Official: Harry Maguire signs a new deal

Ekeke said:
For 10 games we have been. We have no idea what 38 next season will bring, but if its with the same players its unlikely to be completely different. You're living in a dream world.
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We've just seen what can happen with the "same players" under a different manager.
Now imagine what our defence could look like with a beefed up midfield in front of them?

A lot of people suggested we shouldn't have gone heavy in attack last summer. Wonder if any of them still think that now.
 
Sandikan said:
We've just seen what can happen with the "same players" under a different manager.
Now imagine what our defence could look like with a beefed up midfield in front of them?

A lot of people suggested we shouldn't have gone heavy in attack last summer. Wonder if any of them still think that now.
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Agree with the second part of this actually. I was about to complain that signing midfielders doesn't fix the defence but it would go a long way towards fixing the team as a whole
 
Sandikan said:
We've just seen what can happen with the "same players" under a different manager.
Now imagine what our defence could look like with a beefed up midfield in front of them?

A lot of people suggested we shouldn't have gone heavy in attack last summer. Wonder if any of them still think that now.
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They might have done. I didnt.

Also didnt think we should buy Maguire for £80 million

I dont know what you're expecting from a better midfield defensively, Ugarte has the 2nd most tackles per 90 mins of midfielders in the league and 6th most interceptions, Casemiro has decent winning numbers and was better at it last season and we still had that defensive record. The defence isnt going to get much more help. I think the midfield will have a much greater impact on our attack
 
Ekeke said:
They might have done. I didnt.

Also didnt think we should buy Maguire for £80 million

I dont know what you're expecting from a better midfield defensively, Ugarte has the 2nd most tackles per 90 mins of midfielders in the league and 6th most interceptions, Casemiro has decent winning numbers and was better at it last season and we still had that defensive record. The defence isnt going to get much more help. I think the midfield will have a much greater impact on our attack
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Better midfield -> more control of the game -> less opportunities for the opponent to build attacks -> less chances against us -> less goals conceded -> better defensively -> less pressure on defence/GK
 
Trigestis said:
I don't understand how anyone can be against this. Remember Thiago Silva, being one of the best CBs in the league at 37-38? Maguire just turned 33.

Experience, leadership, aerial ability and physical presence that they both share is invaluable, and it would be an absolutely chaotic decision to let him go. He is still one of the best CBs in the league, ridiculous mental strength (and physical, obviously, manhandling Gabriel like that). Maguire has never relied on pace, and he can keep it up for several more years at this level.
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Was think the April 1st joke? Because it sure reads like it is
 
Smart move. You don't release of a guy for nothing who is starting the majority of your games - you find an upgrade for him first (either with transfers or someone taking his place).

My hope is that with some more game time to go around next year, and our injury prone senior centre backs, that one of Yoro or Heaven will make a push to be a full time starter. Neither have quite done enough yet that you would 100% trust that they can fill his boots.
 
Fracture90 said:
Was think the April 1st joke? Because it sure reads like it is
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Not as in the top 3, but he has a spot in the top 10, in my opinion. His performances for us this season have been excellent, a shame about his injuries.

Gabriel, Saliba, van Dijk, Gvardiol, Guehi, Lacroix, Lisandro Martinez and Ruben Dias are the only ones that are definitely better. Between Maguire, van Hecke, Tarkowski, Chalobah, Romero etc, it's quite subjective. Out of curiousity, seeing as you looked at it some sort of joke, how far down would you have Maguire among CBs in the league?
 
Just seen his quotes about how "we need more players, we need better quality. This summer is going to be really, really big". I rate the honesty. He seems to be less beige in front of the cameras than he used to be.
 
Trigestis said:
Not as in the top 3, but he has a spot in the top 10, in my opinion. His performances for us this season have been excellent, a shame about his injuries.

Gabriel, Saliba, van Dijk, Gvardiol, Guehi, Lacroix, Lisandro Martinez and Ruben Dias are the only ones that are definitely better. Between Maguire, van Hecke, Tarkowski, Chalobah, Romero etc, it's quite subjective. Out of curiousity, seeing as you looked at it some sort of joke, how far down would you have Maguire among CBs in the league?
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Mid table.
 
Ekeke said:
Why would it only matter if it was on purpose? Blaming decisions from years ago is a skapegoat. Plenty of clubs resolve multiple positions in one summer without spending like we do.

You're speaking from the perspective of someone used to bad decisions and being accepting of them. The only way for the club to do better is to call them out as they make these bad decisions and hold the club to a higher standard than they are delivering.
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Other clubs rarely have to sign 3 players in the same position in one summer, like we’re forced to do this window in midfield, which is due to years of bad recruitment so we're having to rectify the mistakes of the past.

I'm pretty sure I've seen you advocate spending £170m on Garner and Anderson. We need another midfielder on top of that, and either a LB or LW. So we're already resolving multiple positions. I've ignored Zirkzee's replacememt and Bayindir's replacement too. And now a top class CB needs adding. How much money do you think we have to spend?

Ultimately we don't know what the net spend budget is so we're not in a position to say for sure if it's feasible. But to refuse to take into account that we have finite amount of money to spend is a luxury the fans have when posting their fantasy lineups on the internet, it's not a luxury the decision makers at the club have.
 
Ekeke said:
They might have done. I didnt.

Also didnt think we should buy Maguire for £80 million

I dont know what you're expecting from a better midfield defensively, Ugarte has the 2nd most tackles per 90 mins of midfielders in the league and 6th most interceptions, Casemiro has decent winning numbers and was better at it last season and we still had that defensive record. The defence isnt going to get much more help. I think the midfield will have a much greater impact on our attack
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This is the problem with you stats obsessed people. It's like when people claimed similar for saves for Onana.

When the eye test for both had them both coming up horribly short.
 
Fracture90 said:
Disagree. Still too many brainfarts.
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He’s been (easily) our best defender and we’re third. Even if you don’t personally like him, you can see how people would associate him with being at the top end of this league
 
He's class so this is good news.

So many sides in the league have better defenders than Harry Maguire when casually discussing it in the summer.

Then when it comes to actually playing football matches they realise they would give their right arm to have their own Harry Maguire. Chelsea would be a great example of that right now.
 
Sensible decision. The rest of our centre backs consist of two inexperienced guys and two guys who are quality but far from reliable in terms of fitness.

It would cost a ridiculous sum to buy a defender as good as, or better than Maguire.

Makes sense before even considering the wealth of experience and mental strength he clearly has.
 
T00lsh3d said:
He’s been (easily) our best defender and we’re third. Even if you don’t personally like him, you can see how people would associate him with being at the top end of this league
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He hasn't been out best defender at all. I'd argue that both De Ligt and Martinez have been better. Maguire has been available though.
 
Fracture90 said:
He hasn't been out best defender at all. I'd argue that both De Ligt and Martinez have been better. Maguire has been available though.
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Ok…..we have a big difference in opinion, which is fine
 
OverratedOpinion said:
He's class so this is good news.

So many sides in the league have better defenders than Harry Maguire when casually discussing it in the summer.

Then when it comes to actually playing football matches they realise they would give their right arm to have their own Harry Maguire. Chelsea would be a great example of that right now.
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When the ball is in the air in your own penalty area, it's a genuine debate - who is better in the league? Not many, if any.
Similar at the other end too - gets his head on most balls.

Others might be more mobile or better at this and that, but you simply can't line up in the premier league with say Heaven/Yoro and Martinez at this point in time.
You'd get battered aerially.
De Ligt is a good option - though not quite as dominant, but still way more dominant than the rest above. But that injury feels worrying - will he even be back next season and regular?
 
Right decision considering the circumstances.
Never thought De Ligt and Martinez would be the expendable ones at the expense of Maguire but here we are.

Even with his regular injuries he’s still far more available than those two. Both who really should be moved on in the summer.
 
Great decision.

Maguire isn't a world class CB, we all know that.

However, he's a leader, very reliable and has a brilliant injury record. Would be foolish to let him go when he can help us next year.
 
Dominos said:
Other clubs rarely have to sign 3 players in the same position in one summer, like we’re forced to do this window in midfield, which is due to years of bad recruitment so we're having to rectify the mistakes of the past.

I'm pretty sure I've seen you advocate spending £170m on Garner and Anderson. We need another midfielder on top of that, and either a LB or LW. So we're already resolving multiple positions. I've ignored Zirkzee's replacememt and Bayindir's replacement too. And now a top class CB needs adding. How much money do you think we have to spend?

Ultimately we don't know what the net spend budget is so we're not in a position to say for sure if it's feasible. But to refuse to take into account that we have finite amount of money to spend is a luxury the fans have when posting their fantasy lineups on the internet, it's not a luxury the decision makers at the club have.
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We absolutely need 1 midfielder this summer to replace Casemiro. Thats it.

We absolutely dont need a winger and left back has enough cover even if it might not be ideal if Dorgu is playing well on the left wing and then Shaw is out and he has to be put in there. He can still play the position.

We also need to address our defensive record. Having signed a goalkeeper already, a CB makes sense

Yes it would be nice to get a 2nd midfielder in case the first one doesnt come in and bring their previous club form. However both Garner and Anderson are playing well enough that if they did maintain their form they'd both do a good job replacing Casemiro alone. Mainoo is an absolutely fine starter and will hopefully improve. Ugarte has been dissappointing but if he plays next to someone who is creative and moves the ball well enough, he can do a squad job and will hopefully still improve himself. If hes leaving then yes we'll need 2 midfielders, but no it wont cost any more than his sale fee to replace him.
 
Silas said:
Better midfield -> more control of the game -> less opportunities for the opponent to build attacks -> less chances against us -> less goals conceded -> better defensively -> less pressure on defence/GK
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That just leads to more counter attacks. Thats how we did well against teams that dominated against us, and won
 
Steady on, Harry lad. I can see your new contract has gone to your daft, fat head but you are not the best cb in the world.

Maybe 2nd best. Well done. ;)
 
Fracture90 said:
He hasn't been out best defender at all. I'd argue that both De Ligt and Martinez have been better. Maguire has been available though.
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He has. de Ligt is close behind. Martinez hasn't been a better defender, not even close, but he has been a better passer by far because he actually makes line breaking passes consistently and is more of a joy to watch, but defensively Maguire has been comfortably better.

You should look up goals conceded for when Maguire hasn't been playing/when he got subbed off, it's significantly noticeable the last time I checked. Player performance threads is also a good idea to scroll through to see what most think.
 
Good decision, IMO. Great experience, reliable and actually a good defender when the system (mid to low block) suits him. My only slight criticism (and it’s more directed at the club and not Maguire) is that we eventually need faster CB’s to move to a higher backline but that’s just a personal preference I guess.
 
Ekeke said:
That just leads to more counter attacks. Thats how we did well against teams that dominated against us, and won
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Sure, a larger proportion of the chances we concede may be counter attacks. But that doesn't really change what I'm saying about the overall number of chances conceded being reduced.
 
This guy gets too much....in an era where we have been a shadow of ourselves since Fergie left, and so many at the club has completely just not 'got it', lacked professionalism and not understood the badge on the shirt, here is someone who has given it his all, and not caved in to all those gunnin for his blood. How many like him have we had in the last 6 years or so?
 
Trigestis said:
He has. de Ligt is close behind. Martinez hasn't been a better defender, not even close, but he has been a better passer by far because he actually makes line breaking passes consistently and is more of a joy to watch, but defensively Maguire has been comfortably better.

You should look up goals conceded for when Maguire hasn't been playing/when he got subbed off, it's significantly noticeable the last time I checked. Player performance threads is also a good idea to scroll through to see what most think.
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He hasn't been a better defender, he was, serviceable and available. He is too slow and too prone to constant brainfarts.
 
Fracture90 said:
He hasn't been a better defender, he was, serviceable and available. He is too slow and too prone to constant brainfarts.
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He was a better defender, and we concede far fewer goals with him on the pitch. Not sure why you're talking about his brainfarts. Those were years ago. Tell me the last brainfart he had this season.
 
Silas said:
Sure, a larger proportion of the chances we concede may be counter attacks. But that doesn't really change what I'm saying about the overall number of chances conceded being reduced.
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So defensively we actually dont conceed many shots. 4th in the league, last season it was 5th most. The season before that was when we had the 2nd highest amount of shots against us in the league. So we improved a lot in that respect and even under Amorim we didnt have that many shots against us. This season we average 11 shots against us, Chelsea 10.8, City 9.8 and Arsenal 7.8

We have conceded 43 goals, Chelsea 38, City 28 and Arsenal 22.

Possession is (in order) City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and then us

So there are 3 teams that have more of the ball than us and face less shots. And there are 2 teams that have more of the ball than us and face more shots

The problem hasnt been the number of chances against us, so much as the quality of chances against us and the ability of those teams to convert those chances into goals.
 
Trigestis said:
He was a better defender, and we concede far fewer goals with him on the pitch. Not sure why you're talking about his brainfarts. Those were years ago. Tell me the last brainfart he had this season.
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Mate, literally the last game we played he had given away a completely unnecessary penalty kick and got himself sent off in the process...
 
Ekeke said:
We absolutely need 1 midfielder this summer to replace Casemiro. Thats it.

We absolutely dont need a winger and left back has enough cover even if it might not be ideal if Dorgu is playing well on the left wing and then Shaw is out and he has to be put in there. He can still play the position.

We also need to address our defensive record. Having signed a goalkeeper already, a CB makes sense

Yes it would be nice to get a 2nd midfielder in case the first one doesnt come in and bring their previous club form. However both Garner and Anderson are playing well enough that if they did maintain their form they'd both do a good job replacing Casemiro alone. Mainoo is an absolutely fine starter and will hopefully improve. Ugarte has been dissappointing but if he plays next to someone who is creative and moves the ball well enough, he can do a squad job and will hopefully still improve himself. If hes leaving then yes we'll need 2 midfielders, but no it wont cost any more than his sale fee to replace him.
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There is a standard level of depth required for a top team competing at the top of the PL and in the champions league. That's two players per position i.e. at least 22 first team players. You're advocating leaving ourselves short of that, short in multiple positions which seems crazy.

Shaw, Dorgu and Cunha covering the left side is not sufficient numbers, any serious top CL level team has 4 players to cover two positions, and it's even worse for us given Shaw has a habit of missing entire seasons through injury.

Mainoo, Ugarte, and a new CM again is not sufficient numbers to cover two positions for a CL team playing twice a week, leaving us short of depth. It's also really quite bad quality wise as Ugarte is really bad every time he's entering the pitch, it's basically already decided he'll be leaving in the summer because of that.

We've got away with lack of depth this season because we've played one game per week, and somehow Shaw has stayed fit for a full season after missing nearly the entire previous two seasons. This has made fans complacent. The injuries we sustain will be worse next year playing more games, and more rotation will be necessary.
 
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Fracture90 said:
Mate, literally the last game we played he had given away a completely unnecessary penalty kick and got himself sent off in the process...
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Then we got a very different definition of what a brainfart is. Isn't every penalty conceded unnecessary in that case? Sergio Ramos, the biggest brainfart centre back of all time!
 
Trigestis said:
Then we got a very different definition of what a brainfart is. Isn't every penalty conceded unnecessary in that case? Sergio Ramos, the biggest brainfart centre back of all time!
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What an odd response. I think you need to go back and watch that situation again. He was caught flat footed so he put his hands on the opposition player to prevent him from having a go on the goal. Absolutely a brainfart moment. Unnecessary penalty plus getting himself send off.
 
Fracture90 said:
What an odd response. I think you need to go back and watch that situation again. He was caught flat footed so he put his hands on the opposition player to prevent him from having a go on the goal. Absolutely a brainfart moment. Unnecessary penalty plus getting himself send off.
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If your only example of Maguire's brainfarts this season is him conceding a penalty - in the exact same fashion that we were not awarded a penalty in the same game (so his should never have been a penalty) - then you're kind of proving my point how good he has been.

Conceding penalties are always unnecessary one way or another.
 
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