Time for a new captain.

[Livewire1974]

An utterly spineless performance and zero leadership on the pitch. Maguire is a liability as a defender and a non existent captain.

The way the teams heads went down today was shocking. Almost zero leadership on the pitch apart from a few verbals from McTom after he came on.

If this dross and drop in standards is not stopped immediately we are in trouble.

Make Bruno captain.

 

[Yorkeontop]

An overstated function. This fascination with captaincy on this site is annoying to be frank. I blame the fantastic footballer Roy Keane.

 

[FootyGirl88]

I said this in the summer

 

[YzWayne]

We don’t just need a new captain. We need him off the pitch

 

[Ekeke]

We'd have to sign a new leader. Even Bruno isnt doing well enough to take over. We have no leaders on or off the pitch

 

[No Love]

Facundo Pellistri

 

[Bwuk]

There isn’t anyone else

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

Allowing him to keep the captaincy this summer was a comical, spineless decision that sent all the wrong messages - and was yet another indicator of the fact that Solskjaer doesn't set even the most basic standards of behaviour or performance from his players.

The garbage meme of 'changing the culture' is even more laughable than the 'great summer transfer window of 2019'.

At least Southgate showed with his decision to drop Maguire, and the Greenwood/Foden call, that he has some sort of minimum expectation of standards from his players.

Today, Maguire should have been subbed after 9 minutes. Legitimately. You know Mourinho would have.

At least it would have showed a tiny bit of fire and pretended that we actually demand something of our players.

 

[Jonty]

Not sure about the captaincy but across the defence line there is no leadership. I actually think Henderson would make a difference in this regard. Watching the game today without crowd noise it was startling (perhaps it shouldn't have been) that our defence communicated so little.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

An overstated function. This fascination with captaincy on this site is annoying to be frank. I blame the fantastic footballer Roy Keane.

Damn Keane for setting the bar so high

 

[Ludens the Red]

Bruno should be our captain 100%. He’s literally the only player we have who has the mentality and ability of a league winning player.

 

[pratyush_utd]

Give to Cavani. We gave it to Maguire when he joined.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Today, Maguire should have been subbed after 9 minutes. Legitimately. You know Mourinho would have.

Depends which version. If we're talking about the same Mou that refuse to drop bad forms Lukaku and Matic then no.

 

[Dec9003]

It feels like there’s nothing good about the club at the moment, captain included. We need to completely start from scratch, and we’re only three matches into the season.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

I need some Captain Morgan after that

 

[Irwin99]

Don't know why he got it straight away in the first place really.

 

[Rolaholic]

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[arthurka]

He should have been stripped off the band after the Greece debacle. Bruno should be captain. Harry isn't a captain that leads by example.

 

[Kostov]

Again, I've never seen such a spineless group of United players. We lack so much character is baffling. Average players with even worse personalities, no leaders no winners. Just a bunch who are more worries about there Instagram followers and Twitter feeds. Pathetic.


I thought Maguire would bring some leadership, it's evident he is not one to lead this club, actually I think it makes him even worse performer. How did we get here from where we were 7 years ago it's criminal.

 

[davidmichael]

Far bigger problems than who’s captain and the reality is who’s a better option in the squad ? Of the realistic options De Gea is struggling to even be in the team, Fernandes looks nothing like last season and Pogba is just as likely to play poorly as Maguire if not more so plus we don’t know how long he’ll be here.

 

[RoyH1]

An overstated function. This fascination with captaincy on this site is annoying to be frank. I blame the fantastic footballer Roy Keane.

Agree. But I think in England there is a tendency to overstate the role of a captain in modern sports. Collective leadership is more important.

 

[Siorac]

An overstated function. This fascination with captaincy on this site is annoying to be frank. I blame the fantastic footballer Roy Keane.

Yes, this. You do need leaders on the pitch and in the dressing room but someone can be a leader without an armband, and conversely, a piece of textile doesn't magically turn someone into a man worth looking up to.

 

[Yorkeontop]

Damn Keane for setting the bar so high

Keane didn't need that armband but him having it has made people attach his qualities and effect to it on some level.

 

[Greck]

Maguire captaincy decision: "Look at that jawline, must be a leader of men."

 

[starman]

The problem with these threads is they have so little substance or some people just end up saying give it to Pogba....

 

[VeevaVee]

It shouldn’t matter who actually has the armband. They’re all capable of speaking up on and off the pitch.

I don’t know what even puts Maguire in the running for it though, other than looking the most grown up.

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

According to the journalists on Twitter, Shaw was the only player who was willing to talk after the game...which sort of seems like a job for your Captain.

Here's Shaw's comments, Spoilered for length:

Spoiler

"Manchester United shouldn't lose in this manner. It really hurts, it's embarrassing and we've let a lot of people down. We've let ourselves down and the staff down."

"It was a lack of concentration and then a mistake, another mistake, another mistake. We switched off. It really hurts.

"We need to look in the mirror because we are nowhere near it at the moment. Maybe it's lucky that we've got a break now

"When we went down to 10 men maybe we gave up, there wasn't that character on the pitch. We were too quiet and naive. There were many mistakes, we need to do more.

"It's embarrassing. I was honestly embarrassed on the pitch. We need a long hard look at ourselves."

 

[Acole9]

He probably should've been stripped of it after the incident in Greece. I don't want to bang on too much about the old days but if SAF was in charge he'd be lucky to still be at the club let alone be the captain.

 

[RikRuud]

is there anyone at the club worthy of the captaincy?

 

[TMDaines]

Posted this in the Maguire performances thread, Maguire’s become a real problem as we suspected this summer:

know I bang on a lot about the importance of leadership and lament Valencia’s pathetic reign as club captain, but I’m going to have to raise it again. We’ve got a real issue with Maguire now.

Regardless of whether he was stitched up this summer, he brought the club into disrepute and could consider himself fortunate to have retained his role as club captain. He’s probably been lucky that appealing in the Greek courts means that he is original conviction was vacated, because otherwise I cannot see how United would have stood behind him.

Since the summer, Maguire has neither looked match fit nor have his performance been anywhere near acceptable. This is enough of a problem with a £80m asset, who you do not want to drop, but arguably should have been. Compounding this though, we have had two very damaging defeats to start the season and our club captain has now not faced the fans or the media after either. This begs the question: if Maguire needs to be protected from his media duties, how is he mentally right to be playing?

Maguire right now is an absolute liability, failing his teammates on and off the field. He might be a nice guy, but that is not enough.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

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What's the excuse for this level of defending, not once but twice?

 

[sp_107]

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Exactly !!!!!! This is the fundamental problem at our club. I am sure Pogba/Lingard will be playing video games tonight.

We need players really play for Jersey.

 

[Water Melon]

Eighty million down the drain
As the Slabhead fecks up again.

 

[Feed Me]

Maguire is a useless cnut. He shouldn’t even be at the club, let alone captain. Never won a thing in his life.

 

[dogwithabone]

I’d sent Maguire back to Leicester, swap him with Evans and give Evans the captaincy.

 

[el3mel]

Considering we're currently a team of clowns in general, I think they'll need a clown to be a captain as well. Maguire suits this perfectly I see.

 

[McUnited]

According to the journalists on Twitter, Shaw was the only player who was willing to talk after the game...which sort of seems like a job for your Captain.

Here's Shaw's comments, Spoilered for length:

Spoiler

"Manchester United shouldn't lose in this manner. It really hurts, it's embarrassing and we've let a lot of people down. We've let ourselves down and the staff down."

"It was a lack of concentration and then a mistake, another mistake, another mistake. We switched off. It really hurts.

"We need to look in the mirror because we are nowhere near it at the moment. Maybe it's lucky that we've got a break now

"When we went down to 10 men maybe we gave up, there wasn't that character on the pitch. We were too quiet and naive. There were many mistakes, we need to do more.

"It's embarrassing. I was honestly embarrassed on the pitch. We need a long hard look at ourselves."

Shaw says the right things, but his tackle towards the end was one of the most embarrassing things.

 

[Sandikan]

Maguire is a useless cnut. He shouldn’t even be at the club, let alone captain. Never won a thing in his life.

You're having a really angry night tonight.

Maybe put the laptop away brother, get a nice sleep, and feel better tomorrow.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Maguire is a useless cnut. He shouldn’t even be at the club, let alone captain. Never won a thing in his life.

Has more relegations on his CV than trophies, says it all really.

 

[united for life]

Been saying this since Vidic. Maguire has no leadership skills what so ever. Not sure what Ole is doing handing him this role. Give it to Bruno. At least he has a character on the pitch