Imagine another player is captain - do you want a new CB to partner with Lindelof or Maguire?

[groovyalbert]

Completely echoing a point made across the caf, but neither Maguire or Lindelof are an issue. Them together is simply not a sustainable partnership.

For every clean sheet at Anfielf, they'll always have a performance a la the one this weekend v Everton in them. Simply not reliable enough.

Not enough pace or determination/belief there. Both Lindelof and Maguire's weaknesses are the same, you can't have a CB pairing where one doesn't make up for the other and vice versa.

 

[TrustInOle]

Nail on the head. Too many people are willing to admit that De Gea is the real elephant in the room.

Yup. It's not just the recent clangers, you can sense the unease within the defense when he becomes involved in the play. Even during the everton game, there was a moment Maguire allowed one of their balls to go over him, expecting De Gea to come for it and begin another attack, which he didn't, and you could see the disgust in Harry's reaction for him allowing the game to slow down. It may be one example, but I've seen numerous scenarios that are similar.

I will always adore him and his time with us, but 2 years left on his contract should give us serious consideration in trying to move him on. The trust and confidence between our CB's and GK just isn't there and stats show it.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Maguire is a better player than Lindeof.

If that's what you're asking.

The answer is Maguire.

 

[ROFLUTION]

Lindelof has pr 90 minutes made more personal errors that has cost us than Maguire, so keep Maguire for me. Both have improved this season for us though.

 

[Teja]

Easily Maguire. He needs to be paired with a defender that's quick + tall. Someone like Upamecano maybe, but I only know about him in theory and have watched him play maybe a couple of times where he did nothing to stand out.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Easy choice. It is Lindelof. He is calm and he is smarter and can make some great passes.

Maguire is an ok-ish defender. He makes some ridiculous decisions sometimes. And his positioning is also strange. He makes some sudden runs to one side, leaving the partner to cover up too much ground. And also too slow to make up his mind.
In short, I think Maguire makes the defense very tense. People blame even this on Lindelof for some strange reason.

I think there is an unfair criticism of Lindelof in this forum, mostly related to 2 things - physicality and heading abilities. Lindelof has better defensive awareness than Maguire IMO. A quality defender alongside Lindelof will bring much more calm and stop the stupidities. Maguire is however the fitter and stronger.
Sounds like a personal preference to me.

Having said that, I think a proper DM will make the Maguire, Lindelof partnership work better. A prime Matic would have worked wonders with the partnership.
Fred and McT, though much useful are not the answer. Putting VDB or Pogba into that mix, makes it worse.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

Think the question should have been who should partner Bailly better than both Maguire and Lindelof imo, had he been better with injuries he would have been our first choice center back.

We should be getting Lucas Hernandez (sp?) from Bayern, class defender and the only other one was Diaz who is twice the player of Maguire and half the price tag.

Maguire was bought on the back of a decent World Cup and only captain because we paid way over the odds for him.

 

[simplyared]

Maguire and its not even close.

 

[davidmichael]

Both are much better when paired with a partner with pace as seen by Lindelof alongside Tuanzebe and Maguire alongside Bailly but if I had to pick one then I’d pick Maguire as he has better attributes for the league, that said I think having Henderson behind the centre backs would help too as our defenders seem to have lost confidence in De Gea.

 

[Borys]

I'm just curious in reading supporter opinion about this.

Consider Bruno/Rashford or whoever is captain, who would you rather see partner with a new CB target for next season? Lindelof and Maguire are both slow and have moments where they are not as commanding as they should be. Neither are bad defenders, but which one would you rather be our starter?

For me, it is Lindelof. I think he's just a cleverer defender than Maguire is positionally and I actually prefer seeing him on the ball, he's capable of great passes in behind.

In my opinion they are both decent to good defenders. They just don't work well together, so what I'd do is:

• In EPL play Maguire + 1. We need aerial presence on the right side of defense, it's the biggest weakness for both Lindelof and AWB
• Play Lindelof + 1 in Europe and cups. Our back 4 won't be challenged that much in the air in those games, but there is no space for slow defenders in Champions League

Obviously the biggest issue (gk) is still not solved but we absolutely need a CB to challenge at every stage.

Edit: Maybe if it's easier to get a DM we could experiment with McTominay who seems to be having all the attributes for a CB.

 

[RUCK4444]

It’s Maguire and a new guy. Not even a sensible debate really.

Maguire has his limits and we overpaid but he’s comfortably better than Lindelof, by a distance ffs.

 

[Rojofiam]

Easily Maguire whether he's captain or not.

 

[Darlington Padgett]

Ideally none, but we're stuck with Maguire so it has to be him.

 

[He'sRaldo]

Lindelof, I think his weaknesses are more easily compensated for. Maguire's weaknesses are pace, positioning and a propensity to be rinsed by attackers, whoever is his partner has their work cut out.

Yup, Maguire's weaknesses are too opposing to what a big club needs.

He's world class for a Burnley or West Brom, but for a bigger club he's the opposite; a liability.

 

[bsCallout]

Lindelof should obviously be our back up too. It's not a case of selling either.

 

[bsCallout]

Exactly, Maguire's weaknesses are too opposing to what a big club needs.

He's world class for a Burnley or West Brom, but for a bigger club he's the opposite; a liability.

Wonder why Pep and Jose wanted him then.

Lindelof has no strengths. He'll be targeted by any club.

 

[eire-red]

Lindelof doesn't do a lot wrong, but unfortunately he doesn't really do much of anything in general.

Maguire is invaluable in games where we come under aerial bombardments. Lindelof doesn't bring any outstanding qualities to the CB line bar being fit and not making any shockers that Bailly and Tuanzebe are prone too. Positionally he is quite good, a good reader of the game, so he is comparable to Blind in my eyes. A good player, but doesn't really excel at anything.

In short, Maguire has more dominant qualities to bring to the table (aerial threat, goals, ability on the ball) to try and look for a compatible partner. With Lindelof, there is too much 'averageness' to his game, you need a more complete player to cover for Lindelof than you do for Maguire.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Eric Bailly is our best centre back.

Lindelof isn’t bad but he’s isn’t good either & offers nothing physically. Maguire is very strong physically but has massive deficiencies which mean he needs his hand held.

I think we need two centre backs.

 

[RashyForPM]

Essentially a Maguire vs Lindelof thread, and in that case, I’d certainly partner Maguire with the new CB, whether that be Ramos, Upamecano or someone else, over Lindelof. For me, Maguire is a good reader of the game, as you can tell with his high amount of interceptions every game and a good defender when you consider his ability to get his body in the way of shots and excellent aerial ability. He’s also better than Lindelof with the ball imo as he plays far more penetrative passes to the wings every game, and despite the criticism on here, he offers far more goal threat than Victor.

Of course, he is very slow, which I feel makes him weary at times like when he played everyone onside against Everton, but that is one bad part of his game. Lindelof is a jack of no trades, master of absolutely none. People call Maguire slow, which is true, but so is Lindelof. Let’s not all call Maguire awful just because of the mistake against Everton when De Gea was absolutely awful as well (he should be simply replaced by Deano).

For me, Maguire is the best CB at the club. A better comparison would be Maguire vs Bailly actually, latter is a very good defender when fit.

 

[No Spring Chicken]

Maguire, no question. Maguire has all the same strengths as Lindelof, plus others Lindelof doesn’t have.

 

[He'sRaldo]

Wonder why Pep and Jose wanted him then.

Lindelof has no strengths. He'll be targeted by any club.

No idea how badly Pep wanted him, but we do know that Jose plays no different to West Brom nowadays so him wanting Maguire makes sense.

As for Lindelof, make no mistake it's not a post advocating for him. He is indeed average, but he's simply not as much a liability in certain situations than Maguire is. And those situations are what we will constantly find ourselves in if we intend to play like a big team and throw men forward.

In those situations Maguire needs to be accommodated more so than Lindelof, and given that their average level of performances are no different I'd choose Lindelof for that sole reason.

 

[bsCallout]

No idea how badly Pep wanted him, but we do know that Jose plays no different to West Brom nowadays so him buying Maguire makes sense.

As for Lindelof, make no mistake it's not a post advocating for him. He is indeed average, but he's simply not as much a liability in certain situations than Maguire is. And those situations are what we will constantly find ourselves in if we intend to play like a big team and throw men forward.

In those situations Maguire needs to be accommodated more so than Lindelof, and given that their average level of performances are no different I'd choose Lindelof for that sole reason.

I'm not sure what these situations are, can you give me some examples from games because whenever I watch us, Lindelof is the one that looks vulnerable to me.

 

[Valencia's Left Foot]

I'm just curious in reading supporter opinion about this.

Consider Bruno/Rashford or whoever is captain, who would you rather see partner with a new CB target for next season? Lindelof and Maguire are both slow and have moments where they are not as commanding as they should be. Neither are bad defenders, but which one would you rather be our starter?

For me, it is Lindelof. I think he's just a cleverer defender than Maguire is positionally and I actually prefer seeing him on the ball, he's capable of great passes in behind.

Maguire over Lindelof all day. Lindelof is terrible in the air and gets out-muscled far too easily.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Left field answer - neither because I think they're fine but I'd absolutely get a DM who is able to cover. We simply don't have one so how can we ever be good defensively?

 

[No Spring Chicken]

Completely echoing a point made across the caf, but neither Maguire or Lindelof are an issue. Them together is simply not a sustainable partnership.

For every clean sheet at Anfielf, they'll always have a performance a la the one this weekend v Everton in them. Simply not reliable enough.

Not enough pace or determination/belief there. Both Lindelof and Maguire's weaknesses are the same, you can't have a CB pairing where one doesn't make up for the other and vice versa.

Id also add that De Gea doesnt complement them either. They're both slow, and De Gea's one of the slowest in the league to come off his line, meaning we can't comfortably play a high line. Likewise, Lindelof is pretty meh in the air, and De Gea is one of the worst in that regard too, so two out of three are susceptible to high balls. Its no surprise we suffer from corners and free kicks. Granted De Gea's shot stopping has also deserted him these days, but even if he were in peak form on making saves, he'd be a bad combination with those two defenders,

 

[T00lsh3d]

Lindelof isn’t physical enough for a centre back.

 

[Poborsky's hair]

I'm just curious in reading supporter opinion about this.

Consider Bruno/Rashford or whoever is captain, who would you rather see partner with a new CB target for next season? Lindelof and Maguire are both slow and have moments where they are not as commanding as they should be. Neither are bad defenders, but which one would you rather be our starter?

For me, it is Lindelof. I think he's just a cleverer defender than Maguire is positionally and I actually prefer seeing him on the ball, he's capable of great passes in behind.

I respect that people can have different opinions but threads like this just makes me think if how crazy or lack of judgment some fans can have. It´s not even close. Maguire is far better player in pretty much every aspect of the game and in some ways it´s ridiculously ovbious how much better he is. Last game, Maguire hadone of his worse games that´s for sure but even in this games, Lindelof beat him to be a worse player. Apart that Maguire is one of our best playersthis season, not only defensively but adding another dimension to attack. Lindelof is just a passanger and every time we don´t concede after his mistake Lindelof fanboys will come and praise him to noend. Ridiculous.

Now close the thread.

 

[He'sRaldo]

I'm not sure what these situations are, can you give me some examples from games because whenever I watch us, Lindelof is the one that looks vulnerable to me.

1v1 vs tricky/pacy attackers. It doesn't happen very often because we've played relatively conservatively (especially the fullbacks and dual DM's) due to the lack of pace at the back. As for examples, 3 off the top of my head are vs Neymar, vs Berwijn, and vs DCL.

And even saying that, Lindelof isn't good at that aspect either despite improving on his usual backing off routine. But Maguire is poor enough at it for me to marginally prefer Lindelof over him.

When we start regularly sending 2 fullbacks and 1 of the DM's up to attack and fill the box, we'll definitely need CB's that are at least not a liability in that area.

 

[Dominos]

Maguire because he actually has some strengths - he's physically and aerially dominant. And he gets on the end of more set pieces on the attacking end.

Lindelof is kind of jack of all trades, not really excelling anywhere. Maguire's big weakness is obviously his pace but Lindelof is hardly a pace merchant himself.

 

[slored1]

Why would anyone choose Lindelöf out of the two? He's worse in the air, worse on the ball, worse one-on-one, the only thing he has above Maguire is his positioning.

 

[MattofManchester]

Sod the two of them. We have the mighty Jones, and bringing in a Mustafi would best compliment him.

Endless Memes.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Maguire is obviously better, besides being slow as feck he is better at most things than Lindelof. The problem with him is that he is just good, and we paid a worldclass fee for him. If asked who I would rather buy Lindelof for 30M or Maguire for 80M I would choose Lindelof any day, but if only asked who I would rather choose then its got to be Maguire.

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

Maguire’s better than Lindelöf at absolutely everything, except pace.
A partner can easily cover Maguire’s shortfalls, not even Franco Baresi could cover the Swede, he’s a weak as piss centre half.

You’ve perfectly articulated my thoughts.

Maguire and it’s not even close.

 

[MichaelRed]

Why do people think Maguire is so dominant in the air? I think he's one of the worst players I've seen in the air. He misreads the flight of the ball all the time and is hardly ever there to challenge the header, we concede to so many crosses it's unreal. He commands nothing. Then at the other end of the pitch he's so wasteful and misses 15 free headers before scoring 1. Blows my mind how overrated his aerial ability is.

 

[SER19]

Maguire and a new player. Both would improve alongside a better partner and an improved maguire would be better

 

[bsCallout]

1v1 vs tricky/pacy attackers. It doesn't happen very often because we've played relatively conservatively (especially the fullbacks and dual DM's) due to the lack of pace at the back. As for examples, 3 off the top of my head are vs Neymar, vs Berwijn, and vs DCL.

And even saying that, Lindelof isn't good at that aspect either despite improving on his usual backing off routine. But Maguire is poor enough at it for me to marginally prefer Lindelof over him.

When we start regularly sending 2 fullbacks and 1 of the DM's up to attack and fill the box, we'll definitely need CB's that are at least not a liability in that area.

DCL didn't expose Maguire. Bergwyn skinned him like Rashy and Greenwood have VVD and I don't recall the Neymar one tbh.

Lindelof has no redeeming factors, Maguire at least has those.

There is this idea that Maguire gets exposed but very few have ever actually got the better of him. Teams target Lindelof for a reason.

 

[bsCallout]

Left field answer - neither because I think they're fine but I'd absolutely get a DM who is able to cover. We simply don't have one so how can we ever be good defensively?

I kind of agree, I think Fred as our DM and DDG as GK are much more of a concern than our CB pair(we should still get a better one though).

 

[tomaldinho1]

Maguire is one of the best centre backs in the league, we just over paid for him.

Arguably the best in Jose's system at Spurs but exposed in Ole's high line. This is the issue, not that we overpaid for him but that we're using him in a role where he will keep getting caught in the manner he does - same for lindelof. He is however the best of the two of them, especially now it looks like Lindelof needs surgery whereas Maguire is concrete Ron reborn.

Excellent player in the right setup but it's very typical of our recruitment post SAF, we spent a world record for a CB on a player who doesn't perfectly fit our tactics.

 

[DaMan]

Why do people think Maguire is so dominant in the air? I think he's one of the worst players I've seen in the air. He misreads the flight of the ball all the time and is hardly ever there to challenge the header, we concede to so many crosses it's unreal. He commands nothing. Then at the other end of the pitch he's so wasteful and misses 15 free headers before scoring 1. Blows my mind how overrated his aerial ability is.

Yeah, how anyone can label HM as excellent in the air is really mindblowing.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

Arguably the best in Jose's system at Spurs but exposed in Ole's high line. This is the issue, not that we overpaid for him but that we're using him in a role where he will keep getting caught in the manner he does - same for lindelof. He is however the best of the two of them, especially now it looks like Lindelof needs surgery whereas Maguire is concrete Ron reborn.

Excellent player in the right setup but it's very typical of our recruitment post SAF, we spent a world record for a CB on a player who doesn't perfectly fit our tactics.

I'm not doubting what you're saying, but purely because I can't think of many, can you give any examples where this has directly lead to goals against this season?