[NoPace]

I've never been as harsh on Maguire as most people are, but I was the same, terrified until the final whistle went

If we had a cup final or game to finish 4th and qualify for the champions league or whatever you get the idea, I'd rather see Casemiro at CB and McTominay at CM than Maguire come in, which says it all.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

He sets the tone for the entire team.

 

[Real Name]

6 games in and I love the guy, absolutely love him. Love his tennacity, passion, defending and forward passes, bravery, everything. Also the atmosphere he brought is fantastic, never say die attitude, no more moping around like ghosts in that defense. And as @Red Shorts said no more backpedal defending, retreating when opponent has the ball but going for the ball or the man first.

 

[pocco]

His passing is genuinely very, very good. I'd have been over the moon with a CM that could do what he does, yet we got a CB that can! Get ourselves a Rolls Royce of a midfielder soon and I can see good things for us, somebody in the Modric mould.

 

[Red the Bear]

His passing is genuinely very, very good. I'd have been over the moon with a CM that could do what he does, yet we got a CB that can! Get ourselves a Rolls Royce of a midfielder soon and I can see good things for us, somebody in the Modric mould.

Oh no...

 

[simonhch]

Absolute coup to sign this guy. He’s fecking brilliant. Imagine him in that City team instead of Stones. We’d be fecking gutted because he has everything you want, and the heart of a warrior. Love him already.

I can’t believe we’ve gone from Maguire-Lindelof, to Varane - Martínez, in such a short space of time, and what a huge difference it’s made.

Even though it was 10 minutes today, when Maguire came on, I was nervous as all get out. And the gap in quality was immediately apparent. Maguire looked slow, clumsy, passive and unsure by comparison.

 

[redcucumber]

His passing is genuinely very, very good. I'd have been over the moon with a CM that could do what he does, yet we got a CB that can! Get ourselves a Rolls Royce of a midfielder soon and I can see good things for us, somebody in the Modric mould.

Strong De Jong vibes with this

 

[Grande]

His playing out from the back is fecking fantastic. Don't think anyone else in the league is capable of the line splitting passes like he's been doing for us as a center back. Brilliant defender as well.

He’s the Paul Scholes of centre backs.

 

[redcucumber]

Absolute coup to sign this guy. He’s fecking brilliant. Imagine him in that City team instead of Stones. We’d be fecking gutted because he has everything you want, and the heart of a warrior. Love him already.

I can’t believe we’ve gone from Maguire-Lindelof, to Varane - Martínez, in such a short space of time, and what a huge difference it’s made.

Even though it was 10 minutes today, when Maguire came on, I was nervous as all get out. And the gap in quality was immediately apparent. Maguire looked slow, clumsy, passive and unsure by comparison.

Maguire genuinely seems to panic whenever the opposition attack. I'm sure in large part that's because he's now under massive amounts of scrutiny, but when you compare it to Martinez who clearly relishes the fight and the challenge it's just night and day. What an absolute revelation he has been thus far. Shutting all the physiology experts the hell up, too.

 

[pocco]

Oh no...

Strong De Jong vibes with this

And de Jong isn't Modric by any stretch.

 

[Pat Cat]

Poor performance today, failed to deal with a couple of relatively easy situations vs Jesus and got beat. Think his defensive excellence thus far has been exaggerated, Varane is by far the superior performer back there.

 

[redcucumber]

And de Jong isn't Modric by any stretch.

It's clearly a bit of a joke.

 

[redcucumber]

Poor performance today, failed to deal with a couple of relatively easy situations vs Jesus and got beat. Think his defensive excellence thus far has been exaggerated, Varane is by far the superior performer back there.

Absolute nonsense. Jesus was busy but didn't pose much of an attacking threat. Martinez handled Vardy incredibly well and had another impressive outing today. His energy is electric and he's a big part of the attitude shift in terms of how we defend. He's been fantastic. Also, and I don't like picking individuals out, but Varane was at fault for their goal today.

 

[NLunited]

Very solid - that was a tough battle with Jesus, great to watch

Arsenal was good, but we actually didn’t give much away. Jesus was doing what Martial hopefully will start doing for us.

 

[NLunited]

Poor performance today, failed to deal with a couple of relatively easy situations vs Jesus and got beat. Think his defensive excellence thus far has been exaggerated, Varane is by far the superior performer back there.

He was not stellar today, but certainly not poor. 7/10 for me.

 

[Red the Bear]

And de Jong isn't Modric by any stretch.

Some similarities are definitely there , anyway just a lighthearted jest that's all.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Poor performance today, failed to deal with a couple of relatively easy situations vs Jesus and got beat. Think his defensive excellence thus far has been exaggerated, Varane is by far the superior performer back there.

Definitely wasn't poor. Wasn't dominant, but wasn't bad either.

You have to take opposition into account and Jesus in current form is destroying defences all over the league.

He was doing well outside of the box, but once it got inside we kept him very quiet.

 

[Jaykespeare88]

The reaction after Saka's goal was telling as to his mentality, looked like he was about to have a moan, but carried on like a terminator. Ended up having a good game, even the seemingly aimless hacks away generally found players in forward positions. You can see he has standards and is very much part of this new leadership group that inspires players to be proud to play for the club/themselves. Celebrating winning duels and putting in blocks, we almost regressed into a state were Fans and the players thought "we're to good to be doing that"!

 

[Freak]

He’s fecking amazing and I’m so glad we have him. Top character and leader as well

 

[World Game]

Really impressed with his passing after watching 3 seasons of our CBs only passing sideways to each other, sideways to the fullbacks and backwards to De Gea.

 

[Kostov]

I think he was shaky to say the least, and it will happen eventually. The good thing is we got lucky today, so many times before we haven't, Arsenal are also menacing going forward but we prevailed.

 

[Rossa]

Love his tenacity and aggression. At the same time, he manages to pull out of situations not to cause penalties - seen it a few times already this season. Perhaps that is an advantage of being smaller and more agile?

Also, we got to see him in full pelt yesterday against Jesus, and he was at least as fast as him, probably even faster, so he is quite fast even over distance.

I think Varane struggled a little more with Jesus in fact, but then Jesus is tricky, and when the refs allow him to run into defenders, manhandling them without any concern, only for similar contact the other way resulting in automatic freekicks, it makes defending a little troublesome.

 

[Bebestation]

I’m so glad we got the LCB I wanted for so long.

It makes so much difference to be able to play passes down both channels.

 

[Mike Smalling]

I would play him again in the EL. It's so amazing to have a left footed CB with ball playing abilities. If he doesn't play, I foresee our build-up becoming significantly worse.

 

[Top]

His passing is such an asset! Always thinking progressive.

 

[Dembeza]

His passing is such an asset! Always thinking progressive.

This pass was ridiculously good

 

[Raw]

This pass was ridiculously good

Great to finally see a CB who doesn't just pass it sideways or waits for a midfielder to drop back and make themselves available. Always ruined any chance of a decent attack when we give the opposition all the time in the world get back in shape.

 

[Relevated]

Can't believe we wanted him as CDM just because he lost 1 header and didn't look good next to maguire.

 

[RoyKeaneReborn]

10 times better than Marcos Rojo.

Height should not be an issue as long as partnered with a complementary CB.

Cannavaro was 1.76m. Partnered Nesta well.

Baresi was 1.76m. Partnered Costacurta well.

Lothar Matthaus was 1.74m. Partnered Kohler/Helmer well.

The above were all legendary CBs. Martinez is 1.75m. He will be fine.

Love his intensity & focus. The type of defender u want alongside u even on your Sunday morning footie games.

 

[kouroux]

I need a gif of what he did to Jesus during an Arsenal attack where they crossed the ball but it went high and over the goalposts @GifLord Sadly I don't remember the time. He basically slammed him in the air

 

[Stacks]

early days but I like him and Verane so far. Seem to cover for each other well. I am always apprehensive with CBs because basic defending for new signings gets overpraised and they usually start well e.g. Bailly and within 12 months we hate them. He is doing most of the right things. He ain't no b****

 

[Delano]

I don't want to slag off Maguire but...

This is a ball playing defender. Doesn't take many touches, whips it in with pace, always available for a pass.

The speed in which he plays considering he's new to the PL is superb.

 

[Borys]

Can't believe we wanted him as CDM just because he lost 1 header and didn't look good next to maguire.

I wanted him at DM because we had shite midfield. But seems like Eriksen and Ten Hag transformed us, and that is even before we start talking about Casemiro.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Any update on his injury? Looked like his groin? Must be a big doubt for Sociedad. And probably Palace too.

 

[Santoryo]

What a good passer of the ball. The way he kept finding Eriksen or anyone through the gaps was fantastic.

 

[Tony247]

In the first half DDG made a great save but then Jesus tried bicycle kick and it was almost going in. Martinez realised the danger and threw himself on Jesus. It was a very brave of him, got almost injured but saved the shot.

Expression of Jesus when he and Martinez lying on the floor was priceless. He was like "this fecking guy"

@GifLord can you please post that 10 seconds clip starting 31.20? Thanks.

 

[Lu Tze]

Any update on his injury? Looked like his groin? Must be a big doubt for Sociedad. And probably Palace too.

Some tweets saying it was only a minor, precautionary thing. Unsure on their reliability.

 

[A-man]

In the first half DDG made a great save but then Jesus tried bicycle kick and it was almost going in. Martinez realised the danger and threw himself on Jesus. It was a very brave of him, got almost injured but saved the shot.

Expression of Jesus when he and Martinez lying on the floor was priceless. He was like "this fecking guy"

@GifLord can you please post that 10 seconds clip starting 31.20? Thanks.

The ref stopped the game for possible head injury and Jesus was angry because he thought Martinez took a dive.

Some tweets saying it was only a minor, precautionary thing. Unsure on their reliability.

Maguire was already standing at the side line prepared for a sub so I think Martinez just sat down to waste some time. But of course, the reason why Maguire was about to come on could have been because Martinez felt something. Or just to give Maguire some minutes before EL on Thursday. We’ll see next PL game.

 

[Sylar]

His partnership and understanding with Varane looks good (so far). Long may it continue.

 

[GifLord]

In the first half DDG made a great save but then Jesus tried bicycle kick and it was almost going in. Martinez realised the danger and threw himself on Jesus. It was a very brave of him, got almost injured but saved the shot.

Expression of Jesus when he and Martinez lying on the floor was priceless. He was like "this fecking guy"

@GifLord can you please post that 10 seconds clip starting 31.20? Thanks.