Mail ~ JAAP STAM: Man United need to look at their recruitment after forking out £80m on Harry Maguire - Wes Brown was FAR quicker and better

FrankDrebin

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Not disagreeing but his best performance that year was at CB in the Barca semi. Greatest compliment I can give is that it didn’t matter that Vidic was out
His Berg moment.

Actually, Berg and Wes is actually a decent comparison. I think Berg played RB a few occasions to when Neville was out.
 

villain

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Young Wes Brown was a disaster. The number of silly mistakes he made in the early 00s. Him, Barthez, Blanc and Silvestre were like watching the keystone cops at times.
I wouldn't say disaster, he was the least experienced in that backline and truthfully most of the team struggled in the early 00's, it was probably Fergie's weakest team.
Wes always needed a leader next to him and in that backline there was none, so it's no surprise he struggled.
But that in no way defined his career imo, I still think he's underrated.
 

devilish

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Wes was a good all round defender but, had it not been for injuries, he would've been better than Terry and Vidic ? come on now. This is scouse levels of delusion.

Anyway, I don't think injuries were the only issue Wes had at United. As I mentioned above, he sometimes lacked that arrogance and presence his teammate or rivals had ,which I think he himself admitted in a interview not long back.
I assure you mate, I am far from a Wes fan. In fact I criticised us keeping him for years (mostly because of his injury). However yes, I do believe that Wes could have been better then Terry and Vidic.
 

Silverman

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It was a f**king joke that we bought Maguire for £80m
I would have understood the signing for £35/£40m but the minute Leicester said anything more than that, we should have told them to stick it.
Indicative of our shambolic transfer business. Panic buying to try and plug holes.
 

Oranges038

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Young Wes Brown was a disaster. The number of silly mistakes he made in the early 00s. Him, Barthez, Blanc and Silvestre were like watching the keystone cops at times.
Triggered those Diego Tristan flashbacks..
 

Paxi

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Daisy Maguire putting yappy yip Jaap in 3,2,1…
 

luke511

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Maguire played under Phelan at Hull when they got relegated didn't he? He probably had something to do with it. Maguire looked dangerous from set pieces in his last game for Leicester vs utd, that was enough to convince Solskjaer to sign him. Similarly, AWB had a strong game in his last game vs utd as well. Feels like impulse purchases rather than scout recommendations to me.
 

The Corinthian

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I liked Wes but ,when of form, those players listed were much more dominant and influential . Those players gave huge confidence in those infront of them. Wes never had that stature, that arrogance but he was a technically good all-rounder.

Personally I rate Wes alongside CB's like Cahill, who was so underrated outside of Chelsea, who just needed that leader alongside them.
I liked Wes but ,when of form, those players listed were much more dominant and influential . Those players gave huge confidence in those infront of them. Wes never had that stature, that arrogance but he was a technically good all-rounder.

Personally I rate Wes alongside CB's like Cahill, who was so underrated outside of Chelsea, who just needed that leader alongside them.
Rio wasn’t as imperious as he was at the beginning of his career with us. He grew into the leader role. Same with Terry who benefited having someone senior like Carvalho next to him. I fully believe that if Wes didn’t have the injuries he had he would have grown into that leader type.
 

dinostar77

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Maguire was a Ole signing and Ole wanted british. There were better CBs available around europe. Now we are stuck with a CB who cant play a high block, who has no recovery pace and is generally very average, but hes british so its all ok.
 

Ayoba

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I remember a time at the cafe when I was just a long time lurker, there used to be a load of brown o.g 89 posts.

I don't know what point I am trying to make.
 

Rajma

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I took a lot of heat on here when we were just being linked with Maguire by saying that people just did not watch Leicester play more than a handful of times if they thought Maguire was any good. I mean I can forgive the posters but what on earth are our scouts doing? Must be the easiest job on the planet. Ole has set us back for a number of years with AWB and Maguire signings, unfortunately.
 

FrankDrebin

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I took a lot of heat on here when we were just being linked with Maguire by saying that people just did not watch Leicester play more than a handful of times if they thought Maguire was any good. I mean I can forgive the posters but what on earth are our scouts doing? Must be the easiest job on the planet. Ole has set us back for a number of years with AWB and Maguire signings, unfortunately.
Not really. They're good players, believe it or not. They're just not the players who are going to take us up to the level we aspire.

They've got enough of a decent reputation in the game to get good moves elsewhere, if they don't accept being back-up that is.
 

luke511

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I took a lot of heat on here when we were just being linked with Maguire by saying that people just did not watch Leicester play more than a handful of times if they thought Maguire was any good. I mean I can forgive the posters but what on earth are our scouts doing? Must be the easiest job on the planet. Ole has set us back for a number of years with AWB and Maguire signings, unfortunately.
The scouts probably thought the same as us, hence why we refused to sign him under Mourinho. Then Solskjaer and Phelan came along and insisted. The board got a lot of shit for not backing Mourinho in the market so they had no choice, especially given how much we needed a CB at the time.
 

El-Manos

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Thr Dutch do not like Harry Maguire.. first van der vaart now Stam :lol:. I thought he was good last season in his defence, horrible this season though.
 

Giggsy13

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I loved Stam and he was a proper no nonsense CB along with Vidic that this club has has had in the last 25 years. But he is being a little hypocritical giving that 10 mil was an insane price for a CB when Fergie bought him and there were critics about his mobility too
Stam lived up to the price, Maguire has not.
 

Giggsy13

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Thr Dutch do not like Harry Maguire.. first van der vaart now Stam :lol:. I thought he was good last season in his defence, horrible this season though.
Maguire has a weak mentality. The moment the pressure piled on, he was no where to be found. He’s a massive mistake and if Ralf recommends we move on from then we should listen. Ole and Woodward were enamoured by the English label and the thought of a reset with English players. It was a massive mistake when you consider Dias was available for less. Hindsight 20-20 but that’s what you get with incompetent buffoons running the club.
 

CallyRed

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Perfect opportunity just to post one of my favourite United chants

He's big,
He's bad,
He's Wesley Brown,
The hardest man in all the town,
With orange hair beware,
Come and have a go if you dare.

Beats Maguire alone on that description.
 

red4ever 79

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Cant argue with the article. Maguire is unfortunately for us a bang average CB who we massively overpaid for, and because we paid 80M it would be an expensive admission to have him on the bench. This is unfortunately part of the cultural problems also.
 

Idxomer

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The scouts probably thought the same as us, hence why we refused to sign him under Mourinho. Then Solskjaer and Phelan came along and insisted. The board got a lot of shit for not backing Mourinho in the market so they had no choice, especially given how much we needed a CB at the time.
Yep, don't think it had anything to do with the scouts. He had been on the club's radar for years dating back to when Moyes was the club and we kept passing on him at times he would've cost relatively very little.
 

Moriarty

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A lot of people said so at the time, it’s not like we all had the wool pulled over our eyes. Ole for whatever reason really liked him though, despite many knowing he wasn’t even the best centre back in Leicester never mind the league.
Didn't Jose want him but Woodward knocked him back?
 

tomaldinho1

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Maguire is a very good player having a bad season. Controversial I know.
Agree although he will always have an Achilles heel with his mobility issues, which isn't ideal for a record fee CB.
 

Deery

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Used to love when Brown would put in a bone crunching tackle on the left winger and it would be called getting browned he did it so regularly..
 

Ixion

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I can understand why we went for Maguire, even if the pricetag was absurd and he shouldn't be captain, but £45m for AWB on the back of one decent season for Palace was more of a head scratcher. We're always getting fleeced.
 

2 man midfield

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Didn't Jose want him but Woodward knocked him back?
Yeah he did, but Jose signed Bailly and Lindelöf so I’m not surprised the board doubted him when he came in demanding an expensive centre half for the third summer running.
 

Lentwood

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Whilst we're on the subject, just nipping back in to say that this over-the-top criticism of some of our players, and the constant efforts to undermine them by our own supporters is getting a bit dull now.

We can debate whether the likes of Maguire and Shaw are better than Wes Brown and Patrice Evra. We can debate whether they are world-class. No problem at all if people want to have those conversations, though I consider them pretty boring, each to their own.

However, what's getting really ridiculous is the hyperbolic criticism that seems to be thrown at what are objectively very good football players. Maguire and Shaw, for example, have both starred in an England side that's been fantastic at International level for a number of years now. Both players have shown excellent form for United at times, too.

I could go on and list other players who I feel are criticised unfairly, but the point I am trying to make, really, is that it seems to me that some posters are desperate to slam our players or our managers because it helps them believe that we are just one or two footballers or a decent manager away from winning trophies again. "If only that donkey Maguire was replaced", "if only Fred was replaced", "if only we had an attacking RB" etc....

Unfortunately, the last 7/8 seasons should have shown that is not the case. Good managers have come and gone. Good players have come and gone. Every time we have gotten excited about a new manager or a new player, within 18-24months (usually less), the bubble has burst and we're back to square one.

We've got to look at what is going on behind the scenes and in the Boardroom. Why are players like Shaw, Martial, Varane, Angel di Maria, Radamel Falcao, Paul Pogba etc...arriving at Manchester United and struggling? They're not "poor" players. I refuse to accept it. I watch plenty of football, and I watch teams like Brighton last night play good football with far inferior players. There's more too it than "this player is bad, that player is bad, this manager is bad" unfortunately
 

joedirt87

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Didn't Jose want him but Woodward knocked him back?
I think Jose wanted him that summer before he got sacked.Which I found weird because Jose got to see Maguire play well against United while he was at Hull once or twice but we never heard any attempt to get him then. He goes to Leicester and all of a sudden he wants United to spend 4x the price of what Leicester paid.