Matip's a very good defender. Not top five in the world but he's up there. Van Dijk is showing how good he is this season. Without him we wouldn't be in the hunt for any trophy this season.
Who are the top 5 centre-backs in the world?
- Thread starter Fortitude
- Start date
I'd say he's easily top 5 on this seasons evidence.
Klopp (or the fitness/ medical team) seems to have figured out how many minutes to play him to avoid those niggling injuries he suffered with for so long.
This thread 
Harry fecking Maguire
Harry fecking MaguireMaguire
Lindelof
Jones
Bailly
Tuanzebe
Lindelof
Jones
Bailly
Tuanzebe
People just trolling/hating on Maguire for no reason.
Whether you guys like it or not, he's much better than those Elite Hipster CBs you lot fawn over!
Whether you guys like it or not, he's much better than those Elite Hipster CBs you lot fawn over!
He's never played as many minutes in one season for us before. It's been good having him available so much this season. Used to be made of straw.
Sometimes when a team is so dysfunctional, it's hard to properly judge a player. Lots of people would have Rudiger in their top 5 CB's right now but towards the end of Lampard's time, I'd be surprised if he mqde anyone's top 30 CB's. Most Chelsea fans were trying to get rid of him.
Maguire is a popular punching bag these days but he could be a top 5 CB in the world in the right system under the right coach.
Maguire is a popular punching bag these days but he could be a top 5 CB in the world in the right system under the right coach.
Rubén Dias
Eder Militao
Virgil Van Dijk
Antonio Rudiger
David Alaba
Eder Militao
Virgil Van Dijk
Antonio Rudiger
David Alaba
How so? At this point I actually feel a bit sorry for him but it's so clear that Maguire is just very prone to brain farts. I mean, look at some of the scenes he has produced in such a short period of time. Some of them are almost absurd. I don't see in which system he could be a top 5 CB in the world. Rüdiger's developmment was a huge suprise to me as well but let's be clear, he was never that terrible.
I can't see it. At a push he could potentially do a Cahill (ie look good with the protection of players akin to Terry, Azpi, Prime Matic/Kante around him plus a system like Mou and Conte's) but he doesn't have the skillset to be a genuine top 5 CB.
Maybe not top 5 in the world but he looked like a world beater at the World Cup in the right system if I remember England's games well enough.
Obviously individual quality matters, but in the clips you see now where he's doing weird things with the ball at the back he isn't really getting helped out by his midfielders imo. If you put him next to Van Dijk in front of Alisson all year and put Matip in this United side, I could see a scenario where we would be calling Matip a clown in this thread and Maguire a very, very good and solid CB. Not Van Dijk level who just oozes class, but still "up there with the best in the PL" quality.
People have short term memories as well. John Stones was done for at City a few years ago. His ability on the ball might be better than Maguire's for sure but as a pure defender, I'm not so sure. Maguire just needs a change of scenery, it won't come good for him at United anymore.
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Maguire
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Alaba definitely isn't. Good list otherwise .
He's phenomenal. Slow start to the season which was to be expected really after such a long lay off but feck me, he's an absolute beast at the moment!
Nailed it.
Still think VVD is not as good as he was before his injury.
Haz MaG
Rudiger was pretty comical too. Maybe not to the extent Maguire has been but he was a disaster even when things were seemingly going well in the first season under Lampard. Chelsea were ready to wash their hands of both him and Christensen before Tuchel helped resurrect their reputations. Maguire has a pretty good skillset. He was very talented at Leicester. No player is flawless, but in a system that covers those flaws as much as possible and amplifies his strengths he can be fantastic. plus working under a coach that is actually good. Lots of defenders would look a bit clueless in a dysfunctional set up. He looks bereft of any confidence. Maybe I overstated the top 5 in the world bit but I was just making the point that he's an easy target for trolls and meme accounts and that he's actually a really impressive defender in the right conditions.
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Examples?
Van Dijk - 30
Thiago Silva - 37
Pepe - 39
Dias - 24
Marquinhos - 27
Skriniar - 27
Matip - 30
Koulibaly - 30
Godin - 36
De Ligt - 22
Have 2 top 5s. Average age 30.2.
Thiago Silva - 37
Pepe - 39
Dias - 24
Marquinhos - 27
Skriniar - 27
Matip - 30
Koulibaly - 30
Godin - 36
De Ligt - 22
Have 2 top 5s. Average age 30.2.
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Have you read the very famous "Elite Hipster CB" thread? One of the classics....
Maguire
Maguire's left foot
Maguire's right foot
Maguire's left bollock
Maguire's right bollock
Maguire's left foot
Maguire's right foot
Maguire's left bollock
Maguire's right bollock
Then you haven't seen him much the past few months.
I mean, you saw more of Rüdiger than me but I think if he produced stuff like Maguire, I would've seen it on social media because some of the things he pulled off are among the most ridiculous I've seen in professional football. Like the scene in which he pulls Shaw and prevents him from blocking a shot. And as if that wasn't strange enough, he gifted that shot to the opponent himself in ridiculous fashion to begin with. I genuinely never saw anything similar from any professional player ever. And Maguire has multiple scenes like that.
Of course that's most likely not the actual Harry Maguire but a Harry Maguire in complete lack of any self esteem. But players who can be thrown off the tracks that much by public pressure typically don't have the nerves to play at the very top. The pressure seems to really go to his head. It's a bit like Werner's finishing which puts question marks behind whether he lacks the mental toughness to become a true elite striker, only waaayyy more extreme.
That whole thing aside, I still haven't seen what his special talents are, especially when you consider how many classy CBs are currently emerging. France alone has probably 15+ CBs more talented than Maguire, both on the ball as well as against it.
Judging by this season performances:
- VVD
- Militão
- Koundé
- Upamecano
- José Palomino (it will probably be his one off season on top)
It’s incredible how many people put Maguire in top 5. He is (or has ever been) a top 5 CB as much as Rashford was a top 5 striker or Fred a top 4 midfielder.
Upamecano? You're kidding right?
He's been terrible this season. He's like Serge Aurier in terms of brainfarts. He's been comical.
I only saw him play on Champions League and a few Bundesliga games and he was very solid (apart from the latest games, but playoff games usually bring extra pressure). I probably didn't seen him to a big extent of games, so I might have missed his terrible decision making on matches.
Rudiger never sunk as low as Maguire has. Maguire's season has descended into a horror show but I think the perception of him created by these internet trolls and meme accounts is one that makes it seem like his entire United career has been an utter farce. Those moments you speak are part of his history now, so they have to be acknowledged alongside his good moments but they've generally come during periods where United as a team are in utter disarray, where the coach looked like he had lost the team. There's a reason quite a few United fans had him in their top 5 when this thread was created. I didn't personally agree with them even back then, but it wasn't coming from a place of pure blind support for Maguire. He had a really good season last season and he looked really good during the euros for England.
A player whose bottom level is really bad can still have an pretty elite top level. It just has be cultivated in the right conditions. I'm not advocating for Maguire to be considered a top 5 CB, and maybe that ship has sailed for good, it seems like a ridiculous suggestion now but at the time when the thread was created, I didn't think it was a totally outrageous take to have him in the top 5.
Despite what it might seem like right now, he's actually a really good at progressing the ball forward, similar to how Rudiger does it for Chelsea and it seems laughable to praise his defensive instincts now, being at the right place at the right time, positioning, intercepting, that kind of thing but last season that was one of the things that impressed me about him.
Maguire is making the defence disfunctional. If you actually watch our games you will see he's half the reason we are all over the place.
Look at the first Liverpool goal, he's pushing up when he should be dropping because he doesn't like to run. Leaves a huge hole in defence.
3rd goal, drops into the box and completely ignores the only danger in Mane. Instead just stands in space hoping it falls to him.
4th goal, hospital pass out wide, then tries to predict a ball to Mane's feet and leaves a gaping hole behind him for an easy pass to Salah. If he holds position this won't get through.
You can pretty much look through our entire season and it's littered with Maguire errors. He should have been benched a long time ago but because he's english/northern/captain he gets treated differently.
Thats spot on. I know he cost 80m but arguably one of ten Hag's big decisions will be to bin him off, or make him a back up. He's miles off the 'elite' bracket.
I think the fee is another reason they don't want to admit defeat with him. It's a big fee to write off but at the end of the day he's just never going to be top class.
It seems this ankle injury before the euros has absolutely ruined his mobility. He was never the quickest before, but you can tell if he can avoid running now he will.
I'm quite certain unless he makes a huge turnaround ETH will take 1 look at him and realise he's a huge liability. What he brings to the side doesn't offer enough to cover his weaknesses.
Virgil Van Dijk
Rúben Dias
Milan Škriniar
Éder Militão
Marquinhos
Rúben Dias
Milan Škriniar
Éder Militão
Marquinhos
Do you watch a lot of Atletico Mineiro?
Yes, do you?
Can't speak for outside the PL, but in the PL, VVD, Matip, Dias, Stones, Rudiger stand out
Maybe not in talent, but right now. Van Dijk, Laporte, Matip, Rudiger, Thiago Silva/Militao.
Godin? Like putting Marcelo on a current top 5 LB list. Living off past reputation.
Rubén Dias
Eder Militao
Virgil Van Dijk
Antonio Rudiger
Marquinhos
Eder Militao
Virgil Van Dijk
Antonio Rudiger
Marquinhos