[arthurka]

The captaincy is messing with his head

Don't know what it is but he has no sense for spaces. Lindelöf saved his ass again and again.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

More pathetic that you never see fault in anything Maguire does. He's distinctly average/par for the course at his optimal best at united and absolutely diabolical at his worst, which is more often than not in the balance of things during his time here

I do see fault. I gave him a 5/10 today. I thought he, Telles and Lindelof were horrible. Doesn't help that they didn't have a DM in the line up (what was Ralf thinking?). I just don't scapegoat him. If you think any of their goals today were Maguire's fault then you clearly have an agenda and are making him the scapegoat. Fact...

 

[RedRonaldo]

Scapegoat? Our whole defence has been shite today, he is supposed to lead/organise our defence, no?

 

[hobbers]

The best thing ETH could do for him is take the captaincy away and let him just be a regular squad member who has to compete for his place on an equal footing with Lindelof, Varane and whoever we bring in.

 

[KwendaHuko]

There was a time Lindelof bashed him, full blown.

He makes things hard for others while still others try to make things easier for him.

100% a liability, his deficiency are too big for the team.

I've always said a good team should have players with minimal deficiencies.

 

[Cassidy]

Apart from maybe Pogba, I don't think so. The bandwagon of hate is over the top for a player who is far from our biggest issue, especially given that he was arguably our most important player last season.

You mentioned Pogba thats one. Fred is another.

 

[Pat Cat]

Super performance. Shame he's playing for a team which is coached by the worst manager in the league and perpetually leaves their defenders exposed. The clueless fanbase who can't recognise this don't help either.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Scapegoat? Our whole defence has been shite today, he is supposed to lead/organise our defence, no?

Actually, the player who should be organizing the defense is the keeper. But he sits on his line and doesn't say a word. But it's all maguire's fault

 

[Pat Cat]

Scapegoat? Our whole defence has been shite today, he is supposed to lead/organise our defence, no?

That's the manager's job. Hardly surprising that the defence is awful when he's playing 3 attacking midfielders in front of them. Open your eyes son, he's an absolute disgrace

 

[Smithy89]

People who rate him need to actually watch him. He never checks his shoulder, never scans, is constantly getting dragged around and ball watching.

 

[United in sin]

Dude was nowhere to be seen for Pukki's first chance in the first half that led to De Gea coming off his line to block the chip and subsequent block seconds later. Actually he was jogging back.

He also left Dalot for dead during a Norwich attack late in the second half where he was nowhere to be seen, totally dragged out of position for the umpteenth time. The entire baseline was dreadful overall and Maguire played a huge role

 

[Dansk]

It's bordering on self-sabotage to start Maguire again and again. It's like declaring that the optics of benching the captain matters more to the club than fecking winning games. I mean, what other explanation can there be? He's the worst player on the pitch practically every time he plays. A gigantic liability who fecks up time after time and basically never does anything right. Surely anyone else would do better. He might legitimately be one of the worst defenders in the league this season.

 

[Vapor trail]

Maguire is a system player. He suits a back three, because with the example of Walker his pace covers the areas down the flanks and for England the likes of Rice / Phillips shield the defence so seldom will you see opposition passing in between the lines because the spaces are narrow. Therefore with Maguire it restricts the amount of running and consequently he is only required to cover a smaller space of his defensive zone and bring the ball out is defence when England are building from the back in possession of the ball.

There's another player who German fans profile for this similar type of function and it's Rudiger. I believe Rudiger is twice and more then the player Maguire is but it remains to be seen that a three man defensive line does wonders for certain individuals in the defence. So unless ETH introduces a three man defense Maguire's time at United will surely be cut short.

 

[United in sin]

It's bordering on self-sabotage to start Maguire again and again. It's like declaring that the optics of benching the captain matters more to the club than fecking winning games. I mean, what other explanation can there be? He's the worst player on the pitch practically every time he plays. A gigantic liability who fecks up time after time and basically never does anything right. Surely anyone else would do better. He might legitimately be one of the worst defenders in the league this season.

Put respect on his name!

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/why-leader-maguire-deserves-backing-20-march-2022

I agree with your sentiment

 

[jackal&hyde]

I'm losing patience with him. The defense is crap and our captain is useless at creating trust least is even responsible for goals. We would have been in a much better position without him. He is a much better player then what we see now, but what we see now is a player that can sack managers on his own.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Actually, the player who should be organizing the defense is the keeper. But he sits on his line and doesn't say a word. But it's all maguire's fault

Sure, captain and CB has no role on organising the defence. First time I heard.

 

[RedRonaldo]

That's the manager's job. Hardly surprising that the defence is awful when he's playing 3 attacking midfielders in front of them. Open your eyes son, he's an absolute disgrace

Our defence has been awful across several managers. Open your eyes, kid.

 

[GifLord]

 

[The Corinthian]

He’s a calamity.

 

[Sylar]

Can't stop laughing at this whole thing

 

[izak]

He hasn't though. Has he had some rough patches? Definitely. The entire team has. But our problem hasn't been conceding. Our problem has been at the other end of the pitch (especially since Ralf took over where we have scored more than 1 goal only 6 times in 22 games). We rarely Sure, if you look at the table it's going to look bad with 42 goals against in 31 games, but a large chunk of those goals came in 4 games (City 4-1, Liverpool 5-0, Leicester 4-2 and Watford 4-1). 4 games where I agree, Maguire was dreadful (as was the rest of the team). Take away those 4 horrible games and those 17 goals and all of a sudden 25 goals against in 27 games isn't all that bad (should still be better though). And all this without a proper keeper or DM. Imagine City without Ederson and Rodri or Liverpool without Allison and Fabinho. This is why for me, our most important positions that need to be addressed are a DM and a keeper who can do more than just make saves

Can't believe i Iet myself read this , have you not been watching him this year? I mean the man plays like he's been paid to play against us, he's been constantly costing us goals, did you even watch today's game? What on earth is he doing at Right full back for the first goal? there were numerous dodgy moments with his ddefending today which Norwich could have but thank fecks they didn't capitalise on them, he should be shown the exit door this summer for the amount of points he has cost us.

 

[Slevs]

He took the "be a captain and kick some sense into underperforming players" role too seriously.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Can't believe i Iet myself read this , have you not been watching him this year? I mean the man plays like he's been paid to play against us, he's been constantly costing us goals, did you even watch today's game? What on earth is he doing at Right full back for the first goal? there were numerous dodgy moments with his ddefending today which Norwich could have but thank fecks they didn't capitalise on them, he should be shown the exit door this summer for the amount of points he has cost us.

He was marking his man. Do you really expect him to just let that player go when he was clearly the one marking him? Give your head a massive shake. ELanga is on Pukki and is then caught ball watching and just lets him go and then Pogba, our "DM" decides he's not going to cover where he should and just lazes around the pitch. Maguire wasn't great today and Lindelof was even worse (look at his "marking" on the second goal), but to blame Maguire for this goal is plain out hilarious. If Maguire leaves his man and goes to Pukki they just pass it to the guy Maguire was marking. If you can't see this you are either an idiot or...nope...you're just an idiot if you can't see this

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

I think he is doing exactly what he is supposed to in this situation. If Maguire did not track the run of the Norwich player here he would be in behind our defensive line in a ton of space. The big mistake is Pogba not dropping deep to cover the space and Elanga not tracking the run of Pukki.

The screenshot you posted is demonstrative of the major problem of not having a competent defensive midfielder on the pitch. I don't actually think Maguire made a bad decision in tracking the runner there; my criticism of Maguire in that situation would be that he over-committed and that made it more difficult to turn when Pukki received the ball in behind.

With that said, it's pretty criminal that Pogba does not drop into the space between the two centre backs there. Obviously Dalot gets beaten too easily but a competent defensive midfielder is putting themselves in between the two centre backs in order to cut off the run that Pukki eventually makes.

This is a point that I keep coming back to when it comes to talking about our defence as a whole. I agree that they have made their fair share of mistakes this season, but I'd equally argue that the mistakes get amplified far more than they would at, say, Manchester City because the midfield does nowhere near enough to protect the backline.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Our defence has been awful across several managers. Open your eyes, kid.

Yup....First Rio and Vidic weren't good enough anymore, then Evans, then Smalling, then Jones, then Maguire. Who's next Varane? One player has been here for that whole time and because he has a good highlight reel, the muppets around here who don't know nearly as much about football as they think they do don't realize who the real problem is...

 

[SadlerMUFC]

The screenshot you posted is demonstrative of the major problem of not having a competent defensive midfielder on the pitch. I don't actually think Maguire made a bad decision in tracking the runner there; my criticism of Maguire in that situation would be that he over-committed and that made it more difficult to turn when Pukki received the ball in behind.

With that said, it's pretty criminal that Pogba does not drop into the space between the two centre backs there. Obviously Dalot gets beaten too easily but a competent defensive midfielder is putting themselves in between the two centre backs in order to cut off the run that Pukki eventually makes.

This is a point that I keep coming back to when it comes to talking about our defence as a whole. I agree that they have made their fair share of mistakes this season, but I'd equally argue that the mistakes get amplified far more than they would at, say, Manchester City because the midfield does nowhere near enough to protect the backline.

Exactly....the first mistake happens when Elanga is caught ball watching and just let's Pukki go when he's marking him, and then Pogba not dropping is absolutely criminal. I count 7 red shirt plus De Gea and only 5 yellow/green yet some how they get a tap in. Mind you, when you have a keeper who stands on his line and doesn't say a word, these things tend to happen. But let's blame Maguire...

 

[Trequartistry]

Genuinely didn’t do much wrong today at all.

The first goal, he was tracking a player. It happens all the times to other defenders in other top teams except they have midfielders who cover the defenders. I think Pogba was the one who was ball watching

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Sure, captain and CB has no role on organising the defence. First time I heard.

When did I say he has no role? What I'm saying is that eyes of the team defense is the keeper. He has the best view of the pitch and should be the one directing the most. If you don't know this either you've never played or you had a shite keeper just like we do

 

[jasT1981]

SWEET CHIN MUSIC!!!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He was fine today. Solid performance. Anyone who thinks that clash with Pogba is somehow an error by Maguire has either never played football or is completely fecking clueless in general.

 

[Cassidy]

He was fine today. Solid performance. Anyone who thinks that clash with Pogba is somehow an error by Maguire has either never played football or is completely fecking clueless in general.

It was not a solid performance by anyone in the back 4. Agree re the Pogba incident though

 

[Mickeza]

I thought his switching of play on that right side of defence was outstanding. Maybe I imagined it though as he’s being slagged off everywhere.

 

[Relevated]

I used to play football with a guy who had the exact same problem. Running into players who are already covered. It was impossible to instruct him and had to adjust my game to just cover and cater towards his movement, because he was really good.

 

[Red-17]

It's bordering on self-sabotage to start Maguire again and again. It's like declaring that the optics of benching the captain matters more to the club than fecking winning games. I mean, what other explanation can there be? He's the worst player on the pitch practically every time he plays. A gigantic liability who fecks up time after time and basically never does anything right. Surely anyone else would do better. He might legitimately be one of the worst defenders in the league this season.

Genuinely would love to know what you are watching that he did so so wrong today. The lengths people are going to scapegoat every issue as somehow his fault is so tiresome.

 

[Amarsdd]

I thought his switching of play on that right side of defence was outstanding. Maybe I imagined it though as he’s being slagged off everywhere.

Who cares about that?!! He had one misplaced long ball, so he was feckin shit the whole game and the worst CB in the entire universe!!!!!!

 

[Based Adnan]

You can tell he has absolutely zero authority and respect from within the squad. Lindelof gave him an absolute bollocking at one point today.

 

[Foxbatt]

You can tell he has absolutely zero authority and respect from within the squad. Lindelof gave him an absolute bollocking at one point today.

And rightly so too.

 

[Cassidy]

Who cares about that?!! He had one misplaced long ball, so he was feckin shit the whole game and the worst CB in the entire universe!!!!!!

We were poor defensively as a team. The entire back 4 played poorly

 

[Lyng]

He was marking his man. Do you really expect him to just let that player go when he was clearly the one marking him? Give your head a massive shake. ELanga is on Pukki and is then caught ball watching and just lets him go and then Pogba, our "DM" decides he's not going to cover where he should and just lazes around the pitch. Maguire wasn't great today and Lindelof was even worse (look at his "marking" on the second goal), but to blame Maguire for this goal is plain out hilarious. If Maguire leaves his man and goes to Pukki they just pass it to the guy Maguire was marking. If you can't see this you are either an idiot or...nope...you're just an idiot if you can't see this

He should be following Pukki ffs. He follows the bait like a donkey to the corner flag and leaves their most dangerous goal threat to run unmarked into the penalty area. He lacks football intelligence. Which is, in fairness, the big issue for quite a few of our players.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It was not a solid performance by anyone in the back 4. Agree re the Pogba incident though

The defensive as a unit was bad but that was mainly down to shocking defending from the fullbacks (especially Dalot) and non-existent support from midfield. The two CBs played fairly well. Maguire slightly better of the two (due to his very good distribution)