Are you guys happy with Maguires distribution of the ball?

[Nikelesh Reddy]

I”ve been thinking about this over the last few weeks.Okay,Harry got off to a shaky start which was probably understandable,but there’s been considerable improvement in his all round defensive game over the last few weeks.But I”m still not happy with his ball distribution skills...Remember,we signed him for 80 million quid because he was supposed to be a solid central defender who knew how to play the ball forward.

Honestly I”ve not seen much distribution from Maguire this season.When we come up against teams who drop deep and play with a low defensive block,we either need our forwards to press higher up the pitch(therefore we need our defensive line to move higher up as well),or we need our central defenders and defensive midfielder to quickly play the ball forward.We have the attacking players with the right attributes to press high up the pitch,but because Maguires not comfortable playing in a high defensive line,and because he’s not good running back towards his own goal we haven’t been employing this tactic.

So we therefore need better distribution from both Lindelof and Maguire.I actually think that Lindelofs distribution has consistently been better than Maguires...What do you guys reckon?Is Maguire not distributing the ball as well as we can,or did we just over hype his distribution skills?

 

[Raven]

I think he's holding himself back by not taking many risks, I feel he has the tools. Lindelof has clearly been the better ball player this season and as far as I'm concerned the better defender as well.

 

[Red00012]

I counted 3 times yesterday he attempted long range passes 3 times it went to the opposition.

 

[Varun]

Abysmal yesterday, okayish so far this season.

 

[VP89]

I counted 3 times yesterday he attempted long range passes 3 times it went to the opposition.

Yep. His short passing is fine and I like seeing him dribble out to the half way line and beyond. But he needs cut out the long passes.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

I think he's holding himself back by not taking many risks, I feel he has the tools. Lindelof has clearly been the better ball player this season and as far as I'm concerned the better defender as well.

How good was his distribution at Leicester?I didn’t watch him play very often,but a lot of folks on here would constantly praise his ball playing ability...

 

[R'hllor]

Yesterday was something alright.

 

[Nick7]

I’m really disappointed in the movement of our midfield at the moment. There were load of times in the second half yesterday where our centre backs had the ball and no one to pass to bar themselves or the full backs. We have very little in the centre. It always seems like a pass to the wing is what’s going to happen rather than someone centrally picking up the ball and making something happen. We’re ridiculously one dimensional.

 

[Pughnichi]

He was the one trying to force the issue yday v Everton. Movement from those in front of him making it much more difficult.

At least him moving forward with the ball means he has to be engaged which then freed up space for others.

 

[Raven]

How good was his distribution at Leicester?I didn’t watch him play very often,but a lot of folks on here would constantly praise his ball playing ability...

I only really watched him against us for Leicester. I saw him play for England quite a bit and he was good.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

How good was his distribution at Leicester?I didn’t watch him play very often,but a lot of folks on here would constantly praise his ball playing ability...

I always thought that his "ball playing ability" reputation at Leicester was more built on his occasional rampaging runs forward (usually when they needed a goal at the end of games) rather than his passing

 

[Classical Mechanic]

I counted 3 times yesterday he attempted long range passes 3 times it went to the opposition.

Yep. His short passing is fine and I like seeing him dribble out to the half way line and beyond. But he needs cut out the long passes.

This is confirmation bias. He made 8 long passes and 3 were successful, one was a very good pass too. Overall he makes more successful long passes than anyone in the side except for Pogba. He averages 4.4 accurate long balls per 90 with 3.3 unsuccessful long passes so yesterday was worse than you'd expect generally.

Lindelof makes 2.2 long accurate passes per 90 with 3.3 inaccurate long passes per 90, for comparison.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

I only really watched him against us for Leicester. I saw him play for England quite a bit and he was good.

We definitely haven't seen the best of him on the ball or in the opposition box either.

 

[DWelbz19]

He’s alright on it. I don’t think Lindelof is particularly good on the ball though. Then again, I don’t think Lindelof is particularly good at anything.

 

[Irrational.]

I feel we're seeing a completely different Maguire to the one we saw playing for Leicester and England. He was a fecking wrecking ball in both boxes with tremendous distribution. He's so much more subdued at present. Hopefully with time he'll come out of his shell more.

 

[Raven]

We definitely haven't seen the best of him on the ball or in the opposition box either.

Yeah, he's been a little underwhelming so far, given what we paid for him. I'm sure he'll get better though.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Yeah, he's been a little underwhelming so far, given what we paid for him. I'm sure he'll get better though.

In his first 3 seasons in the PL he had more goals and assists than any other centre back so it has been disappointing that we haven't seen any end product from him yet.

 

[RedIan]

Hes a big improvement in what we had imo. no player is worth £80M but thats the madness of football transfers and not his fault. He brings the ball out well just little movement in front of him to use it more wisely.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I don't think he or Lindelof are particularly good at passing.

They're both "good on the ball" in that they're close control is decent and they comfortable with the ball at their feet... but their passing? meh, it's alright.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

It's funny. Ball playing CBs were going to be this transformative change when in truth it's barely had any impact on the quality of football whatsoever. Strange how these things work.

 

[Bestietom]

I’m really disappointed in the movement of our midfield at the moment. There were load of times in the second half yesterday where our centre backs had the ball and no one to pass to bar themselves or the full backs. We have very little in the centre. It always seems like a pass to the wing is what’s going to happen rather than someone centrally picking up the ball and making something happen. We’re ridiculously one dimensional.

Yes @Nick7 , I've said this several times before. We leave a big hole in the middle, and Davis picked up there for Everton on many occasions yesterday.

 

[OhGee]

Macguire is the English version of the Italian Smalling....

 

[Andersonson]

Who can he pass to? Which great runs or movement is available?

 

[Cypherage]

Feel he is trying too hard to live up to his price tag, and in the process forgetting to keep it simple thus resulting in some not so stellar performances.

 

[VP89]

This is confirmation bias. He made 8 long passes and 3 were successful, one was a very good pass too. Overall he makes more successful long passes than anyone in the side except for Pogba. He averages 4.4 accurate long balls per 90 with 3.3 unsuccessful long passes so yesterday was worse than you'd expect generally.

Lindelof makes 2.2 long accurate passes per 90 with 3.3 inaccurate long passes per 90, for comparison.

Im not going by conformation bias, I'm going from my preference to see him play the ball out and pass along the floor to the heart of the midfield. A few of his successful long passes would undoubtedly be some where martial or Rashford would try and knock it down awkwardly and lose the ball from doing so.

 

[acnumber9]

It's funny. Ball playing CBs were going to be this transformative change when in truth it's barely had any impact on the quality of football whatsoever. Strange how these things work.

If by strange you mean incredibly predictable then it is.

 

[arnie_ni]

Im more concerned with whats going on in our box. He never seems to win a header from a set piece, or even be anywhere near the opposition's best aerial player.

Is he not as good in the air as advertised?

 

[b82REZ]

Always thought he ball playing ability was overstated and honestly don't see how he's 70 million upgrade on Smalling (our best defender, albeit the worst on the ball).

 

[Dan_F]

It's funny. Ball playing CBs were going to be this transformative change when in truth it's barely had any impact on the quality of football whatsoever. Strange how these things work.

It does rely on the people in front of them moving, which is when it’s handy to actually train on patterns of play. You would think a triangle is not that difficult, but for some reason none of our midfielders have managed it for about 10 years.

I actually think he’s brought the ball out well past the midfield, but he’s just forced to go out to Shaw mostly after.

 

[Judas]

Who can he pass to? Which great runs or movement is available?

Exactly this. I think he's doing what he can, he strides up the pitch with ease, but then like our number 10 usually does realises there is nothing going on, so then what.

 

[EireRed_GS]

Im happy with him overall, he was never worth what we paid for him but he's brought a calmness and steadiness to our back line we didnt have before.

Im not so happy that he kept taking the ball way into the opposition half looking for a pass.. I think that comes into alot of our players simply not making themselves available or looking for the ball

 

[Yagami]

I am considering our static positioning in possession. Even Blind dilly-dallied on the ball here due to our terrible movement as a team, and he's an amazing passer.

I can't believe, after all these years, we haven't had a manager who could coach basic off the ball movement. Ole really needs to sort this out if he's here for the long term.

 

[TMDaines]

After yesterday, probably not the right time to ask for this. He made some good runs but his longer range passing was unusually erratic.

 

[reddev3]

I think it's always been his moving forward with the ball at his feet and dribbles that he excelled at not necessarily is long range passing. Sadly we don't see enough of that either.

I'm sure he will in time though, being new a to team and being lowish on confidence, i'm sure that would be the first thing to go whether intentional or not.

 

[roseguy64]

It's funny. Ball playing CBs were going to be this transformative change when in truth it's barely had any impact on the quality of football whatsoever. Strange how these things work.

Amazing that isn't it

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Amazing that isn't it

The truth is that we are worse at breaking down teams this season.

 

[bond19821982]

Imo, Smalling had a better season last year.

 

[Sylar]

Yesterday reminded me of five a side when im at the back, im looking for somebody to move and everybody just stands staring, marked, so you just hit it into the corner and think fck it, somebody chase it and move.

 

[Amar__]

It's funny. Ball playing CBs were going to be this transformative change when in truth it's barely had any impact on the quality of football whatsoever. Strange how these things work.

It's not strange at all to anyone who isn't in love with Pep Guardiola and his football.

The reality is there are just few CBs in the world who are really good on the ball, the likes of Ramos and Pique, and even having both of them together doesn't make much difference in team's attacking play, let alone having two average ball playing CBs in Lindelof and Maguire. I bet Lindelof and Maguire didn't make more than 3% improvement in our attacking play to last year's CB duo.

If anything, I have noticed that having ball playing CBs makes players passing them ball more and waiting for them to do something, passing it wide or hoofing it, like we saw in our last game when Maguire was comical at targeting Luke Shaw on the left with terrible diagonal passes, and it's not the first time this season.

 

[Emrethis]

It's not strange at all to anyone who isn't in love with Pep Guardiola and his football.

The reality is there are just few CBs in the world who are really good on the ball, the likes of Ramos and Pique, and even having both of them together doesn't make much difference in team's attacking play, let alone having two average ball playing CBs in Lindelof and Maguire. I bet Lindelof and Maguire didn't make more than 3% improvement in our attacking play to last year's CB duo.

If anything, I have noticed that having ball playing CBs makes players passing them ball more and waiting for them to do something, passing it wide or hoofing it, like we saw in our last game when Maguire was comical at targeting Luke Shaw on the left with terrible diagonal passes, and it's not the first time this season.

Yeah, if you have a bad attack, there are a thousand and one things you can do, before blaming the defenders.

Ball playing CBs are useful because they are good on the ball. Average ball playing CBs are average on the ball, so its no wonder they don't make a difference. Even calling them 'ball-playing' might be a bit redundant.