[Bestie07]

He was fine I thought. Takes a little too much time on the ball, but that is not something we already don't know. Perfectly fine for a third choice centre half who can step in to provide cover for Varane and Martinez.

It was because of our midfield that we failed to win the game. Casemiro was specially bad, slow in every aspect of the game while misplacing a lot of passes, Fred atleast was energetic.

 

[Ole'sgunnarwin]

My favourite moments with him are when he could do with one simple pass to a teammate, but he decided to bring the ball himself to the other side, slows the game down, and then passes it to a same teammate who is already under more pressure than he was 4 seconds before that.

Like, he was OK but on the ball he's still sluggish. But when you've started 3 matches and lost them all and not played 4 matches and we've won them all, that's hardly gonna be a confidence booster. And him playing massively helps determine them results.

 

[kafta]

Didn't make mistakes defensively. The problem is that that's the best i expect from him now.

In a home game where we are trying to keep possession, he doesn't help our build up play. Martinez coming on highlighted the difference.

 

[Jippy]

Those two probably haven't seen the game also, just the result on livescore. Maguire was okey, IMO our best player.

Given everything, it would probably be more surprising if his confidence hadn't taken a bit of a battering, making him afraid to make mistakes.

Am more alarmed by the comments on Casemiro tbh, even if it is obviously extremely early days for him.

 

[Olecurls99]

Had quite a good game. Got stuck in and won plenty of duels.

 

[Real Name]

He was solid.

 

[Lee565]

He was ok to be fair

 

[afatzp]

There are two sides of Maguire's games:

On one side, he looks quite competent with the ball. He can shield the ball well, get accurate passes, aerial duel and good header.

But on the other side, he just does not read the game well and quick enough , takes too much time distributing the balls or getting into positions to provide space and options .

So we constantly have got the conflicting impression of his games: it seems he as one single player was doing OK, did not make much error whenever on screen, did make some accurate good passes and win the balls couple times. But on a team scale, his presence slows the game and we could not make use of the space created , also barely hit opponents on the break because they have settled well before Maguire made up his decision where to pass the balls.

Lindelof has the same problem as well .

So their problems are actually on football intelligence, or put it the least, understanding of ETH's football philosophy.

 

[Lyng]

There are two sides of Maguire's games:

On one side, he looks quite competent with the ball. He can shield the ball well, get accurate passes, aerial duel and good header.

But on the other side, he just does not read the game well and quick enough , takes too much time distributing the balls or getting into positions to provide space and options .

So we constantly have got the conflicting impression of his games: it seems he as one single player was doing OK, did not make much error whenever on screen, did make some accurate good passes and win the balls couple times. But on a team scale, his presence slows the game and we could not make use of the space created , also barely hit opponents on the break because they have settled well before Maguire made up his decision where to pass the balls.

Lindelof has the same problem as well .

So their problems are actually on football intelligence, or put it the least, understanding of ETH's football philosophy.

Spot on.

 

[Kostov]

Given everything, it would probably be more surprising if his confidence hadn't taken a bit of a battering, making him afraid to make mistakes.

Am more alarmed by the comments on Casemiro tbh, even if it is obviously extremely early days for him.

He was fine, and was helped by Sociedad looking very toothless in the first half, Sorloth in the second was causing problems but was mostly attacking Martinez and avoiding Maguire.

Casemiro does look off to be honest, but we seem to never learn when spending huge fees on players that already achieved everything in their careers. It is early and I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[Sunny Jim]

he was very solid yesterday, nothing to complain. Apart from one thing- he was supposed to play as RCB but drifted towards LCB position way to often.

 

[Kostov]

He didnt. He is to slow and often moves with the ball when he should simply let it go. He simply doesnt work in a Ten Hag system, which a lot of us predicted.
Varane isnt the best passer but he understands his limitations and passes the ball on right away, which removes the issues. Maguire doesnt. He holds on to the ball to long. It doesnt matter how precise your passing is when you dont let the ball go until every teammate is marked.
Its absolutely not his fault we didnt win yesterday, but he was far from our best player.

In order to pass it with more urgency from the back, you need a functioning midfield in front of you. Except of Eriksen in the first half and Casemiro on instances we were dreadful in the middle, nothing to do with Maguire who has tendency of an extra touch I agree. Our problem was that 2 of our midfielder were appalling for the majority of the game, not the CBs.

Who was better according to you?

 

[Lyng]

In order to pass it with more urgency from the back, you need a functioning midfield in front of you. Except of Eriksen in the first half and Casemiro on instances we were dreadful in the middle, nothing to do with Maguire who has tendency of an extra touch I agree. Our problem was that 2 of our midfielder were appalling for the majority of the game, not the CBs.

Who was better according to you?

I would say Martinez and Eriksen where better.

 

[Kostov]

I would say Martinez and Eriksen where better.

Martinez who gave away the best chance for Sociedad with the Sorloth header? The penalty which was harsh but still, and almost gave away another penalty in extra time? And Eriksen was I agree very good but only played half of the match.

 

[Lyng]

Martinez who gave away the best chance for Sociedad with the Sorloth header? The penalty which was harsh but still, and almost gave away another penalty in extra time? And Eriksen was I agree very good but only played half of the match.

It was an excellent block that the ref and VAR made a mess of.
Eriksen needed to be rested. Doesnt change the fact that our entire offensive movement and play got ruined when Eriksen was gone. He is our most important player at the moment.

 

[Chief123]

It's been like this for years. I can't work out why. Used to think it was hipster wierdness. We have a strong anti English vibe washing through our online fanbase too. But over time I just can't work out what it is.

He is the only player that a fan will post ' I just look at him and get angry' and not listen to themselves speak and comprehend that it is their problem.

You can’t work out why Maguire receives so much criticism?

With the greatest of respect, have you ever watched him play?

 

[Kostov]

It was an excellent block that the ref and VAR made a mess of.
Eriksen needed to be rested. Doesnt change the fact that our entire offensive movement and play got ruined when Eriksen was gone. He is our most important player at the moment.

I thought it should be over ruled but it stood, and it was the game for us. I don't think Martinez did better than Maguire last night however. Eriksen is great, shame we don't have an alternative.

 

[Lyng]

Eriksen is great, shame we don't have an alternative.

Yeah we desperately need that.

 

[eire-red]

We just can't play on the front foot with the likes of him, Fred and Ronaldo in the team. Too passive, pondering and unsure of what to do with the ball. Taking 4/5 touches only to play it to Lindelof is the complete opposite of what we've been watching the past few weeks.

Nothing wrong with his performance individually, unlike Fred and Ronaldo who were dreadful, but we can't play how ETH wants us with him (and others ofc) in the squad. He didn't make any mistakes, but Real were completely toothless in attack and bar a terrible penalty call, just like us, they never looked like scoring.

 

[McGrathsipan]

He was fine I thought. Takes a little too much time on the ball, but that is not something we already don't know. Perfectly fine for a third choice centre half who can step in to provide cover for Varane and Martinez.

It was because of our midfield that we failed to win the game. Casemiro was specially bad, slow in every aspect of the game while misplacing a lot of passes, Fred atleast was energetic.

I agree with Casimero and Fred being poor last night - they were.

But Maguire - hes not fine though, not at all - as I already mentioned he is a decent 442 type old fashioned centre back that would clear balls with his mallet head all day but modern football is on the deck and he is woefully bad when faced with quick players and fast moving ball- his positioning is woeful, pace and intensity non existant, too many touches slows everything down when we have the ball and he is incapable of taking the ball forward. Mainly passed it back to DDG last night.
Imagine having a capable centre back releases the midfield to express themselves more- not thinking they have to cover for some incompetent centre half.

Brian Clough would have loved him.

 

[The Oracle]

3 matches he has started this season, and we have lost them all.

4 matches he hasn't started, we have won them all.

Coincidence?

 

[flameinthesun]

Think yesterday shows you the difference in levels between martinez/varane and the other cbs, especially with Martinez. Martinez is quicker with everything, closing down, tackling, passing. Maguire is okay at these things but it shows you how overrated he has been, when the game is slow and there is space he's okay, but he hasn't got the ability to play as quickly as martinez or to cover like Varane. He's also too big a name to sit on our bench, so hopefully winter or next summer we can get 40-50mil for him and invest it into a young defender more in the mould of what ten hag is looking for.

 

[DWelbz19]

There are two sides of Maguire's games:

On one side, he looks quite competent with the ball. He can shield the ball well, get accurate passes, aerial duel and good header.

But on the other side, he just does not read the game well and quick enough , takes too much time distributing the balls or getting into positions to provide space and options .

So we constantly have got the conflicting impression of his games: it seems he as one single player was doing OK, did not make much error whenever on screen, did make some accurate good passes and win the balls couple times. But on a team scale, his presence slows the game and we could not make use of the space created , also barely hit opponents on the break because they have settled well before Maguire made up his decision where to pass the balls.

Lindelof has the same problem as well .

So their problems are actually on football intelligence, or put it the least, understanding of ETH's football philosophy.

He's a good defender who has very visible and obvious flaws. His lack of quickness (in feet, body, and mind) will just never really go away. There's no way Maguire ever stops being bumbling, getting spun on the turn, and struggling in a high-line because of those flaws are ones that just can't really be ironed out.

Your fourth paragraph is the most important point to me: Maguire is an individually decent defender. He does generally well, alone. Our CBs never seem to gel a partnership with him and the entire back line seems to be a bit chaotic with him in there.

 

[Eleven-Eighteen]

Didn't make mistakes defensively. The problem is that that's the best i expect from him now.

In a home game where we are trying to keep possession, he doesn't help our build up play. Martinez coming on highlighted the difference.

I disagree. He has terrible positioning when tracking back. Forced Licha to make some hero saves, like that clearance inside our box in the middle of the second half. Varane is almost always winning headers because he's positioned well for long balls and crosses. Maguire is almost always in no man's land, and so balls are constantly flying over him to the other centre half

 

[largelyworried]

Painful going back to Maguire last night. It isn't just that he lacks pace over the ground. He takes an extra touch when he receives the ball, he's slow to turn, his speed of thought is slow in spotting when a pass is on, and he often takes an extra touch to shift the ball to get a better angle on the pass. It just all adds up this slowness that affects the entire way we play. Watch the ball go to Martinez and the way he'll just first time it back into midfield to hit his man and you truly realise what you're missing with Maguire.

 

[RussellWilson]

Build up is night and day, without Martinez. He's actually terrible on the ball, kills any speed in the game.

 

[Marwood]

3 matches he has started this season, and we have lost them all.

4 matches he hasn't started, we have won them all.

Coincidence?

Yes

 

[Biggins]

He was solid defensively and better than Lindelof yesterday. However, he slows our build up and you can see big difference between him and Martinez. He should be cover for Varane and Martinez and nothing more.

 

[Mailo]

Is this serious critique of his performance or just puerile abuse, given even the haters are saying he was fine last night (I didn't see the game)?

My bad. This was for Luke Shaw. Maguire was nothing more than ok last night. Still moves like an oil tanker and grabs opponent players like an octopus.

 

[Red Shorts]

Defensive-wise, he was absolutely fine. They really did not threaten throughout the 90.

Buildup play is night and day compared to Varane and Martinez though.

 

[Olecurls99]

Slowness is the death of good football. He played well but Martinez showed what level is required.

 

[Isotope]

Build up is night and day, without Martinez. He's actually terrible on the ball, kills any speed in the game.

After watching those PL 4 games, yesterday was like watching a video in slow-motion at the back.

 

[#W203_Red]

He is a 90s throwback centre half. Big, good at defending deep and can play quite direct with relative accuracy. Due to the type of football played then he could get away with most of the obvious flaws he has ( barring anticipation, the best defenders who didn’t rely on pace had that in abundance).

The modern day centre half is the complete opposite that we see in Maguire. Slow with and without the ball just gets found out at the highest level.

Now we have appointed a manager who wants to play a certain way, a modern way so that we can compete with the best teams who adapt this type of approach. Harry Maguire cannot and will not be able to do what is asked of him competently therefore there is a need to get rid and replace him.

Ten Hag needs to be bold and brave and in time replace anyone who doesn’t fit into his philosophy until then he needs to be fourth choice because what we saw last night is not what we need and we will have many more games like that if he plays.

poor performances can be accepted as players are human, not having the skill set both physically and mentally to perform to the required standard cannot be afforded at the highest level and not if we are to get back to the top.

Before anyone thinks this is a Maguire bashing session it’s not. The same applies to Ronaldo, Lindelof, AWB, De Gea and to a lesser extent McTominay and Elanga.

 

[hollywoodpass]

The quickness of his passing needs huge improvement. If we are to play him then we at the very least need Maguire to have a strong understanding of passing with his CB partner, who will need strong passing skills, whereby Maguire quickly offloads the ball to his partner to play the more incisive pass. Vida use to manage something similar with Rio.

 

[#W203_Red]

The quickness of his passing needs huge improvement. If we are to play him then we at the very least need Maguire to have a strong understanding of passing with his CB partner, who will need strong passing skills, whereby Maguire quickly offloads the ball to his partner to play the more incisive pass. Vida use to manage something similar with Rio.

I get what you are saying but teams press so differently now that they would just stop the pass to his partner and allow him all the time in the world to dally on the ball and let the opposition set. Our success recently has come from incisive forward penetrating passes. Harry ain’t got the ability to do that, nor the confidence.

He can’t play if we want to play the way Ten Hag wants to play it’s as simple as that. Joel will have to deal withthe 80 mill well and truly down the drain.

 

[Chief123]

Watching this higlights video followed by watching him live is like watching a beautiful woman take her make-up off to reveal a different creation.

 

[Foxbatt]

The quickness of his passing needs huge improvement. If we are to play him then we at the very least need Maguire to have a strong understanding of passing with his CB partner, who will need strong passing skills, whereby Maguire quickly offloads the ball to his partner to play the more incisive pass. Vida use to manage something similar with Rio.

Vidic was a much better football player than Maguire. His passing wae was much better and he had much quicker feet.
He will do well in a Moyes team.

 

[TOKUGAWA-X]

So it turns out the Captain has been injured for a while and played anyways.

Feel bad for him, hopefully he can recover his form, health 100% this time and go back to the starting XI.

 

[arthurka]

He always looks like he will burst into tears anytime now..

 

[CarbonStoolBites]

So it turns out the Captain has been injured for a while and played anyways.

Feel bad for him, hopefully he can recover his form, health 100% this time and go back to the starting XI.

Whose captain is that? Yours maybe.