Harry Maguire | Signed

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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.
Oh I agree about Blind, but isn't Lindelof supposed to be able to do it as well? Maybe it's down to individual players' skills, but I can't help thinking it's more to do with coaching/tactics. De Gea's distribution is very poor these days, but it wasn't until Jose got hold of him.
 
I'll pay the money for him. He's the best defender we can get this market, as Koulibaly is an unrealistic target.

I wanted him last summer too.
 
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.
He said some won't be here but it looks like he meant Pogba and Lukaku by that.
 
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?
The story is Jose wanted to get rid of Pogba and replace him with Fred.
 
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.
Because playing that type of football with a squad of our quality against a well disciplined, well-lead Spurs side would be suicide? You have to adapt as a manager or else you're shite.

If you were a manger and you truly believed that long balls and headers is the true way to play football, then all of a sudden you're given the Barcelona job for some reason with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi at your disposal, would you still implement your philosophy? Or would you try to adapt to the team your given and then over the course of a few years try to build a team in your vision?
 
Because playing that type of football with a squad of our quality against a well disciplined, well-lead Spurs side would be suicide? You have to adapt as a manager or else you're shite.

If you were a manger and you truly believed that long balls and headers is the true way to play football, then all of a sudden you're given the Barcelona job for some reason with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi at your disposal, would you still implement your philosophy? Or would you try to adapt to the team your given and then over the course of a few years try to build a team in your vision?

Ok but you have zero proof that deep down he's a manager obsessed with high risk playing. It's just wishful thinking from you that he played defensively last season because of the quality and his real style is different, but not based on any solid evidence. Just wishful thinking.
 
Ok but you have zero proof that deep down he's a manager obsessed with high risk playing. It's just wishful thinking from you that he played defensively last season because of the quality and his real style is different, but not based on any solid evidence. Just wishful thinking.
Maybe he's watched Molde play unlike others who have been making claims which aren't based on solid evidence.
 
Why are people complaining about us being “obsessed” with him and not looking at anyone else? There were reliable reports that we have already bid for De Ligt and Diop before going for Maguire. He is our third choice at best. Personally I hope we get Diop because he is a similar level to Maguire right now and at least has some potential to get much better. Maguire is at his peak and is more of a Phil Jagielka level player than a Rio or Terry if we compare him to previous England centre backs.
 
Ok but you have zero proof that deep down he's a manager obsessed with high risk playing. It's just wishful thinking from you that he played defensively last season because of the quality and his real style is different, but not based on any solid evidence. Just wishful thinking.
I never claimed it to be factual, and I'm okay with you having a different opinion than me. I have no proof, I never claimed to have proof. I just have a hunch he wants to desperately replicate what Sir Alex did, and all this talk about " it's about us" leads me to believe he wants to focus on us, make us dominant. If he has the ability to do that is another story.
 
How Maguire compares with Van Dijk, Pique, Koulibaly and Chiellini this season.



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Why are people complaining about us being “obsessed” with him and not looking at anyone else? There were reliable reports that we have already bid for De Ligt and Diop before going for Maguire. He is our third choice at best. Personally I hope we get Diop because he is a similar level to Maguire right now and at least has some potential to get much better. Maguire is at his peak and is more of a Phil Jagielka level player than a Rio or Terry if we compare him to previous England centre backs.

That’s not true, Maguire was well on the radar before Diop. The fact that De Ligt was a non starter was pretty clear early on too.
 
How Maguire compares with Van Dijk, Pique, Koulibaly and Chiellini this season.



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These stats are mouth watering, albeit just stats.
I admit I haven't watched enough Maguire matches to assess his skill reliably, but I'm getting increasingly excited with the prospect of signing him.
So many posters here judge him based on his looks. Look at the Liverpool squad, full of big ugly people and gap-toothed English cart horses, and yet they won the UCL.
 
These stats are mouth watering, albeit just stats.
I admit I haven't watched enough Maguire matches to assess his skill reliably, but I'm getting increasingly excited with the prospect of signing him.
So many posters here judge him based on his looks. Look at the Liverpool squad, full of big ugly people and gap-toothed English cart horses, and yet they won the UCL.

:lol:
 
Did you forget how ole had us playing in the first 12/13 matches before players got tired and injured?

Before United played anyone seriously good...? I really want Solskjaer to succeed, but was very concerned that United started playing worse the longer he was there. They reverted to type.
 
These stats are mouth watering, albeit just stats.
I admit I haven't watched enough Maguire matches to assess his skill reliably, but I'm getting increasingly excited with the prospect of signing him.
So many posters here judge him based on his looks. Look at the Liverpool squad, full of big ugly people and gap-toothed English cart horses, and yet they won the UCL.

:lol:


Stats that stand out are the stats that we really could do with in our back line.

Aerial dominance and ability on the ball.
 
Before United played anyone seriously good...? I really want Solskjaer to succeed, but was very concerned that United started playing worse the longer he was there. They reverted to type.
Didn't we beat Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, all away, in that run?

EDIT: just checked, we did.
 
Didn't we beat Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, all away, in that run?

EDIT: just checked, we did.

Ah, that is very impressive, it's true, I'd forgotten. It all fell away after the PSG double, didn't it.
 
Ah, that is very impressive, it's true, I'd forgotten. It all fell away after the PSG double, didn't it.
Yeah after our comeback at their place it all went to pieces.
 
These big pursuits of players always seem interesting.

You hear nothing, then it all goes mad with a bid and loads of coverage. Then it can fade right down again.

Would love to know how it really works.
What have we done in the 2 weeks or so since making the bid, and then having it rejected? Have we been thinking, right let's chill for a bit, or are we in constant dialogue with Leicester, the agent etc
 
VVD was good at Southampton, but became a monster at Liverpool. Let's hope slab head does similar for us.
 
These big pursuits of players always seem interesting.

You hear nothing, then it all goes mad with a bid and loads of coverage. Then it can fade right down again.

Would love to know how it really works.
What have we done in the 2 weeks or so since making the bid, and then having it rejected? Have we been thinking, right let's chill for a bit, or are we in constant dialogue with Leicester, the agent etc

Leicester probably waiting for him to come back from holiday, due sometime this week I heard, to discuss it face to face with him.
 
VVD was good at Southampton, but became a monster at Liverpool. Let's hope slab head does similar for us.

He was highly rated at Southampton. His development came as no surprise imo. People just thought he didn't deserve what was paid for him.
 
Leicester probably waiting for him to come back from holiday, due sometime this week I heard, to discuss it face to face with him.

"So, they've bid 70m, do you fancy going there and that"
"Yeah, ok"

Surely it's all through his agent rather than him?
 
It's a real shocker we were not looking at these players when they were at Hull plying there trade Robertson has looked outstanding at all levels since Scotland
 
He was highly rated at Southampton. His development came as no surprise imo. People just thought he didn't deserve what was paid for him.

I agree, but he still was prone to errors or got caught out of position often. At Liverpool he went from very good to great.
 
I agree, but he still was prone to errors or got caught out of position often. At Liverpool he went from very good to great.
You're more likely to get caught out of position when those around you are a lot worse so you try to cover for them or have a worse manager who can't set them up as well.
 
The only quality I can see he doesn't have is speed so we'd need to pair him up with someone quick. Smalling and Bailly are rapid but both have their deficiencies. I think, given how defensive Shaw and AWB are, Lindelof will do. The only worry is if we play to play a high line we absolutely need width- which usually fullbacks or wingers provide. Given that none of our wingers like staying wide and our fullbacks are better defensively than offensively this could be an issue.
 
You're more likely to get caught out of position when those around you are a lot worse so you try to cover for them or have a worse manager who can't set them up as well.

There's also the difference between playing for a top team and a bottom half team as a defender. When you defend further away from your goal, you have a better chance of compensating for poor positioning with strength and speed.
 
[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.

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.[/QUOTE]

Exactly my point. Its infuriating how and why people care so much about the fees given that it's the club spending it's own cash rather than letting the glazer family fleece us further.
 
Leicester probably waiting for him to come back from holiday, due sometime this week I heard, to discuss it face to face with him.

He is already back from Holiday and on the training camp in France
 
Oh I agree about Blind, but isn't Lindelof supposed to be able to do it as well? Maybe it's down to individual players' skills, but I can't help thinking it's more to do with coaching/tactics. De Gea's distribution is very poor these days, but it wasn't until Jose got hold of him.

Heard a really good discussion on this topic and how Maguire would actually make Lindelof better. Currently he is paired with Smalling and opposition teams know that Chris is no threat and so they are not afraid to go press Lindelof when out of possession knowing that Smalling can't hurt them with the ball. If we sign Maguire or another defender comfortable on the ball teams will have to pick their poison because if you press one you create space for the other and both can hurt you.
 
It's a real shocker we were not looking at these players when they were at Hull plying there trade Robertson has looked outstanding at all levels since Scotland

We have signed James and are looking at Longstaff. Both those players fall into the category you described
 
I thought Maguire had good games against United in 16/17 at Hull. Bit odd why Mourinho wanted him (reportedly) last year, and not two years ago when they could have gotten him from Hull. Guess it had to do with how Bailly played his first season and he must have rated Lindelof more. Or maybe United were in for him but first team football would have been limited so he chose Leicester.
 
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