[Adam-Utd]

A flash bang

dont really see what he does wrong there apart from the pass?

he’s clearly looking to lay it off but there’s literally nobody there to help him. Matic should be moving away and giving him some space and an angle to pass to him, but instead he walks into his path and nearly takes it off him?!

there’s not one united player anywhere in the picture.

would people just be happy if he pumped it long ball up the pitch every time?

 

[Get In Scholesy]

He should have had a goal today.

 

[Revan]

You know what, he’s had more good games than bad ones. At least he shows some leadership and tries to make things happen.

Thought he looked very shook up by the Bailly injury

How do we know it? This looks to me mostly like a word just thrown there.

Most players have had more good games (even your favorite Lindelof) than bad games. If that wasn't the case, we wouldn't be sitting fifth in the table, but would be fighting relegation.

 

[Revan]

He should have had a goal today.

He had one to be fair. Just that it was in the wrong goal.

 

[Man of Leisure]

You know what, he’s had more good games than bad ones. At least he shows some leadership and tries to make things happen.

Thought he looked very shook up by the Bailly injury

I thought he got his bell rung myself during their collision. Wasn't he also involved in a head collision during the prior game as well? Wouldn't surprise me if he's suffering the effects of a concussion.

 

[Gehrman]

He scored our only goal from open play.

 

[golden_blunder]

How do we know it? This looks to me mostly like a word just thrown there.

Most players have had more good games (even your favorite Lindelof) than bad games. If that wasn't the case, we wouldn't be sitting fifth in the table, but would be fighting relegation.

I wouldn’t say lindelof has had more good games than bad ones. He’s had a bunch of just doing enough to keep getting picked with a bunch of mistakes thrown in. We don’t have any option but to play him because everyone else keeps getting injured!

 

[Relevated]

I genuinely can’t believe there are still people in here saying he’s had a good season overall.

You don’t win anything in August/September but you damn sure lose things in the latter part of the season.

Surely him excelling during a period where results were bad is telling. Since the restart [you know the most important part of the season] our leader has been consistently one of the worst performers & it’s not acceptable.

Lindelof & DDG have been dogsh*t aswell but that doesn’t excuse that Maguire has been terrible when we’ve needed him most. Base your analysis purely on what he does on the pitch instead of his Whatsapp group admin & draconian dunes for missing a p*ss up & the fact is he’s been underwhelming to say the least.

Had our attack not been firing where would our leader be taking us? Poor signing.

I feel sorry for Lindelof sometimes because maguire really let's him down.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

I feel sorry for Lindelof sometimes because maguire really let's him down.

Both are equally shit and both let Utd down.

 

[Zlaatan]

We're already losing it constantly aren't we? That wouldn't be anything new. That was my point, there hasn't been an upgrade at all.

Of course Harry is an upgrade on the ball compared to Smalling, saying otherwise is asinine. The thing is though that beating a high press isn't solved by replacing one player since you need the entire team to be able to handle it and preferably you also have a manager who can do his part to find ways out of it.

We'd probably struggle to play out the back even if we had replaced Smalling with prime Pirlo, unless we told him to hoof it every time.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

dont really see what he does wrong there apart from the pass?

he’s clearly looking to lay it off but there’s literally nobody there to help him. Matic should be moving away and giving him some space and an angle to pass to him, but instead he walks into his path and nearly takes it off him?!

there’s not one united player anywhere in the picture.

would people just be happy if he pumped it long ball up the pitch every time?

No one would be happy with him pumping the ball up field every time, no but his tendency to hold onto the ball too long isn’t a better option either.

In the video above he immediately has a pass on to Williams, he doesn’t use it so James closes in on Williams & another option doesn’t materialise.

Matic certainly doesn’t help here but Maguire's tendency to vacate his CB position & run into dead ends doesn’t help teammates know where they need to be. Rewatch it again & Matic is following/covering as Harry looks to be heading forward but he’s so cumbersome CHO shuts off his space so he turns back into traffic/Matic. Matic is like wtf is this dude running back at me for.

At the point of him pushing Matic he could ceed the ball & drop back but no he goes Captain Marvel wanting to do it all by himself again.

That highlight is symptomatic of the critiques people have had for some time, he holds onto the ball too long then suddenly it’s a burden on his teammates to respond to him going off like a headless chicken & give him options that aren’t in any pattern of play we’d practice.

There comes a point where we need to stop blaming Maguire's failings on others, that passage of play is tragic.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I feel sorry for Lindelof sometimes because maguire really let's him down.

 

[sp_107]

Smalling was the alternative,, too bad our best defender is at Roma. Now though, i agree he's here to stay. I'm just lamenting how we've got an £80m carthorse as captain.

Too Harsh

 

[Di Maria's angel]

How many easy chances has he missed? He needs to improve.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Him and Lindelöf are still class defenders. Not sure about the team mentality though.
De Gea really let everyone down and few helped him out after the first goal to minmize shoots towards him.

 

[RC89]

Considering the fact a world record fee was paid for him, he's quickly making a good claim to being our worst transfer ever in PL era. Needs a bit of time yet to be sure but he's knocking on the door.

 

[RC89]

Him and Lindelöf are still class defenders. Not sure about the team mentality though.
De Gea really let everyone down and few helped him out after the first goal to minmize shoots towards him.

Really? Theres no way he's been a class defender for us. If it had been Phil Jones putting in these performances, there'd be pitchforks out. He's been average since day one but got a free pass by everyone and the media. It's now gotten so bad though that everyone's noticing. Ridiculous footballer. He has some way to go before even being decent. Giving him the armband so soon was always a mistake.

 

[He'sRaldo]

He's good, but hopefully that clip doesn't turn out to be a banter moment like the Jones crawl.

 

[paulscholes18]

Looked alright felt and had Giroud in his pocket until he his collision with Bailly, no need for him to go for the ball, don’t have to win the first every time as the second ball is just as important if you win that it’s still job done. Should have been subbed off as he was all over the place after his head injury.

 

[Chinchy98]

Looked alright felt and had Giroud in his pocket until he his collision with Bailly, no need for him to go for the ball, don’t have to win the first every time as the second ball is just as important if you win that it’s still job done. Should have been subbed off as he was all over the place after his head injury.

I thought Giroud gave him kittens in all honesty, never looked assured and had to resort to grabbing him. Once the physicality was matched he looked a little suspect.

He’s the best Cb at the club but he’s been underwhelming since the restart.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

He had one to be fair. Just that it was in the wrong goal.

 

[Dante]

He's taken two big bangs to the head in the space of 3 days. The guy is top class, but needs a rest.

 

[tenpoless]

That's why I've never been a fan of defenders who play so much at the back because their job is to prevent a chance from happening first and foremost. Sometimes it's almost as if they have this divine obligation to play to their strong point, which is a couple of dribbles and tippy tappy, sometimes going forward a little before delivering a pass. The issue is when his partners don't know how to help him in case when he gets pressed. Sometimes even they get pressed, which limits the passing options. Which happened quite a lot. Wingers and forwards are usually quicker than defenders, so if he finds himself in a 2v1 situation (2 pressings), there's a big chance he'll lose the ball. After that it's a chance against the keeper directly. Too risky. I hope Ole finds a solution to this.

But the last two games were probably bad days at the office for him. Still a good player I believe. But a change in partner could help him tremendously... Lindelof wasn't helping much.

 

[Eyepopper]

Considering the fact a world record fee was paid for him, he's quickly making a good claim to being our worst transfer ever in PL era. Needs a bit of time yet to be sure but he's knocking on the door.

Did you start following Utd like 6 months ago or something?

 

[paulscholes18]

I feel sorry for Lindelof sometimes because maguire really let's him down.

Maguire handled Giroud with ease he’s the perfect forward for Maguire, it was Lindelof who had no answer for Giroud’s strength. Ultimately if you have pace you put yourself against Maguire as once you square him up you can go pass him with ease. If you have strength just put yourself on Lindelof as you can brush him off with ease as he’s so weak, he has to do some serious strength work in the gym.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

I think he did fine today, normal performance.

He is what he is.

Think he made one mistake today (the own goal) and one poor defending (the 2nd goal).

Would be great if Smalling is around, I'm more comfortable if Chris handle Giroud -- power contest. Even against Ayew post-play, Maguire had problems dealing.
Also Maguire and Smalling would make our corner more dangerous, alas.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Maguire handled Giroud with ease he’s the perfect forward for Maguire

Are we seeing the same game?

 

[VivaObertan]

Looked alright felt and had Giroud in his pocket until he his collision with Bailly, no need for him to go for the ball, don’t have to win the first every time as the second ball is just as important if you win that it’s still job done. Should have been subbed off as he was all over the place after his head injury.

I thought this too. There was a point in the 2nd half where Chelsea were about to build an attack down the right wing and watching Maguire it was like he forgot he was playing football for a few seconds, completely zoned out. Really hope he wasn't playing through concussion.

 

[paulscholes18]

Are we seeing the same game?

Can’t think of a time before Maguire’s injury that Giroud got any change from him, I remember him bouncing off Maguire, then Giroud put himself on Lindelof and bullied him. If that was a pre injured Maguire rather than Lindelof for his goal then Maguire gets their first and DDG wouldn’t get the chance to let it in

 

[passing-wind]

I don't mind Harry he had a awful performance but he's hardly the worst individual in our defence. Lindlelof is decent but he doesn't pair well with Maguire. If the club's got any ambition we will have to sell Victor to find a adequate partner for Maguire. They are both too slow, Lindlelof is terrible arieally and he's weak for his size it doesn't make sense. I'd take Ake who's far more aggressive despite being the shorter player.

 

[Martial]

Man is constantly playing though tiredness and injuries (reportedly played though a hip injury with pain injections which should have kept him out for a month) and even played the whole match after a bloody head collision in which the other player ended up going off on a stretcher.

What's Lindelof's excuse?

 

[Name Changed]

I feel sorry for Lindelof sometimes because maguire really let's him down.

I don't know why that made me laugh so much, but it did.

 

[Hawks2008]

Just a lumbering sack of shit.

 

[MikeKing]

I don't mind Harry he had a awful performance but he's hardly the worst individual in our defence. Lindlelof is decent but he doesn't pair well with Maguire. If the club's got any ambition we will have to sell Victor to find a adequate partner for Maguire. They are both too slow, Lindlelof is terrible arieally and he's weak for his size it doesn't make sense. I'd take Ake who's far more aggressive despite being the shorter player.

I actually think we need a proper leader to tell Maguire where to move his fat ass sometimes, and to stop the damn pondering on the ball. It's ridiculous the things he does sometimes, but as it stands, Lindelof isn't much better and encourages it. We easily get to see the worst of Harry in this partnership. Lindelof doesn't tackle, he invites pressure then Maguire has to protect space instead of being aggressive, if he doesn't people will run past him all day. It doesn't make sense for playing deep since Lindelof is bad in the air and not aggressive, and it doesn't work to play a high line since Lindelof is slow in the cover, and can't be the aggressive partner either.

 

[Adnan]

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[Irwin99]

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That's probably a fair comment. He hasn't been poor by any means but he's not been brilliant, certainly not 80 million. There have been plenty of partnerships over the years where a great defence has had one outstanding centre back and a very good one alongside him (Liverpool now, United in 99). I rate both him and Lindelof as generally good defenders but there's an improvement to be made.

 

[He'sRaldo]

My main problem is the pondering on the ball which is pretty tedious. Even when teammates point out the next pass to make he holds it for a bit before passing. Not sure why.

Surprised he was outmuscled by Giroud as I thought he'd win that matchup.

 

[Ronaldo's Mum Eh?]

To be honest I really can't imagine us playing against Barca, Madrid or Bayern with Maguire in CB. Can you imagine Messi vs him ?

This is what I said a few weeks ago but was told he has already done really really well against the likes of City and Liverpool....

I don't buy it. He would get destroyed by Lewandowski or Benzema for example.

If he wasn't English he would have cost £20 million at most

Bingo!

Lots of his fans on here defend him because he's English and because we paid so much for him.

This guy is not a good defender. Smalling at his peak has done more for us than he has. It's not like we can even give him the excuse that it's his first year, he already know this league inside out!

 

[SmallCaine]

You know what, he’s had more good games than bad ones. At least he shows some leadership and tries to make things happen.

Thought he looked very shook up by the Bailly injury

What is this leadership everyone defending maguire keeps using as a shield? A defender who is trying to lead would organize our defense, if you look at our defense at any given point in time, you will find atleast 1 guy out of position and 9 times out of 10, that guy would be maguire. Shouting at other players is not leading.

 

[Quinzaine]

Does anybody think he's quite overrated on the ball? We've supposedly signed a ball-playing CB but ultimately he's as good as Lindelof in that department. Infact, I feel much more comfortable with Lindelof playing a pass out from the back than I do when Maguire eventually decides to release it. He dwindles in possession and although his long balls are ambitious, his execution rate isn't great. In terms of actual defending it's one thing but I truly believe to thrive as a top CB in the modern day there's a certain threshold in terms of ability on the ball (Van Dijk, Laporte, Ramos, Varane, Pique, De Ligt, Koulibaly, Marquinhos) which Maguire doesn't quite hit. It's the reason I'm not for Smalling returning (although I'd make the case that he's a better pure defender) as his ability on the ball is so poor that it would really hold us back as a team.

It's strange because from my memory of watching him at Hull (where I was most impressed with him) and Leicester he was quite a progressive ball carrier and was capable of going on mazy runs through midfield. I also recall a game last season against City at the Etihad where his passing was top notch but it hasn't been the case for me this season. I suspect as is the case with his defensive game, he's trying to do too much and trying to be the catalyst the same way Pogba felt he had to be for the midfield when he first joined - this is evident in Bailly's injury where there was really no need for Maguire to challenge for it at all. It would explain why he holds on the ball for so long or often goes for passes which aren't really on. It's either that or he's been found out a little and his ability doesn't really shine through in a team like Utd.