How do we sell Harry Maguire?

[K Stand Knut]

This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.

Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.

We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.

This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB for England.

If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career

 

[united for life]

This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.

Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.

We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.

This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB for England.

If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career

i hope he is dropped and he then makes this sensible decision.

i hate to say it, but he has massively underperformed it’s hurting us. Sometimes he struggles with basics

 

[Stacks]

This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.

Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.

We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.

This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB for England.

If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career

Its not an overreaction. Due to his cost and his ability, most are unsure as to whether he is viable as a long term starter, although he does have a place in the squad. Then having an £80mill player on the bench, some feel it may be worthwhile cashing in and upgrading.

 

[DSG]

For sure, he is bereft of confidence and way out of form. I do think there is a good CB in there, and we have seen it. He’s been awful this season no doubt, but he played well the first two years with us for the most part.

I can’t help but think that his weaknesses would be mitigated somewhat if we switched to a back 3 with Maguire - Varane - Lindelof. This would have the added bonus of solving our lack of a true DM (Matic’s legs are gone) by allowing that 3rd CB to step into the midfield when necessary to defend between the lines. I don’t see Ralf doing that, and it would have been interesting to see what Conte would have done to resurrect Maguire.

 

[Kaos]

For sure, he is bereft of confidence and way out of form. I do think there is a good CB in there, and we have seen it. He’s been awful this season no doubt, but he played well the first two years with us for the most part.

I can’t help but think that his weaknesses would be mitigated somewhat if we switched to a back 3 with Maguire - Varane - Lindelof. This would have the added bonus of solving our lack of a true DM (Matic’s legs are gone) by allowing that 3rd CB to step into the midfield when necessary to defend between the lines. I don’t see Ralf doing that, and it would have been interesting to see what Conte would have done to resurrect Maguire.

We shouldn't be changing our system to accommodate one player who you'd rightly argue isn't good enough to be starting as it is. Your argument for it somewhat compensating for our deficiencies in the DM position does hold merit, but I'd rather the players get accustomed to the system our current manager (and also likely the manager who succeeds him) would probably implement. Neither Poch nor Ten Hag play a back 5, so for me it doesn't make sense to adopt it just to shoehorn Harry into the side. I'd rather he was dropped and we look to strengthen in his position in the summer.

 

[NinjaZombie]

We have to be careful what we wish for. I think Maguire's confidence took a battering after our shambolic tactical approach at the start of the season, and I don't think it helps that his price tag and his prominence for United and England means he is scrutinised far more than other CBs.

I am not here for a back-and-forth argument, so please don't come back at this if it's just going to be all-out negativity. All I am saying is, even now, Maguire is still England's best CB, so if England's best CB isn't good enough for us, who do we go for next?

I certainly can't think of any player currently playing in the Premier League who would be available and is a better CB than Maguire (of course, there are better CBs, but they're not available). Yes, we could look oversees, but I have seen many a mighty reputation shattered when a player moves from another league to the PL, particularly CBs.

My preference would be, get behind Maguire until the end of the season and try to play him into form/confidence alongside Varane. IF we can get Maguire ad Varane working as a partnership, I believe that would be an excellent pairing.

Plus, let's face it, we need a CM and we need a CF. We're not going to be able to address all three positions in one Summer.

It's debatable if he's England's best centre back. Conor Coady and Josh Stones are pretty decent.

Putting that aside though, I'd say we can get a more suitable centre back for us and that's Victor Lindelof. At least Lindelof's head in screwed on straight this season, unlike Maguire, who looks like he's lost.

 

[tomaldinho1]

99% of people probably thought the goal being disallowed was complete BS but because it was Maguire, it just added fuel to their agenda fire

I think it was a bad VAR intervention but it was clumsy, why did he grab their striker as last man as well? He was so lucky to only get yellow there?

I get you are fighting his corner, which I respect, but he's been so bang out of form for so long now I do think we have to plan on a future where he's not in the starting XI if we want to win trophies.

 

[K Stand Knut]

i hope he is dropped and he then makes this sensible decision.

i hate to say it, but he has massively underperformed it’s hurting us. Sometimes he struggles with basics

He’s playing terribly at the moment and clearly bereft of any confidence but he isn’t the only one. People have short memories.

People also like to ignore other under-performing players and single out individuals for criticism or make them shoulder the blame.

He’s the current scapegoat and should rightfully be given an extended break from the team as soon as Lindelof is fit again

 

[united for life]

He’s playing terribly at the moment and clearly bereft of any confidence but he isn’t the only one. People have short memories.

People also like to ignore other under-performing players and single out individuals for criticism or make them shoulder the blame.

He’s the current scapegoat and should rightfully be given an extended break from the team as soon as Lindelof is fit again

am I all of this for saying he should go? Also, what short memory? Has he ever been good for us? I hate to say that our captain who cost us 70 million is a flop, but he is.

i’m not using him as a scapegoat. Surely not singling him out. The thread is literally about him, what can I do? In the right thread, i’d criticise awb, rashford, scot, fred and all of the other under performers.

 

[K Stand Knut]

am I all of this for saying he should go? Also, what short memory? Has he ever been good for us? I hate to say that our captain who cost us 70 million is a flop, but he is.

i’m not using him as a scapegoat. Surely not singling him out. The thread is literally about him, what can I do? In the right thread, i’d criticise awb, rashford, scot, fred and all of the other under performers.

Don’t take it so personally.

I’m not suggesting that you are the only person doing all or any of this.

Footballs fans in general do all of the above

 

[ti vu]

This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.

Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.

We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.

This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB for England.

If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career

It's not that simple though.

He is the captain. On high wage, and being England international starter is a more curse than blessing. Bench him but keep him around, and every single press conference, you have ABU media stick the knife in asking about him, and micro analyze his replacement performance to dramatize the situation. We're trying high risk football now. We're open to situation where our CB have to actually do real defending. There would be forgivable tactical (Maguire 2 latest goal conceding related errors are fatal unforgivable tactical error).

The best option in this situation is moving him on. We don't need the drama regarding why our captain is on the bench. And ridding him is not easy with his wage, the fee we paid, as well as his level of performance and his weaknesses. Also purchasing a good starting CB can be expensive, and we have a lot to do in this summer window regarding our pivot midfield position, forward position (Greenwood turning thing upside down now), full backs. It's not always easy to get a bargain and the right players may not be available now. It's a bitch if we lose out available great players in those other positions even at their market value, because we busily have to now fix our captain position.

 

[Hughie77]

It's a poor season for him and I thought he would be the perfect partner for Varane, but it hasn't worked . Maybe another Center back will be brought in in the summer. I've never ever thought Maguire was anywhere near the player everyone thought he was. He wasn't consistent for the foxes, but it's not highlighted as much because of the club he was at.
As for his price tag its just an English thing, I'm hoping its just a drop in form, but he's never been blest with pace to get himself out of trouble. Could we sell him I'd say yes, because if he does not Start or play for Utd no World cup for him , he'd want and need to go.

 

[honirelandboy]

If we had a midfield we might be at something, he's better than people are giving him credit for here.

The sooner we get quality midfielders in who can play 4-3-3 the better.

Bruno should play in the false 9 role.

 

[BusbyMalone]

He’s playing terribly at the moment and clearly bereft of any confidence but he isn’t the only one. People have short memories.

People also like to ignore other under-performing players and single out individuals for criticism or make them shoulder the blame.

He’s the current scapegoat and should rightfully be given an extended break from the team as soon as Lindelof is fit again

He's not being made a "scapegoat"

Jump into almost any other player performance thread on this forum and most of them are receiving a kicking off the fans. This just happens to be a thread on Maguire.

Not every criticism of a player is scapegoating. He's an issue. He's not the main issue, but he's a big one. It's also normal to focus more on him considering he's literally the most expensive CB in history and also our captain.

 

[Fortitude]

Agreed - it makes perfect sense that they were pushing hard for Sven Botman this past window, for instance.

Yes, and players of that profile and calibre make sense on every level whereas someone like Maguire, I don’t see what would be appealing about. He’s not even a mentor, which would have been the strongest reason I would have otherwise come up with.

 

[Redlyn]

He’s playing terribly at the moment and clearly bereft of any confidence but he isn’t the only one. People have short memories.

People also like to ignore other under-performing players and single out individuals for criticism or make them shoulder the blame.

He’s the current scapegoat and should rightfully be given an extended break from the team as soon as Lindelof is fit again

Which under performing player is ignored? The captain and most expensive players will obviously get it worse than others but who is actually ignored? Rashford, McT, Fred... Who?

 

[Rightnr]

He’s playing terribly at the moment and clearly bereft of any confidence but he isn’t the only one. People have short memories.

People also like to ignore other under-performing players and single out individuals for criticism or make them shoulder the blame.

He’s the current scapegoat and should rightfully be given an extended break from the team as soon as Lindelof is fit again

The only scapegoat here is our results due to an overhyped player who has NEVER performed anywhere near his price tag or the reputation that he somehow gained from a few average performances against crap teams with England and Leicester, all in a back three.

I would love to see what people like you would be writing if Pogba was anywhere near as bad as consistently as Maguire.

Defenders do not tend to cost as much as world superstar midfielders, so Maguire is probably about 50% more expensive in relative terms as Pogba (who is also a commercial asset) and yet Pogba is so often criticised for playing average, not even damn awful like Captain Craptastic.

 

[Roux]

This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.

Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.

We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.

This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB foer England.

If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career

When will people learn he is NOT out of form - this is just the kind of player he is and ALWAYS will be. He's coming up to 29yo in a month - he should be playing in his peak.
Not good enough and never will be - he's unfortunately a player who always has a mistake in him and you can't build a successful team around a captain like than.

 

[K Stand Knut]

The only scapegoat here is our results due to an overhyped player who has NEVER performed anywhere near his price tag or the reputation that he somehow gained from a few average performances against crap teams with England and Leicester, all in a back three.

I would love to see what people like you would be writing if Pogba was anywhere near as bad as consistently as Maguire.

Defenders do not tend to cost as much as world superstar midfielders, so Maguire is probably about 50% more expensive in relative terms as Pogba (who is also a commercial asset) and yet Pogba is so often criticised for playing average, not even damn awful like Captain Craptastic.

I presume this is a joke???

Pogba HAS literally been as bad consistently as Maguire.

 

[Rightnr]

I presume this is a joke???

Pogba HAS literally been as bad consistently as Maguire.

He absolutely has not. He's been underwhelming, Maguire is a disaster.

 

[TsuWave]

this very toxic dude on twitter made a list of all Harry's accomplishments

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

I hope we sell him

 

[TsuWave]

Pogba HAS literally been as bad consistently as Maguire.

this is such a shameless lie

 

[Stig]

Nobody is paying anything for him. We’ll have to run down his contract and renew it again.

Sounds like a good plan that we will follow through on.

 

[Greck]

When will people learn he is NOT out of form - this is just the kind of player he is and ALWAYS will be. He's coming up to 29yo in a month - he should be playing in his peak.
Not good enough and never will be - he's unfortunately a player who always has a mistake in him and you can't build a successful team around a captain like than.

We're just supposed to overlook frequent gamebreaking mistakes. If this was normal Jones would still be in the first team. Jones was cracking for 89 minutes and would lose his head once and almost sell the game, he wasn't good enough but it's supposedly okay for Maguire. Maguire has some kind of guardian angel where his mistakes weren't getting pounced on tillvery recent. It's pretty telling that his mistakes compilation contain a lot of games from the same periods people say he was world class. The most forgiven CB and club captain in United history.

 

[Brophs]

My main gripe with him is that we paid £80m and all the talk was that even though he wasn't absolutely top class, we were signing a rock solid character; a leader, who would be a 7/10 every week. Instead he goes through these massive, extended slumps in form every single season.

 

[VanDeBank]

The biggest issue is that he is our fittest / can cope with pain to play CB, so he plays. Varane, Lindelof, Bailly and Jones are always injured so Maguire plays.

C'mon. Linda played through a back injury in 20/21. He's available plenty and just had some bad luck recently.

This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.

Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.

We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.

This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB for England.

If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career

What does this mean? That he's keeping Tyrone Mings out of the XI?

Fred starts for Brazil.

I think both of them are good players when used correctly. I just think the playstyle to get the most out of Maguire is not something that suits/benefits us.

He really doesnt have the decision making to defend pro actively and he's uncomfortable defending large spaces. That limits him to a back 3, low block to excel.

 

[Bwuk]

Maguire could do with a long term “injury” to get his head right.

Somethings not right. People forget how badly we missed him last season with the Europa campaign.

The regression in his play has been ridiculous.

 

[ti vu]

Maguire could do with a long term “injury” to get his head right.

Somethings not right. People forget how badly we missed him last season with the Europa campaign.

The regression in his play has been ridiculous.

Overstated here. He only missed the final due to injury. He played in both legs in the semi final.

Bar one sided second half in the first leg of this semi final tie, Maguire was part of our terrible defending against this soft bellied Roma, we conceded a number of chances especially in the second leg.

The whole fuss about Maguire missing the final was really all about Ole couldn't coach. Why did I say that? Because without Maguire, Bailly defensive style to partner Lindelof was not suited for deep low block defensive with the lack of aerial, and physical presence. Tuanzebe was not at the level to start for us. And during the whole season, and the period between Maguire injury till the final, Ole couldn't settle for the another pair of non-Maguire starting CBs. We kept shuffling and experimenting between Bailly, Lindelof, Tuanzebe.

Then in the final, we conceded the goal defending a free kick. The Maguire hype increased.

The whole scenario changed now. We're having different approach to defend, and brought in an established world class CB in Varane. There is no reason to revert to low block defending, just to only appease Maguire. And even with that, for Maguire to look good, the overall football was dog shit = majority of other positions in the team suffered.

 

[Greck]

Couldn't care less how he looked when we still played defensive counterattack. The most emphasised drawback was always going to be what happened after we started to push up. Not only is his lack of speed getting exposed but so his lack of intelligence to compensate. Contrary to what some might tell you this isn't the first ever defender to not have pace. They all succeeded with their brains. Bacerlona had some snail defenders who had to deal with every opponent trying to sneak passes behind and over the defensive line. They weren't getting exposed like Maguire.

 

[Plant0x84]

Interesting piece on Harry on the athletic at the moment. Seemed to me to make a lot of sense.

The jist was that Harry tries too hard to do everything because our team around him, especially the DM is poor. Instead of defending the space in behind he steps out to try and attack the ball which given his lack of agility is what causes his headaches. It also highlighted Lindelof as being laidback and defending the space in behind, which again causes Harry to step out- presumably cos he doesn’t trust VL to do his job. That combined with our attackers not tracking back to help the defence puts extra pressure on HM to do ‘all the defending’ himself. The piece also shows what a benefit Harry is to our play out from the back, offering an outlet that our other CB don’t because he is the best on the ball. It’s a good balanced read if you have access.
I think Harry is a good player. He just needs a bit of help. If we sort out midfield in the summer he will have a brilliant season next year. We’ve seen his form for England, and it makes sense because he has a solid partner in Stones and a decent screen in front from Rice and Phillips.
We have yet to see what a consistent partnership with Varane would look like because of injuries and I believe that will be a boost when they settle together into a partnership.
We know also that Leicester took the mick with the asking price, but it was a sellers market because we desperately wanted HM. Thats not his fault, he had no influence over it and I hate that it is used as a stick to beat him with. That and the absolute lack of patience in modern football.

 

[sglowrider]

He is this season's De Gea.

 

[Greck]

Interesting piece on Harry on the athletic at the moment. Seemed to me to make a lot of sense.

The jist was that Harry tries too hard to do everything because our team around him, especially the DM is poor. Instead of defending the space in behind he steps out to try and attack the ball which given his lack of agility is what causes his headaches. It also highlighted Lindelof as being laidback and defending the space in behind, which again causes Harry to step out- presumably cos he doesn’t trust VL to do his job. That combined with our attackers not tracking back to help the defence puts extra pressure on HM to do ‘all the defending’ himself. The piece also shows what a benefit Harry is to our play out from the back, offering an outlet that our other CB don’t because he is the best on the ball. It’s a good balanced read if you have access.
I think Harry is a good player. He just needs a bit of help. If we sort out midfield in the summer he will have a brilliant season next year. We’ve seen his form for England, and it makes sense because he has a solid partner in Stones and a decent screen in front from Rice and Phillips.
We have yet to see what a consistent partnership with Varane would look like because of injuries and I believe that will be a boost when they settle together into a partnership.
We know also that Leicester took the mick with the asking price, but it was a sellers market because we desperately wanted HM. Thats not his fault, he had no influence over it and I hate that it is used as a stick to beat him with. That and the absolute lack of patience in modern football.

This bit actually made me laugh because of how ridiculous and contradictory it was. So Maguire has to step into spaces because no one is present to occupy them but in situations like corners when Lindelof is actually there it's also okay for Maguire to leave his man and come over because he doesn't trust that Lindelof might deal with it. If ever I saw a stealthy justification for Maguire marking out or tackling his own man. They are simply taking bad defending and forming narratives behind whatever foolish rationale he had behind it. This is the kind of big brained stretch of logic one has to resort to to defend the trainwreck that is Maguire's defending. My advice to the writer is don't wreck your credibility over this, it's not the hill to die on.

edit: and oh yeah, once again it's someone else's fault. Maguire should hire Lindelof as his PR manager. He already does a good job absorbing all his criticism

 

[Wibble]

We have had attack the space so it is inevitable that eventually we would have defending the space. I suppose the xG of the space will need to be discussed sooner or later.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Interesting piece on Harry on the athletic at the moment. Seemed to me to make a lot of sense.

The jist was that Harry tries too hard to do everything because our team around him, especially the DM is poor. Instead of defending the space in behind he steps out to try and attack the ball which given his lack of agility is what causes his headaches. It also highlighted Lindelof as being laidback and defending the space in behind, which again causes Harry to step out- presumably cos he doesn’t trust VL to do his job. That combined with our attackers not tracking back to help the defence puts extra pressure on HM to do ‘all the defending’ himself. The piece also shows what a benefit Harry is to our play out from the back, offering an outlet that our other CB don’t because he is the best on the ball. It’s a good balanced read if you have access.
I think Harry is a good player. He just needs a bit of help. If we sort out midfield in the summer he will have a brilliant season next year. We’ve seen his form for England, and it makes sense because he has a solid partner in Stones and a decent screen in front from Rice and Phillips.
We have yet to see what a consistent partnership with Varane would look like because of injuries and I believe that will be a boost when they settle together into a partnership.
We know also that Leicester took the mick with the asking price, but it was a sellers market because we desperately wanted HM. Thats not his fault, he had no influence over it and I hate that it is used as a stick to beat him with. That and the absolute lack of patience in modern football.

The article you mention said this, "As well as being very good on the ball compared to United’s others defenders, he also stands out when you look at the rest of the Premier League." The article didn't say Maguire was better on the ball than Varane or Lindelof, or even better than the other CBs, because he isn't. The article had more to say about Harry being involved in attacking passages that result in balls into their final third, but it also mentioned that Harry has played more minutes than anyone else - while at the same time bemoaning his lack of rest as responsible for his dip in form.

It's a pretty poor article. Also, I'm not super concerned with passages of play or passes that lead to attacks per se, because when I watch Maguire, he is not very good at reading the game unless the pace has come to a halt and/or we are counter-attacking.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

That said, Maguire does not suit the system Ralf wants us to play. Maguire is a decent player. I don't think he's an elite level player, and I don't think he gets anywhere near the top 6 sides' starting lineups. When Ole had us sit and play on the counter, it suited Maguire because everyone sat around him and he was only asked to accelerate in attack. Now that Ralf wants everyone to play a more complete style of football, Maguire is exposed because it is not his natural game. He is not a nimble and agile player. He is the kind who will put his head through a wall, but he's neither fleet of foot nor mind.

So it's not that Maguire is suddenly shit, it's that the system is changing out from under him and he's not the right player for where we are going. He's had his ups, his downs, some good games for us, and some calamities. He's not the worst player to have signed for United, he's not some stain on the badge, he's just an average player who rarely gets injured but doesn't fit into our new system.

This is one of my biggest issues with the Maguire narrative, each time he plays poorly certain posters act as if it’s a new phenomena. He didn’t really suit OgSs system either, this isn’t because Ralf is trying to reinvent the wheel here. He’s never reproduced his Leicester form for United in any sustained fashion. His poor performances also came in some of the previous regime’s worst games.

He was off his head in Greece asking police, ‘Do you know who i am?’ whilst United captain. If that’s not a stain on the badge/club then I don’t know what is for a man whose career highlight is PotS for Hull City. Whilst players don’t choose their fees & some people saw his limitations a mile off this isn’t some academy graduate, all in it’s difficult to see another player who gave less for the respective outlay.

I agree with most of your post in fairness, I just don’t think this is Ralfs doing. He’s been poor for some time.

Transfer fees are amortised over the length of a player’s contract. As such his value on the balance sheet at the end of this season will be £32 million. We should be able to recover that at least and still be able to buy a good, talented centre-back. Akanji would be an excellent partner for Varane and would be available for less than that as he only has a year left on his contract in the summer.

But as we still owe Leicester the remaining £48mil, selling him doesn’t void the balance owed to his previous club. Whilst we may cover the current outlay there’s no chance we cover the remaining balance. His transfer fee would continue to show on balance sheets each season until it’s fully paid. The only potential saving is future wages.

We have to be careful what we wish for. I think Maguire's confidence took a battering after our shambolic tactical approach at the start of the season, and I don't think it helps that his price tag and his prominence for United and England means he is scrutinised far more than other CBs.

I am not here for a back-and-forth argument, so please don't come back at this if it's just going to be all-out negativity.

I’d refer you to his poor form at points last season & his shocking form during Project Restart but you’d likely consider that ‘all-out negativity’. Pretending Maguire has only been bad this season isn’t entering the discussion with good faith. He’s shown us who he is for some time now.

I’d generally agree be careful what you wish for but Maguire has never kicked on from his Leicester form to show he’ll be the CB many hope for.

We’ve been having calls to ‘get behind Maguire’ for years, at what point does our £80mil captain start performing consistently enough to stop this discussion altogether.

We're not going to sell Harry Maguire. And a lot of people seem to have forgotten how good he was most of last season, and during the Euros.

What about the rest of last season? That paragraph is a damning defence in itself.

‘Ah well he’s good most of the time, not outstanding but good. Let’s forget the appalling performances around those short periods.’

Also, since when did him playing well in a defensive set up, in a back 3 for England matter a jot.

This thread is nothing like the Caf normally.

Massive over-reaction to a player massively out of form who may or may not be good enough to represent the club in the long term.

We don’t NEED to sell him. We need to ensure we have suitable cover/competition for him and ensure that he knows he needs to up his game.

This isn’t Lingard who was nowhere near the international set-up in the main. He’s the starting CB for England.

If he’s not playing for United, he isn’t playing for England and I’ll bet he’ll make a sensible decision to get a move elsewhere to protect his international career

Other people have retorted at most of the poor posts made here but 2 things.

Again, what playing well in a back 3 for England tells us about his United career in a 2 I’ll never know.

Secondly, onto Lingard. You do understand that no matter how this season ends for Lingard at United he has done more than Maguire in a United shirt. I mean that literally in terms of actually winning something.

The Maguire apologists are a weird species.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

This is one of my biggest issues with the Maguire narrative, each time he plays poorly certain posters act as if it’s a new phenomena. He didn’t really suit OgSs system either, this isn’t because Ralf is trying to reinvent the wheel here. He’s never reproduced his Leicester form for United in any sustained fashion. His poor performances also came in some of the previous regime’s worst games.

The Maguire apologists are a weird species.

Not sure if you were using my post to bolster your argument or if you think I was somehow a Maguirenista. I wrote: "Maguire is a decent player. I don't think he's an elite level player, and I don't think he gets anywhere near the top 6 sides' starting lineups." That's not being an apologist for him.

 

[greatscott9930]

Anyone tried a Craigslist ad?

 

[RedDevil@84]

Anyone tried a Craigslist ad?

Yes. Failed the test drive.

 

[padzilla]

We are stuck with him for a while sadly this suggestion that he's good enough because he might be better than Tyrone Mings is baffling though.

The question isn't how do we sell him because the contract means nobody in their right mind would match what we are paying him, for so little in return.

The real conundrum is how do we get him to improve?

 

[RedDevil@84]

The real conundrum is how do we get him to improve?

Employ Greek police, maybe.