones is a better defender than Smalling he just can't be relied upon to stay fit.

Smalling's only better in the air imo but I think he relies on pulling and grabbing far too often because they would have the better of him if he wasn't holding them.

VAR will end Smalling.
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Well, Jones is a good player but he can't stay fit, if he guaranteed +30 league starts, we wouldn't be talking about purchasing a CB.
 
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