Rojofiam
Full Member
- Joined
- May 11, 2017
- Messages
- 6,061
1. Yes he barely played 22/23, and we conceded 'only' 43 goals, our best record since Maguire's first season at 36 goals conceded. Allowing Martinez and Varane to forge a partnership and keeping Maguire out in turn helped the team keep goals out.
In 23/24 he played 1651 minutes, more than twice his 22/23 minutes, and with Martinez out for a long injury spell Maguire was asked to step in and we conceded our most goals on record in the PL. He's literally prominently involved when our records are at their worst.
2. We all know this, and Maguire's presence exacerbated things as we know he's not suited to a high line no matter how its set up. Varane and Martinez in the little time they had made for our most conducive CB partnership under ETH
3. Our defensive organisation wasn't much better under Solskjaer. We also progressively became worse defensively under his charge. It coincides with his signing of Maguire up until his final disaster of a season
4. Solskjaer spent 400M at united and that included what was then seen as more than decent defensive additions in Varane, AWB and Telles. Maguire was and still is the most expensive CB in world football. Are you telling me a return of 36 and 44 goals conceded in seasons without a crisis as you say reflects serious improvement over Mourinhos first two equally zero crisis seasons where we conceded much less? We set a standard prior that haven't reached again since.
Again, Maguire played 1651 minutes in 23/24, 18 full league matches, which is a decent chunk. He stepped in for Martinez and didn't help maintain the standard of the season prior where we only conceded 43 with him getting the least minutes of his united career thus far. We ended the 23/24 season with the worst defensive record of our PL era.
How are you not connecting the dots? We improved without him and we got our worst record the season after, with his minutes more than doubling and Martinez who massively improved our defense being out. Speak of an agenda.
Maguire did it in a high line for 2 seasons after he arrived. 36 goals conceded in 38 games in 19/20, as he played in every single league game, and then in 20/21 he conceded 36 in 34. We conceded 8 in the 4 matches he didn't play in.
In 2022/23, when Varane-Martínez became our first choice pairing, and played most of the games together, we had the 6th lowest line in the entire league. Maguire and Lindelöf formed the 6th and 4th highest lines in the league in 19/20 and then 20/21.
19/20 Def. Line height 45.07 (6th highest in the league, highest: Liverpool 49.14)
20/21 Def. Line height 46.16 (4th highest in the league, highest: Liverpool 49.97)
22/23 Def. Line height 42.92 (14th highest in the league, highest: Man City 51.65)
23/24 Def. Line height 43.54 (15th highest in the league, highest: Man City 51.75)
"Maguire's presence exacerbated things" Sorry but I cannot take your arguments seriously after this line here. I've just provided you with plenty of evidence that says Maguire is more than suited to a high line, and yet you just keep parroting the same things over and over again.
Maguire excelling in a high line for two seasons straight, and then being dropped under a manager that then goes on to play one of the deepest defensive lines in the whole league for two seasons straight, equals Maguire not suited for a high line to you?
You put a lot of the blame on him for our defensive record being shit under ETH, when he was 3rd choice CB at best, sometimes even 4th behind Lindelöf in 22/23 as well.
Here's Maguire's PL record for United btw
https://www.statmuse.com/fc/ask/harry-maguire-manchester-united-goals-conceded
1.03 goals conceded per match, despite playing in mostly in shit teams after Ole. And in the two full seasons under Solskjaer, we were just a top 4 contender and nothing more.
Martínez conceded 53 in 44, 1.20 per game, despite apparently being light years ahead of Maguire, according to casuals. Varane conceded 67 in 68, 0.98 per game, despite him apparently also being miles better than him?
Even Lindelöf has a better record than Martínez btw: 195 in 179, 1.08 per game.
Your thought process is based on scapegoating our best centre half for:
1. Our defensive record worsening in seasons where we had arguably worse managers than Ole (Rangnick, ten Hag) and COLLECTIVELY GOT WORSE AS A TEAM too. Every player is responsible for our defensive record, not just Maguire.
2. When our defensive record got worse, Maguire was out of favour anyway.
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