Harry Maguire | Signed

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Maguire doesn't possess the quality to perform for a team that can finish any higher than fifth or only if very lucky fourth in the league. With his signing at most we're solidifying our current position and in all honesty that's the best case scenario.
 
I remember how excited I was about Phil Jones. I am very sceptical towards the current crop of British CBs, they lack the x-factor and always have an error in them.
 
Yeah but Maguire + Lindelof is better than Maguire + Smalling. Odd to compare a mediocre Smalling to the likes of those, but at any rate the game has changed and with many teams using a high press nkw you need 11 players with good enough technique to player under such pressure. Smalling is a weak link in our team and we cannot persist with him or Jones or Bailly or any of them. Lindelof is the best CB at the club, and whichever CB comes in will partner him and rightly so.
Lindelof and Smalling are pretty much on the same level with cause for saying Smalling is better. It'll be between those 2 and Maguire for the majority of the games if Maguire comes in.
 
Lindelof did ok last year, can't go any higher than that in a defensive unit that conceded so many goals, certainly not at the stage of being a definite starter yet for me. Smalling I have defended but I do think there were signs last year of a decline physically, most evident when playing back to back games.

Maguire, a lot of talk about his pace/acceleration, beyond that point I am still far from convinced that he is actually a good defender. Strong in the air yes, which brings some value, but I don't think his reading of the game and positioning is anywhere near as good as some want it to be. The whole leadership idea is hard to judge, doing some very eye-catching things doesn't mean you are a strong leader or organizer.
Good points made here.
 
Can't see Maguire being worth 70m. Yes you need a commanding cb but he is nowhere near VVD class. Even City seem to have a cut off point in terms of prices. Maguire only cost Leicester 17m in 2017. Sometimes it's worth taking a punt on a lesser known player at a lesser known club e.g. Hull. We did that with Robertson but missed out taking a punt on VVD when he moved from Celtic to Southampton for 15m which cost us 5 x 15 when he moved on 30 months later.
I would be fine with 50m upfront and 20m in bonuses related to individual and team achievements. Not easily achievable stuff but things that would mean he's a success.
 
I don't think he's a bad player or anything but I just don't get this apparent obsession we have with Maguire. There are only a handful of CB's in the world we couldn't sign for the reported 75m+ it would take to get him and I guarantee that there are a whole lot more than just a handful of CB's in the world just as good or better than him. It would be absolute madness to go through with this.
 
We will never sign a world class center back. Our spending for the summer is over. Like it or not. If we could really afford Maguire or Koulibaly we would of brought one of them by now.


People have to stop dreaming and wake up and smell the coffee we have the biggest debt in world football that need to be paid off. Sadly any money we make goes to Glazers and the debt.
 
We will never sign a world class center back. Our spending for the summer is over. Like it or not. If we could really afford Maguire or Koulibaly we would of brought one of them by now.


People have to stop dreaming and wake up and smell the coffee we have the biggest debt in world football that need to be paid off. Sadly any money we make goes to Glazers and the debt.

A strange post.
First line potentially true.
Second line will very likely look silly in a few weeks.

Then some random glazer bating.
 
Maguire doesn't possess the quality to perform for a team that can finish any higher than fifth or only if very lucky fourth in the league. With his signing at most we're solidifying our current position and in all honesty that's the best case scenario.

Why? He looks like CB who is suited to play at higher level.
 
One way or another. I hope this comes to a conclusion soon, as irregardless if he wants to go to you or not, if its too late in the window, it will be rejected.
 
I would be fine with 50m upfront and 20m in bonuses related to individual and team achievements. Not easily achievable stuff but things that would mean he's a success.

I think that we just need to get this done, its a vital upgrade at CB, and I can't realistically see us getting anyone better than Maguire.
 
Ole is obsessed with playing high risk football, he is clearly aiming to create a team with high work rate and with constant pressure on the opponent, and with that style of play you will always concede goals. Always. It's high risk, high reward football, and a reason I believe why Klopp adjusted his tactics a bit ever since Severus Snape left his team.

But with Ole's obsession with fast, hard working, counter attacking and constant pressure philosophy in mind, I'm thinking his main focus at the moment is creating a centre half who can move the ball forward, finding key passes. The only centre back we have who can pass the ball at the moment is Lindelof, and it's incredibly easy for the opponent to just block him and let Smalling do the passing. With Maguire it will be harder for the opponent because we now have two who can pass the ball, with leads to more possession of the ball. So I'm thinking Ole is more heavily focused on making our attack work, and two CB's who are capable of passing is crucial to making an attacking focused team work in the modern game.

We will still be leaking goals if we get Maguire, but our attacking aspect will be much better I believe. We still need more midfielder, who can support the defence, make himself available for a pass, and have ability to carry the ball forward, but getting Maguire is not a bad start.

Just writing this I realise how far away from where we want to be, there are so many positions were we need to improve. But getting Maguire would be a good move imo.
 
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Ole is obsessed with playing high risk football, he is clearly aiming to create a team with high work rate and with constant pressure on the opponent, and with that style of play you will always concede goals. Always. It's high risk, high reward football, and a reason I believe why Klopp adjusted his tactics a bit ever since Severus Snape left his team.

But with Ole's obsession with fast, hard working, counter attacking and constant pressure philosophy in mind, I'm thinking his main focus at the moment is creating a centre half who can move the ball forward, finding key passes. The only centre back we have who can pass the ball at the moment is Lindelof, and it's incredibly easy for the opponent to just block him and let Smalling do the passing. With Maguire it will be harder for the opponent because we now have two who can pass the ball, with leads to more possession of the ball. So I'm thinking Ole is more heavily focused on making our attack work, and two CB's who are capable of passing is crucial to making an attacking focused team work in the modern game.

We will still be leaking goals if we get Maguire, but our attacking aspect will be much better I believe. We still need more midfielder, who can support the defence, make himself available for a pass, and have ability to carry the ball forward, but getting Maguire is not a bad start.

Just writing this I realise how far away from where we want to be, there are so many positions were we need to improve. But getting Maguire would be a good move imo.
When and where you saw that? :confused:
 
De ligt is probably out of reach and Maguire must be the one signed,we need a towering centre back,good on the ball.Watched him playing since Hull City days and always impressed me how good he is on the ball and confident playing out of the back.We need someone capable of doing that and him playing as the left sided centre back and moving Lindelof to the right would solve our centre back problems.Also he is dominant in the air,everything we miss.
Just sign him and Bruno Fernandes already.
 
When and where you saw that? :confused:
Haha, just judging from what we saw at the beginning of his reign here, and he clearly admires the times of Sir Alex, which at it's best had fast attacking football. I may be 100% wrong, but it's just the feeling I get from the whole situation. Nothing I said is factual.
 
[QUOTE="Jericholyte2, post: 24373365, member: 12777"

We need to stop bitching about the numbers and start thinking of the impact players will have on our team:

  • Does Maguire have the quality to make a difference to our defence - YES
  • Does he appear from the outside to have the mentality and leadership to lead our defence - YES
Then we’ll spend whatever’s needed on him and once the performances come in we’ll forget all about how much he cost us.[/QUOTE]

This exactly. Especially the leadership part. Ignoring the fact that he would be the best defender in our team, it doesn't matter how good you are if you don't have leaders and we don't have any at United at the moment.

Most of our defenders are fairly capable when paired with someone who takes control. Smalling especially has great potential when playing with an organiser. It would allow us to bring through Tuanzebe too with a more experiences settled partner.

Its not our money. if he can help us be competitive it is a false economy to focus on his fee. Because it will gain us CL revenue etc. If only we had paid up last season we would have got top 4 and been able to make other aquisitions and got CL revenue and sponsorship.
 
Ole is obsessed with playing high risk football, he is clearly aiming to create a team with high work rate and with constant pressure on the opponent, and with that style of play you will always concede goals. Always. It's high risk, high reward football, and a reason I believe why Klopp adjusted his tactics a bit ever since Severus Snape left his team.

But with Ole's obsession with fast, hard working, counter attacking and constant pressure philosophy in mind, I'm thinking his main focus at the moment is creating a centre half who can move the ball forward, finding key passes. The only centre back we have who can pass the ball at the moment is Lindelof, and it's incredibly easy for the opponent to just block him and let Smalling do the passing. With Maguire it will be harder for the opponent because we now have two who can pass the ball, with leads to more possession of the ball. So I'm thinking Ole is more heavily focused on making our attack work, and two CB's who are capable of passing is crucial to making an attacking focused team work in the modern game.

We will still be leaking goals if we get Maguire, but our attacking aspect will be much better I believe. We still need more midfielder, who can support the defence, make himself available for a pass, and have ability to carry the ball forward, but getting Maguire is not a bad start.

Just writing this I realise how far away from where we want to be, there are so many positions were we need to improve. But getting Maguire would be a good move imo.
I'm not sure what you were smoking when you watched us play last season, but I want some of it.
 
I contend there are players out there not on our radar. What's the point of our scouts? Was Vidic a player you knew about? No. There are out there if we actually look.
What indeed? Either they are shit, or they are being deliberately ignored by the manager(s) and/or Ed. Fred was allegedly signed at the insistence of Jose’s video analyst.
In any case, let's see if we get him and he doesn't live up to his £70 - £80M expectation. I hope I don't hear anyone blaming Ed if this doesn't work out. I'd be shocked if he turned out to be what people are expecting of him.
Likewise. He’s a decent defender, but I find the notion that he’s going to improve our attacking play thanks to his magnificent ball playing completely daft. Our existing defenders’ ball playing could be improved at a stroke by having midfielders who want the ball. At the moment there’s only Fred; shame he gives it away so often.
 
What indeed? Either they are shit, or they are being deliberately ignored by the manager(s) and/or Ed. Fred was allegedly signed at the insistence of Jose’s video analyst.

Likewise. He’s a decent defender, but I find the notion that he’s going to improve our attacking play thanks to his magnificent ball playing completely daft. Our existing defenders’ ball playing could be improved at a stroke by having midfielders who want the ball. At the moment there’s only Fred; shame he gives it away so often.
It can actually help your team establish a much better foothold in a match.

If your defenders are comfortable in possession you can push the rest of the team up higher into the oppositions half. This then forces the opponent to either press and win the ball, or sit back and contain the space.
If your CB is good enough with forward passes you can wipe out the press and take advantage of the extra space.

Our CB's haven't done that since Blind was playing. No coincidence our best achievement in terms of possession came when he was in the team.

Right now our midfield is being forced to drop to get the ball from the CB as they're scared/not good enough to make the forward passes quickly and accurately enough. That then leads to a disconnect between the midfield and forwards, and a loss of possession.
 
I'm not sure what you were smoking when you watched us play last season, but I want some of it.
I really don't believe Ole want us to play like we did last season. Maybe that's why he talked so much about getting rid of a bunch of players?

My impression of Ole's stint so far is that he is desperate to bring back United to elite level, and also improve the quality of football, and he isn't at all happy with how things went for the majority of his time in charge. I don't think he wants to coach a lazy team with no desire and heart.
 
Fred was allegedly signed at the insistence of Jose’s video analyst.

That makes no sense, given that Jose didn't play Fred at the start of the season. It looked to me that Fred was forced upon him and when we didn't sign any other players, he behaved as if we didn't sign anybody. The other thing was that Jose wanted a CB signed. If Jose's word was law, why did Woodie overrule him and say that our current CBs were good enough?
 
I really don't believe Ole want us to play like we did last season. Maybe that's why he talked so much about getting rid of a bunch of players?

When did Ole say that he wanted to get rid of a bunch of players?
My understanding was that we were not going to sell many players and that is exactly what is transpiring. I do remember him saying that we will buy 1-2 players.
 
I really don't believe Ole want us to play like we did last season. Maybe that's why he talked so much about getting rid of a bunch of players?

My impression of Ole's stint so far is that he is desperate to bring back United to elite level, and also improve the quality of football, and he isn't at all happy with how things went for the majority of his time in charge. I don't think he wants to coach a lazy team with no desire and heart.
It's all well and good that he wants to do these things but we've absolutely no idea if he's capable of it and so far this window we've barely signed anyone so the club aren't exactly backing his style of play.
 
That makes no sense, given that Jose didn't play Fred at the start of the season. It looked to me that Fred was forced upon him and when we didn't sign any other players, he behaved as if we didn't sign anybody. The other thing was that Jose wanted a CB signed. If Jose's word was law, why did Woodie overrule him and say that our current CBs were good enough?
Did anything Jose do make sense? He signed Lindelof and Bailly and hated them both.
 
Did anything Jose do make sense? He signed Lindelof and Bailly and hated them both.

:lol:

Have no Idea why he bought potential when he doesn't have any patience, should have stuck to his buying Players in their peak model.
 
:lol:

Have no Idea why he bought potential when he doesn't have any patience, should have stuck to his buying Players in their peak model.

Trying to be someone he’s not. A leopard can’t change his spots I’m afraid.
 
It can actually help your team establish a much better foothold in a match.

If your defenders are comfortable in possession you can push the rest of the team up higher into the oppositions half. This then forces the opponent to either press and win the ball, or sit back and contain the space.
If your CB is good enough with forward passes you can wipe out the press and take advantage of the extra space.

Our CB's haven't done that since Blind was playing. No coincidence our best achievement in terms of possession came when he was in the team.

Right now our midfield is being forced to drop to get the ball from the CB as they're scared/not good enough to make the forward passes quickly and accurately enough. That then leads to a disconnect between the midfield and forwards, and a loss of possession.

This.

One of our main problems last season was that our attacking forwards were isolated. This was, in part, due to the fact that all of our defenders, barring possibly Shaw, could not string a pass together.

Adding AWB and Maguire would certainly improve our overall gameplay.
 
It's all well and good that he wants to do these things but we've absolutely no idea if he's capable of it and so far this window we've barely signed anyone so the club aren't exactly backing his style of play.
I never said he was capable, that's one of my worries as well.
 
Ole is obsessed with playing high risk football, he is clearly aiming to create a team with high work rate and with constant pressure on the opponent, and with that style of play you will always concede goals. Always. It's high risk, high reward football, and a reason I believe why Klopp adjusted his tactics a bit ever since Severus Snape left his team.

But with Ole's obsession with fast, hard working, counter attacking and constant pressure philosophy in mind, I'm thinking his main focus at the moment is creating a centre half who can move the ball forward, finding key passes. The only centre back we have who can pass the ball at the moment is Lindelof, and it's incredibly easy for the opponent to just block him and let Smalling do the passing. With Maguire it will be harder for the opponent because we now have two who can pass the ball, with leads to more possession of the ball. So I'm thinking Ole is more heavily focused on making our attack work, and two CB's who are capable of passing is crucial to making an attacking focused team work in the modern game.

We will still be leaking goals if we get Maguire, but our attacking aspect will be much better I believe. We still need more midfielder, who can support the defence, make himself available for a pass, and have ability to carry the ball forward, but getting Maguire is not a bad start.

Just writing this I realise how far away from where we want to be, there are so many positions were we need to improve. But getting Maguire would be a good move imo.

I’m not sure about the high risk part, but other than that I think you are right. If I’m applying a fine sive, it seems clear we have shown interest in De Ligt (not likely interested), Koulibaly (overpriced) and Maguire. All of which are known to be good on the ball.

I think your point about two CB’s good on the ball is important. Lindelöf is good playing out, but not so good when with Smalling.

Fred has shown talent as a midfield outlet, but his possesion and passing is too high risk so far. If he can Linedelöfify himself this season, it’s a good trio, if not, well, it would be nice to have another option.
 
I really don't believe Ole want us to play like we did last season. Maybe that's why he talked so much about getting rid of a bunch of players?

My impression of Ole's stint so far is that he is desperate to bring back United to elite level, and also improve the quality of football, and he isn't at all happy with how things went for the majority of his time in charge. I don't think he wants to coach a lazy team with no desire and heart.

So you say he's obsessed with high risk football but then you don't believe Ole wanted us to play that way last season. How did you get he's an obsessed with a style if you saw him playing with another style then ? Both are contradicting point. Even during the honeymoon period we defeated Spurs by parking the bus away from home and defending the goal the entire second half. Honestly everything point to the fact that he's a counter attacking manager.
 
That makes no sense, given that Jose didn't play Fred at the start of the season. It looked to me that Fred was forced upon him and when we didn't sign any other players, he behaved as if we didn't sign anybody.
You are right; it wasn't "his" video analyst. This from ESPN (which might very well be bollocks :)): "the atmosphere in recruitment meetings is already calmer than a year ago, when Mourinho felt he was being pressured into agreeing to the signing of Fred by head performance recruitment analyst Mick Court"
The other thing was that Jose wanted a CB signed. If Jose's word was law, why did Woodie overrule him and say that our current CBs were good enough?
Because Jose had already been given two CBs and wasn't trusted to choose a third? Or maybe because the ones he wanted were like Matic: short term and poor value for money.

Fact is our recruitment has been poor under multiple managers. That doesn't let those managers off the hook, but it does indicate that it isn't all their fault.
 
so we make a £70m big, it gets rejected immediately and then what? thats it?
 
so we make a £70m big, it gets rejected immediately and then what? thats it?
Truly hope it's not the case.

Best case scenario: United are haggling with the positive outcome of player's arrival in the end.

Worst case: Sending an offer for the sake of later excuse of not signing players anymore this summer because of price and other trivial reasons.
 
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