Is Harry Maguire really better than Smalling and Bailly? Has Woodward got this right?

[RedorDead21]

He isn't one of them though, as was seen at the world cup.

He's still young and had a very good World Cup. More than anything the occasion and pressure did not get to him. He isn't injury prone. He's physically right for us and in 3-4 years could be an absolute rock and one of the best who knows. We wanted that for both Jones and Smalling but neither kicked on from that initial potential.

 

[Fully Fledged]

If something happens over the next couple of season that proves Woody wrong far enough but so far he hasn't done anything to deserve the £75m+ that Leicester were asking for him. If we didn't get him for £65m there is no saying that we would have got him if we went back in with £75m.

 

[Cascarino]

Not this again.

It has been addressed in the Maguire thread a number of times by listing a number of top defenders that came from sides with terrible defensive records the season before they moved.

It's a really lazy argument. Instead of actually watching games, it's easier to just use basic statistics, ignoring all context and actual performances.

 

[Cassidy]

If he can't defend then why did his Leicester team mates and Leicester fans vote him their best player last season?

England defended pretty well at the World Cup.

Did I say cant defend or not a very good defender? Im speaking about being better than what we have and improving us. Maguire wasnt any better than Lindelof at the world cup IMO

 

[golden_blunder]

Did I say cant defend or not a very good defender? Im speaking about being better than what we have and improving us. Maguire wasnt any better than Lindelof at the world cup IMO

Yes he was. People are overrating lindelof WC campaign. But he was covered by other defenders whereas Maguire became the main man for England. He’s a leader, lindelof is far from it

 

[norm87cro]

Smalling. Yes. Bailly? Remains to be seen

 

[Sultan]

Besides Rojo, all of our defenders are more suited to the right side. Maguire would have been suited to fill that void. He's also more composed and comfortable with the ball at his feet.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

We had better CBs on the bench.

I agree we had better ones on the bench. Smalling probably would have make a bit of difference in our defense since he's much better defending than Bailly & Lindelof, hence we won't conceded 3 goals against Brighton.

But signing defender like Maguire who can do both defending & play the ball with his feet and also play him next to Smalling would have make the difference yesterday in both defending & build up our attack.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Dunno if Maguire is the missing link, or Alderweireld but it beggars belief that anyone can have followed Liverpool since they signed VVD and fail to grasp how just one genuinely top class CB can up the game of his partner. I refuse to believe that the likes of Gomez, Matip or Lovren are better than every CB at United but they’re looking it with a composed, confident leader holding things together at the back. And Klopp isn’t even a good defensive coach! Drop Lindelof, Bailly, Smalling or Jones into that Liverpool backline alongside VVD and they’d probably look like world beaters.

Of course, to understand that this you have to get football and understand these sort of things can’t be calculated on a spreadsheet. Which really only emphasises the absolute fecking folly of a bean counter telling the manager he doesn’t know what he’s doing when it comes to building a functional defence.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yes he was. People are overrating lindelof WC campaign. But he was covered by other defenders whereas Maguire became the main man for England. He’s a leader, lindelof is far from it

Which is exactly what we’re missing.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Did I say cant defend or not a very good defender? Im speaking about being better than what we have and improving us. Maguire wasnt any better than Lindelof at the world cup IMO

Maguire is playing ahead of both Jones & Smalling. And judging by what we have seen last season, both Jones & Smalling play ahead of Lindelof & Bailly. How is a centre back who is proven to be better than our best ones last season isn't considered to be better & not going to improve us?

 

[golden_blunder]

Which is exactly what we’re missing.

Yup, I like him. Like a hybrid of Bruce and Pally.

 

[el3mel]

Not Smalling, but by this way he would have been better than everyone else we have.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yup, I like him. Like a hybrid of Bruce and Pally.

Jaysus. That’s one hell of a defender you just described!

 

[golden_blunder]

Jaysus. That’s one hell of a defender you just described!

And I firmly believe he could hit their heights with a move to a big club. The greatest compliment I can give him is that I think fergie would have been all over him and Robertson at Hull (reminds me of a young Irwin in style)

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Maguire is a decent defender but, people are really going overboard with praise for him.

 

[Canagel]

He's slow.

 

[dave1956]

I think the question here is not which player is the better, but should a Vice Chairman be deciding which players come and go from the club.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

I think the question here is not which player is the better, but should a Vice Chairman be deciding which players come and go from the club.

Rethorical question?

 

[Runner]

Which is exactly what we’re missing.

I agree with you and we've lacked one for quite some time. Rooney was never a good leader and our mentality severely declined because of that.

 

[Kharhaz]

Maguire is a decent defender but, people are really going overboard with praise for him.

I agree. Look at the central defenders for England. Maguire, Stones, Rose, Dier.

Not exactly bursting with quality is it? Maguire was the standout performer, however, was that for his defending? or was it simply because he won more aerial battles at both ends of the pitch?

I have to agree with your vice chairman here, if Maguire was that good, how come only united were interested?

 

[Cassidy]

Maguire is playing ahead of both Jones & Smalling. And judging by what we have seen last season, both Jones & Smalling play ahead of Lindelof & Bailly. How is a centre back who is proven to be better than our best ones last season isn't considered to be better & not going to improve us?

I don't agree he was proven to be better. Smalling didn't make the squad due to his lack of ability on the ball (according to Southgate), rather than the fact Maguire was a better defender.
Smalling also performed better last season IMO

Thats not me saying Maguire is a poor defender, but the notion he has performed better than Smalling I just don't agree with.

Saying someone playing ahead of someone else in the national team doesn't prove anything either.

 

[Ekeke]

I agree we had better ones on the bench. Smalling probably would have make a bit of difference in our defense since he's much better defending than Bailly & Lindelof, hence we won't conceded 3 goals against Brighton.

But signing defender like Maguire who can do both defending & play the ball with his feet and also play him next to Smalling would have make the difference yesterday in both defending & build up our attack.

I think that combination would clearly have been better and also, I would have been a bit surprised if Maguire + Bailly or Maguire + Lindelof would have put in a performance as bad as Bailly + Lindelof yesterday. However thats not saying too much. We probably had the 2nd worst looking CB pairing this weekend

 

[Jezpeza]

I think that combination would clearly have been better and also, I would have been a bit surprised if Maguire + Bailly or Maguire + Lindelof would have put in a performance as bad as Bailly + Lindelof yesterday. However thats not saying too much. We probably had the 2nd worst looking CB pairing this weekend

Yeah was embarrassing. Looked like a couple of conference players. Do we drill our defense on the training ground? Play training games with them defending against attacks as a pairing or whatever? Just couldn’t believe it looking at them on Sunday. What was that?

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I don't agree he was proven to be better. Smalling didn't make the squad due to his lack of ability on the ball (according to Southgate), rather than the fact Maguire was a better defender.
Smalling also performed better last season IMO

Thats not me saying Maguire is a poor defender, but the notion he has performed better than Smalling I just don't agree with.

Saying someone playing ahead of someone else in the national team doesn't prove anything either.

I agree that Smalling didn't make the squad due to his lack of ability on the ball. Defensively he's solid.

But you need to know that the difference in their overall defensive ability between Smalling & Maguire aren't much difference. The fact is that Maguire can do both defending & also distribute the ball, to be able to do both is already considered to be a better "defender" than a defender who can only do one of them. Hence why Maguire is a better defender than Smalling.

Maguire is obviously way way better than Jones since he plays ahead of Jones in national team, no debate. He's also better than Rojo, Lindelof & Bailly in both defending & ball distribution.

Hence why I disagree with you because IMO signing him & play him next to Smalling will improve us in a lot of aspects. Not only he's better than Jones, he's a ball playing CB (something that Smalling lacks), he's also superb in his aerial duel & winning header (which something that Bailly & Lindelof lacks).

 

[redmanx]

Smalling. Yes. Bailly? Remains to be seen

Molly Maguire is better than both of them!

 

[Beagle]

I think Maguire is quite shit. There's a myth about how well he did for England. Every English player was average at best and they faced no single decent opponent except an isolated Mandzukic in the semis.

Maguire is hyped up beyond belief, as the English do with their own players. His ball-playing is way overrated and it quickly turns into a hoof upfield when he's under pressure. We can be thankful we avoided another average defender.

 

[Dec9003]

I think Maguire is quite shit. There's a myth about how well he did for England. Every English player was average at best and they faced no single decent opponent except an isolated Mandzukic in the semis.

Maguire is hyped up beyond belief, as the English do with their own players. His ball-playing is way overrated and it quickly turns into a hoof upfield when he's under pressure. We can be thankful we avoided another average defender.

You're wrong, Maguire is a very good player and would improve most, if not all teams in the league.

 

[Noc-Z]

When you ask "has Woodward got this right"? I have to wonder why is Woodward making the decision? He doesn't have a football brain does he? This may be the root of some of our (many) problems.

 

[B20]

We're talking about a player who would probably be behind Joe gomez for England at the world Cup if not for injury.

He's good, but his value is vastly inflated.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

We're talking about a player who would probably be behind Joe gomez for England at the world Cup if not for injury.

This just isn't true though.

 

[MUFC OK]

He plays with desire and always gives 100%, he is a winner in my opinion and I think he's exactly the kind of player Fergie would have signed. I really rate him and compare it to Harry Kane, whereby people were reluctant to hype him up, but I think he can be a world class CB.

 

[minoo-utd]

We have no-brainer defenders.

 

[Harry190]

He's slow.

Odd thing to say when he kept up with Rashford's sprint during the match at Old Trafford.

 

[Long Ball]

if Liverpool had forked out the money on him we would be saying him & VVD is the best CB pairing in the league by some distance.

I'm not saying he's worth 75m but to say he wouldn't improve us is wrong, just not with value. his fitness record alone would be a boost

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Bailly had an absolute shocker on Sunday,but let’s not give up on him.The lad has all the tools to become a top class CB...I”m still not sure about Lindelof though,not sure if he’s ever going to be good enough for United...

 

[Bwuk]

We're talking about a player who would probably be behind Joe gomez for England at the world Cup if not for injury.

He's good, but his value is vastly inflated.

No chance he’d be behind Gomez...

Gomez if picked would of been a bench option.

 

[Beagle]

You're wrong, Maguire is a very good player and would improve most, if not all teams in the league.

Sure you can believe that.

 

[James Peril]

if Liverpool had forked out the money on him we would be saying him & VVD is the best CB pairing in the league by some distance.

I'm not saying he's worth 75m but to say he wouldn't improve us is wrong, just not with value. his fitness record alone would be a boost

I sure as hell wouldn't. Vertonghen and Alderweireld are both better players and of course a better duo.

 

[Dutsey]

As Gary Neville said all our defenders are always lunging in - not sign of a good defender. We will not win the PL with our back 4 and Jose was right to request the transfers.