Should we consider selling Harry Maguire?

We won't sell him. No one would be willing to spend even 60m on a CB that is so damn slow. It doesn't help the fact that we have a central trio made up of Matic-Lindelof-Maguire who are possibly the slowest thing on earth + a goalkeeper that doesn't leave the line and Pogba who is useless defensively.

I'd say we should play Henderson as GK, we should add Upamecano as CB and buy Partey in midfield. The selling of Pogba would finance part of the deal. My team would be this

------------Henderson--------
AWB-----Maguire----Upamecano------Telles
------------------Partey-------------------
----------VDB----------Bruno-------------------
Greenwood--------------------------Rashford
----------------Martial.
 
I would sell Maguire. He is a decent defender but his lack of pace is problematic. I'd much rather use a high press with a sweeper keeper and reasonably fast central defenders.
 
While I have disagreed with the fee from day one, the player is good enough but we have a problem of organization and instructions. When you have a player like Maguire in your defense you want to have a low-ish block and very strict zonal instructions, Shaw can't leave his area too much because Maguire won't be able to effectively cover that left wing, he doesn't have the positioning or anticipation that someone like Vidic had and he doesn't have the athleticism to compensate for it either. Also Maguire needs to stop trying to be a playmaker in the attacking third, he doesn't have the technique nor the athleticism to do it and he almost costed us a goal that Son wasted.
 
JPRouve said:
While I have disagreed with the fee from day one, the player is good enough but we have a problem of organization and instructions. When you have a player like Maguire in your defense you want to have a low-ish block and very strict zonal instructions, Shaw can't leave his area too much because Maguire won't be able to effectively cover that left wing, he doesn't have the positioning or anticipation that someone like Vidic had and he doesn't have the athleticism to compensate for it either. Also Maguire needs to stop trying to be a playmaker in the attacking third, he doesn't have the technique nor the athleticism to do it and he almost costed us a goal that Son wasted.
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Good points.

It’s almost as if our manager is tactically naive.
 
VP89 said:
Of course but there are elements that can be coached out. We aren't close to being Street smart.

We don't show toughness, crowding the ball to stop early free kicks, we don't over react to sway referee minds, etc. We're a bunch of nice guys under Ole.
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Fair enough. For what it's worth, I don't disagree with you, we're clearly a very poorly coached team.
 
Average player at best. The price tag is putting so much pressure on him. Not to mention wearing the captain’s armband. What leadership skills does he have, can’t see any.

Sell him. He’s a problem
 
In an organised side he'd be an okay defender, but he's limited and that is being put on show big time by Solskjaer's inability to organise our defence.
 
JJ12 said:
Sell our best CB?
Sell him when his value will be at an all time low?
Sell him for much less than what we paid for him just over a year ago?

Of course we should:wenger:
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How long is that “our best CB” thing is going to fly for? I said a while ago I’m not even sure he’s better than Lindelof. Last time he played with Bailly, Bailly had to bail him out a couple of times, today both were poor but he was even more catastrophic than Bailly. Maguire has looked shakey for a while. His lack of speed and awareness places increasing stress on the back four. He’s not even particularly good with the ball neither.

We overpaid massively, you’re never going to get anywhere near what we paid for him because he’s simply not of that quality. Fact of the matter is his valuation keeps dropping, and we’ll struggle to put together a competent back four when the other defenders have to babysit him and make up for his limitations.
 
£80m defender should not be making this many mistakes. Better hope he gets a lot better, cause he's not about to be sold any time soon.
 
We need to target a CB that is aerially dominant but can also play in a high line to enforce the press. If we do that then it will create the conditions to move him on because otherwise we won't be able to play a expansive game. He's a huge hinderance to us in that regard.

In the meantime i'm hoping we go back to playing deep block, counter attacking football which Maguire is comfortable with and what suits the team right now. It seems very little thought was given to how the likes of Maguire and Wan Bissaka were chosen to fit into the managers play style.
 
Sell to who exactly? 27 years old CB on 5 year 200k contract, brought for a world record fee not that long ago.

We will have the same luck like trying to move on Sanchez and Real selling Bale.
 
I'd sack him based on todays performance and how i feel right now, however unfortunately we'd make him very wealthy in doing so, so not an option.
 
TsuWave said:
How long is that “our best CB” thing is going to fly for? I said a while ago I’m not even sure he’s better than Lindelof. Last time he played with Bailly, Bailly had to bail him out a couple of times, today both were poor but he was even more catastrophic than Bailly. Maguire has looked shakey for a while. His lack of speed and awareness places increasing stress on the back four. He’s not even particularly good with the ball neither.

We overpaid massively, you’re never going to get anywhere near what we paid for him because he’s simply not of that quality. Fact of the matter is his valuation keeps dropping, and we’ll struggle to put together a competent back four when the other defenders have to babysit him and make up for his limitations.
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Lost me here :lol:
 
Who the feck is going to buy that sack of turds? Should be dropped. May as well try a new pairing next game.
 
JJ12 said:
Lost me here :lol:
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Revisit the thread where Bailly and Maguire played together last. Better yet, go rewatch the game yourself. All these shambolic defensive performances that have had people clamouring for Upamecano, Maguire has had a bunch of mares. Guy makes errors leading to chances or goals almost every game, multiple times.

That whole “our best CB” narrative is not solid, at all.
 
Sell him in the next 1-1.5 years. Hopefully the economy and the football market will recover by then and people will have Hopefully forgotten the last 3-4 months that Maguire has had.
 
I wouldn't sell him but i would take the captaincy off him. he needs to concentrate on his own game. I think the pressure of being the captain has affected him.
He is not a leader and it shows. Bench him and let him sort his head out and give the captaincy to Bruno.
IF ( and its a big if ) Ole is to stay as manager he needs to get ruthless very quickly. If slabhead doesn't like having the captaincy removed from him - Tough, deal with it or move on.
 
If a new manager came in I could see it happening but I imagine Ole will stick with him this season and maybe even next.
 
Lentwood said:
I keep making this point over and over again but ANY defenders would look exposed in this set-up.

First of all, we don’t press. The forward don’t press and the midfield don’t press.

Secondly, the midfield are all over the place. We generally play two players with an attacking mindset and then Matic as a lone DM. With no pressure on the ball and no organisation in midfield, it makes it easy for teams to pass through the lines

Third, we compound both of the above issues by asking our defenders to play a high line. It’s an absolute recipe for disaster. No pressing, no organisation and a high line.

We can disagree on the individual quality of some of these players but Maguire is an international CB who has been a success in the PL for other teams. Lindelof is a regular for Sweden and has played in major tournaments. They might be short of world class but they’re not “garbage” or “useless”...they are just left exposed and their weaknesses exploited time and time again
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This is true and no amount of everyone jogging around pointing at each other and into space is going to make our “press” more intense. We are totally half arsing it.
 
Lentwood said:
I keep making this point over and over again but ANY defenders would look exposed in this set-up.

First of all, we don’t press. The forward don’t press and the midfield don’t press.

Secondly, the midfield are all over the place. We generally play two players with an attacking mindset and then Matic as a lone DM. With no pressure on the ball and no organisation in midfield, it makes it easy for teams to pass through the lines

Third, we compound both of the above issues by asking our defenders to play a high line. It’s an absolute recipe for disaster. No pressing, no organisation and a high line.

We can disagree on the individual quality of some of these players but Maguire is an international CB who has been a success in the PL for other teams. Lindelof is a regular for Sweden and has played in major tournaments. They might be short of world class but they’re not “garbage” or “useless”...they are just left exposed and their weaknesses exploited time and time again
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Thanks Liverpool for immediately proving my point. Van Dijk ripped to pieces by bang average forwards because the line was too high and the press non existent
 
devilish said:
We won't sell him. No one would be willing to spend even 60m on a CB that is so damn slow. It doesn't help the fact that we have a central trio made up of Matic-Lindelof-Maguire who are possibly the slowest thing on earth + a goalkeeper that doesn't leave the line and Pogba who is useless defensively.

I'd say we should play Henderson as GK, we should add Upamecano as CB and buy Partey in midfield. The selling of Pogba would finance part of the deal. My team would be this

------------Henderson--------
AWB-----Maguire----Upamecano------Telles
------------------Partey-------------------
----------VDB----------Bruno-------------------
Greenwood--------------------------Rashford
----------------Martial.
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This Team has a better balance. With a new RW to this we look much better. Dont want to see Pogba anyway near to our team.
 
Not defending his shambolic performances but he's played every single game since he joined. Give him a fecking rest he needs it badly.
 
Lentwood said:
Thanks Liverpool for immediately proving my point. Van Dijk ripped to pieces by bang average forwards because the line was too high and the press non existent
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Yes, because Van Dijk made 2 poor headers and subsequently pulled his own player down while he was trying to clear the ball.
 
TsuWave said:
I would rather spend Sunday afternoon spooning with Rihanna rather than watching United. However, this thread is about Maguire. Is there any reason to hold on to him, he’s been a catastrophic signing, and I feel long-term he’ll be a hindrance to us putting together a solid back four with all his limitations.
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Maguire is our best defender, but he and our defence get very little help from our CM. Matic does not have the legs and Pogba is a liability unless he is paired with two strong runners in CM. Even van Dijk would look bad playing behind our CM.

Bailly's pass leading to Spurs's third goal is why I do not trust him and Bailly and Lindelöf are both inferior to Maguire.

We should keep Maguire, buy a pacy CB and play Fred or McTominay in CM, ideally buy Partey if we miss out on Sancho.

Realistically we are stuck with what we have.
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
Maguire is our best defender, but he and our defence get very little help from our CM. Matic does not have the legs and Pogba is a liability unless he is paired with two strong runners in CM. Even van Dijk would look bad playing behind our CM.

Bailly's pass leading to Spurs's third goal is why I do not trust him and Bailly and Lindelöf are both inferior to Maguire.

We should keep Maguire, buy a pacy CB and play Fred or McTominay in CM, ideally buy Partey if we miss out on Sancho.

Realistically we are stuck with what we have.
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VVD looking poor at United is a myth that I’m not interested in discussing.

Maguire being our best defender is quickly turning to a myth too since he’s performances do not justify nor explains said label.

Mctominay is a bum and Fred’s form fluctuates wildly. These players won’t bail out or make up for Maguire’s shortcomings.

Maguire made errors that led directly to 3 or 4 goals today, but Bailly’s pass for the third is what you zero on in?
 
We should never have signed Maguire. I said so at the time. Had we signed Alderweireld or Boateng the year before, we could've got centre backs arguably as good for far less. Had we opted to pay a bit more and gone for Koulibaly instead of Maguire we would be much better off.

Maguire would not get near the best Man Utd sides. Maguire's weakness at 1v1 defending means that Sir Alex would never have spent £80 on him nevermind £80m. In fact I am fairly sure when we signed him it was reported that Sir Alex scouted him as a youngster and opted against moving for him because he's slow.

We've f-d ourselves with this transfer. This man, who is supposed to be a leader, cannot organise a defence. He cannot tell his defenders where they should be. He cannot even execute a simple back header despite his supposed aerial prowess.

He's walking around with the captain's armband for my club and he hasn't got a single captain's quality that jumps out at me.

Even if we wanted to sell him who would want him? Who does Maguire actually improve?
 
TsuWave said:
VVD looking poor at United is a myth that I’m not interested in discussing.

Maguire being our best defender is quickly turning to a myth too since he’s performances do not justify nor explains said label.

Mctominay is a bum and Fred’s form fluctuates wildly. These players won’t bail out or make up for Maguire’s shortcomings.

Maguire made errors that led directly to 3 or 4 goals today, but Bailly’s pass for the third is what you zero on in?
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Of course he made several poor mistakes today, but there is a reason why he starts every game for us. He had a good but not great first season with us. Bailly and Lindelöf are both inferior.

Fred and McTominay are not good enough if we are to compete for top four.

But the window closes in less than 24h and it would be a surprise if we signed a CB or DCM. Can Ole sort our defence? I doubt it, we lack pace and mobility.
 
TsuWave said:
There’s been incessant talk of getting a partner for the £80M CB we bought from Leicester to get the best out of him, but truthfully, I don’t think Maguire is good enough to be starting for us, and I feel we’ll need to find a “partner” for the so called “partner” we are supposed to be looking for Maguire.

I fail to see anything he excels at. Positioning, aggressiveness, leadership/organising, speed, tackling, sweeping/covering. Nothing. Maybe he’s decent aerially, but even then he’s extremely wasteful when in the opposition box. His conduct off the pitch is also questionable.

Should we try and get some of the money back?

Discuss.
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Lets not destroy him for an admittedly diabolical start to the season, maybe head not tright after the summer. Lets face the facts that Lindelof and Bailly both dont seem suitable and have been absolutely awful partners in reality.

BUT I am also starting to feel similar to you that he would improve with the right partner, but is he really good enough for us anyway? When we signed him although knew we had to pay it, thought the fee was ridiculous. For me he is an exceptional championship style defender. Big, tough, strong and decent on the ball but an elite defender, absolutely not. When whether they would come or not another question, the likes of Koulibailly and ROmagnoli woul dbe similar fees....paying that for Maguire makes it all the more ludicrous. For all the fantastic young talent in the current England squad, Maguire highlights one area we are currently woefully short as he is England sbest defender....but a Butcher, Ferdinand, Walker, Terry he isnt in a million years. I do still think with a great partner he could be a decent defender for us and form a good partnership, but £80m is still a ridiculous fee for a "decent" centre back.
As others have mentioned, why consider selling him though, no club would pay anywhere near the fee we shelled out for him.....and also, Bailly, Lindelof, Jones, Smalling, Rojo.....Id still rather sell pretty much all of them ahead of him which brings in a similar fee to what we paid. We need to sign two centre backs the summer we signed Maguire,w e didnt. We need to sign a quality centre back this window, we wont....we may well be needing to sign two again com ethe summer
 
Simple answer is NO as he cost £80m and was good last year. Ole has to find a way to rehabilitate him.
 
Very limited defender, most knew it was bonkers to drop £80m on him, but as with many of our players, always seem to be playing a level or two below they’re ability, whether that be good, average or crap.

Can only put that on the manager really. We blamed Moyes, LVG & Mourinho for having a team with seemingly no coherent plan, don’t see what the difference here is.
 
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