[Dearg hÉireann]

He's been such a disappointing signing. I knew he had his limitations, lack of speed on the turn etc but I've been surprised at how poor he really is.
Obviously when he played for Leicester or England, I knew he wasn't world class but Leicester absolutely bent our Eddie over the barrel getting 80 big ones for him.
Scholes summed him up perfectly last night in one word "wooden".
He's not vocal enough, doesn't lead by example and is probably just a wee bit better than lindelof ability wise and that's saying something because he's absolute rubbish.
Basically our defence is no better than when smalling and Blind were playing together and our two CBs have cost almost 100 million, the mind baffles at some of our purchases.

 

[Morpheus 7]

Awful captain, an okay player presented as big game player. Let's us down so much. Then game after game after shit interview. Him and Lindelof mess up the shape of the side, two overated slow bstards.

 

[Volumiza]

really has been awful since about Christmas last year!

He might have had a poor game last night but honestly, what bullsh*t.

Ole's refusal to drop him or even sub him is becoming a real issue!

He wont drop him because he's still our best CB and what are his other options? Drop him for who exactly?

 

[RedStarUnited]

Lindelof at fault there, he vacated his area to chase a man out wide and left Maguire with 2 men in the middle. Maguire then gets caught in 2 minds on who to track and the ball ends up as it does.

Like 10 seconds before that goal, Lindelof has the ball in our box and makes a careless pass to Pogba. Angelio intercepts it, goes wide and crossing for the killer goal.

 

[Nytram Shakes]

He might have had a poor game last night but honestly, what bullsh*t.

disagree, his from dipped before the 1st lockdown, at the time I thought it was just cos he needed a rest as he was playing every minute of every game, so understandably looked shattered.
But since the restart, he has been awful, players just skip by him, his positioning is bad, he makes silly mistakes. He has not been playing well.

He wont drop him because he's still our best CB and what are his other options? Drop him for who exactly?

I mean that's a fair point our defensive options aren't exactly great. which just sort of says how bad our recruitment has been we have first-team centre backs on the books and they are either always injured or just plain bad. But personally last night think Lindleof deserved to stay on instead of Maguire. Neither were great but Maguire was the worst of the 2. Subbing Maguire at least shows if you play that badly no matter who you are you will get taken off.

 

[Apokalips]

He’s in the Cahill, Upson, Dawson bracket of English defenders. Probably yet to show Cahill's top level yet though

I have said this before that if he existed back in the days of Campbell, Rio, Terry, etc. then Maguire would just be seen as another Lescott, but was told that was nonsense. Standards have fallen for him to be considered anything other than 'very good' at best. He is nowhere near the class of defender that should command a world record fee.

 

[ghaliboy]

I wonder how he would have gone if he came in under minimal fuss for around 30-40m pounds and was the sidekick for Smalling. He certainly isn't the big blockbuster defender that his transfer fee demanded and I think we've had enough time to evaluate that.

 

[Volumiza]

disagree, his from dipped before the 1st lockdown, at the time I thought it was just cos he needed a rest as he was playing every minute of every game, so understandably looked shattered.
But since the restart, he has been awful, players just skip by him, his positioning is bad, he makes silly mistakes. He has not been playing well.

I'll politely disagree with your disagreement there fella, I think he's been a pretty good and steady performer for us and although he has some weaknesses, our defence has been better since he joined us (in my humble view ). I think the biggest issue is the combination of Maguire and Lindelof. Maguire would look totally different with some pace alongside him. They both can make life difficult for each other at times.

Neither were great but Maguire was the worst of the 2. Subbing Maguire at least shows if you play that badly no matter who you are you will get taken off.

Can't disagree with that though, I wouldn't like to say who was worse really, I don't think there was much in it between those two and the rest of the team. However, he shouldn't just stay on because he's Harry Maguire and the captain.

 

[GueRed]

Our best centre-back. Him, Bruno and Rashford are our most important players.

imagine Lindelof and Bailly/Jones in defence the last 18 months

Cant believe Bailly, Jones and Rojo are still on the books tbh!!

 

[Paranoid Android]

People are always criticising Smalling for being good at the defensive stuff and crap on the ball.

Well, this is what happens when you have a decent-to-good ball-playing defender that can't defend.

I know which one I'd rather have.

 

[Bobski]

Still find it odd that Ole did not at least try Smalling with Maguire before the initial loan.

Lindelof and Maguire flatter to deceive as pure defenders, they can look the part enough to get by at times, but the results tell a story.

 

[Adnan]

He's a CB that is good in a deep defensive line where he can stay in his comfort zone and head balls away. But he sure isn't a CB that is strong playing in isolation like the RBL CBs are capable of doing and are required to do in Nagelsmann's high risk front foot approach.. Konate didn't have his best game yesterday but I don't believe that was a penalty that was given against him and neither was he involved in the potential O.G which has been wrongly attributed to him by one poster on the previous page. It was actually Mukiele who almost scored a own goal and not Konate.

With Maguire we're sacrificing attack intent for defensive stability due to his short comings and we end up defending with 6 players in a deeper defensive block. And our use of fullbacks has been absolutely awful for several years when it comes to providing width which compounds things further. People talk about about a lack of patterns but when your CBs and fullbacks don't have the ability to either defend higher up the pitch or fullbacks who consistently don't give you the extra passing option which creates triangles then you won't see patterns.

 

[Murray3007]

my biggest problem with him is the interview before the game, talking like they defended well v PSG, a mean he got put on his arse twice, they walked threw the whole team for the first goal and the 2nd goal we could have cleared many times, and last night was just awful, its time hes dropped and sold as well. wont ever be good enough for what we want to be, even if we had got him for free i would be happy to see the back of him.

 

[Craig Ward]

He gets in the team because he's "better than the rest"

Awful CB. Terribly exposed. How on earth we paid 80mil for him is beyond me.

He's a terrible captain, always exposed and only strides forward with the ball with any intent when we are 3-0 down and there;s minutes left.

Plays with no intensity. Useless on the ball and has a mistake in him.

80mil like. Jesus wept

 

[kouroux]

He gets in the team because he's "better than the rest"

Awful CB. Terribly exposed. How on earth we paid 80mil for him is beyond me.

He's a terrible captain, always exposed and only strides forward with the ball with any intent when we are 3-0 down and there;s minutes left.

Plays with no intensity. Useless on the ball and has a mistake in him.

80mil like. Jesus wept

I'd say he gets in the team because he cost a lot. That's it. He isn't significantly better than the other CBs

 

[Hawks2008]

Putrid player, genuinely dislike him.

 

[ti vu]

You have to ask what the hell is Lindelof doing there?

Why is he leaving the centre of the goal when there is 2 players there, to chase after somebody running to the edge of the box? leave that to Pogba and Mctominay.

Maguire ends up having to cover the front post man and ends up leaving Kluivert. I missed this live but no wonder our defence is all over the place - they literally ARE all over the place?!

Just stay in the middle and protect your goal ffs.

It's a collective mess of our defensive unit.

Pogba ball watched after pressing. McTominay switched off completely to pick up the runner. Lindelof spotted him then chose to mark him. Maguire onto Poulsen leaving Kluivert... William just didn't know what to do.

Second goal is similar. Maguire was dragged toward Lindelof by Olmo run. This means Telles had to follow Forsberg, and defended narrow, leaving Haidara free. We have Shaw overstepped Matić zonal. Despite having adequate number of defensive players to deal with Leipzig attack, we ended leaving Leipzig player free.

Maguire and DDG took the most blame for individual bad decision in this case, but coaching is the issue when similar theme keeps appearing. The lack of communication and organization is shocking. Are we doing zonal marking or man to man marking? Why does it look like our players don't give each other a shout, if they need to change their mark? Lot of ball watching, and acting on instinct.

 

[lsd]

I wonder how he would have gone if he came in under minimal fuss for around 30-40m pounds and was the sidekick for Smalling. He certainly isn't the big blockbuster defender that his transfer fee demanded and I think we've had enough time to evaluate that.

It is really nothing to do with his fee. Jones cost 16 million and gets slated for every bad performance.

Maguire is just a poor defender. Most of us knew that when he signed. He has too many serious faults in his game. Pace, positioning no awareness, no leadership and more.

None of those have anything to do with his fee.

 

[UnitedChampionsAgain]

Can't think of one part of his game which is impressive. Average in the air. For a man of his size 6'5" that's pathetic. Average to weak on the ball. Most of his passes are short and safe with the longer ones rarely successful. Slow as f#ck and easily dribbled, turned, nutmegged etc. Can't organise the defence, really needs someone to organise him. He's only going to get slower so I can't see a good future with him at our club. Really needs replacing like many of his teammates.

 

[lex talionis]

Harry needs to take his profession much more seriously. Allowing the ball to roll across him into danger was shocking beyond all belief.

 

[jeff gurr]

When he played at Leicester he was alongside Jonny Evans who improves everyone around him. When he made a mistake Evans tended to be there to cover for him. Having said that, he appears to have deteriorated since joining Manchester. No real pressure at Leicester but all the pressure in the world at Manchester. It looks to be too much for him.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

You have to ask what the hell is Lindelof doing there?

Why is he leaving the centre of the goal when there is 2 players there, to chase after somebody running to the edge of the box? leave that to Pogba and Mctominay.

Maguire ends up having to cover the front post man and ends up leaving Kluivert. I missed this live but no wonder our defence is all over the place - they literally ARE all over the place?!

Just stay in the middle and protect your goal ffs.

You kind of answered your own question. Neither Pogba or McTominay go with the runner and someone has to get to him to try and stop a possible easy ball across. Therefore Lindelof goes.

 

[ghaliboy]

It is really nothing to do with his fee. Jones cost 16 million and gets slated for every bad performance.

Maguire is just a poor defender. Most of us knew that when he signed. He has too many serious faults in his game. Pace, positioning no awareness, no leadership and more.

None of those have anything to do with his fee.

This post completely contradicts itself.

 

[elnorte]

He's a good centre half and has had some impressive performances since he joined United. Unfortunately he is a shadow of the great central defenders that played here during the Fergie era and the £80 million fee has become the proverbial albatross around his neck. He might actually still be one of better players in the world in his position but of course there exists a significant dearth of quality there at the moment.

 

[Water Melon]

Ole's biggest signing turned out to be a huge let down. AWB is not pulling any trees either, whereas people continue to praise Ole for how good his signings are. Or maybe the gaffer does not have much of a positive contribution to his players' development. And yes, he is no captain material. We all know who deserves the armband. The state of Harry in that Martial incident. Deary me...

 

[Tapori]

When he played at Leicester he was alongside Jonny Evans who improves everyone around him. When he made a mistake Evans tended to be there to cover for him. Having said that, he appears to have deteriorated since joining Manchester. No real pressure at Leicester but all the pressure in the world at Manchester. It looks to be too much for him.

I genuinely rated Evans and had he stayed he would have been admirably reliable without touching top

 

[Tapori]

Ole's biggest signing turned out to be a huge let down. AWB is not pulling any trees either, whereas people continue to praise Ole for how good his signings are. Or maybe the gaffer does not have much of a positive contribution to his players' development. And yes, he is no captain material. We all know who deserves the armband. The state of Harry in that Martial incident. Deary me...

What happened?

 

[Water Melon]

What happened?

This happened. Captain my arse...

 

[jeff gurr]

I genuinely rated Evans and had he stayed he would have been admirably reliable without touching top

He is not flash but just does his job. He improves who he plays with.

 

[elnorte]

"Maguire seemed keen to take his share of the blame, and in fairness he works hard on the pitch to ensure he deserves it."

Graeme Le Saux

 

[Desert Eagle]

Imagine he was black and foreign. Now imagine the press reaction to his play world record fee and the stuff in Greece. This guy gets an unbelievably free pass. A lot of united fans myself included would rather have smalling who ole sent out on loan than the 80 million club captain. Jesus wept

 

[arthurka]

Jesus has been doing an awful lot of weeping lately.

 

[K stand Red]

Jesus has been doing an awful lot of weeping lately.

Wait for just after 7pm tonight!! Looking at the Manchester weather today I think he may be getting in some early practice!

 

[mu4c_20le]

Deserves some credit for keeping Sterling and Jesus quiet

 

[TrustInOle]

Gets his fair share of opinions, most valid, and may not be £80m worth of talent. But far and away the best CB at the club. I've said it before, and might not be amongst the most popular opinion, but regardless of price tag, he is the best CB we have had since Rio and Vidic were together. Not saying he is as good as, but I'm quite happy with our captain.

 

[A-man]

Defensively a giant today, but had some poor passes and clearances that gave city some good chances.

 

[Fussmeister]

Good game. Do think he and VNL are good with the ball but lack of movement from midfield makes it hard to look good on the ball.

 

[Volumiza]

Dodgy passes aside, a really good defensive showing today, best CB we have.

 

[Cutch]

Think he did ok defensively but my god do I hate the speed he plays football at. Those long balls he attempts too are so slow and floaty, and not very accurate either to be honest. They very often end up going straight out or force a player to head just to keep in play and often surrender possession as a result

 

[RedRonaldo]

Did well today. Probably his best game this season,.