The central defender signed for a world-record fee has become a liability reluctant to leave. What went wrong?After Manchester United decided Harry Maguire’s on-off move away from the club is, barring a last‑minute about‑turn, decisively off, the 30-year-old reaches an odd career juncture for a defender Gareth Southgate still rates a mainstay of his England team.Maguire arrived at United in August 2019 on a ticket of being a yeoman defender and modern ball-playing centre‑half. The subsequent years have proved otherwise. He could be a powder‑puff last line of resistance and a paltry seven goals in 175 appearances showed a lack of aerial domination in opposition penalty areas. Continue reading...
After helter skelter draw with Germany, Gareth Southgate must be ruthless and must start with one of his generalsFarewell, then, to all that. We will meet again: at the Khalifa International Stadium, Doha in eight weeks’ time as a matter of fact. But this felt like something else, a final trip to Wembley, probably, surely, for Gareth Southgate six years into this odyssey.And if this is to be a last note in that flip-book – so many memories: the fine results, the tepid midweek draws, the gakked-up post lockdown riot squad – there was at last a sense of familiar faces and old habits. Not to mention a shock of life too from this team that isn’t quite ready to...
Manager facing headaches over the form of Harry Maguire and David de Gea, Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence and the De Jong transfer sagaA fortnight watching United’s new manager, Erik ten Hag, leading training has revealed an intelligent man whose priority is to coach. The Dutchman’s emerging side play in free-flowing style and he has a sharp manner with the media. These are the absolute base materials for any manager to succeed at a club that remain the country’s record title holders but became a laughing stock last season. United’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa in Perth on Saturday night was the first failure to win in four tour matches in Thailand and Australia, fixtures in which United plundered 13 goals while...
We look at five significant matters the new manager must tackle, including the areas where signings are most urgentThe big and loaded question: can the manager actually wield enough influence over the beast that is Manchester United to do it his way? This is a chicken-egg conundrum because winning games and trophies convinces players and the executive but conviction is required from players and the executive for the manager to have his decisions backed and to be a winning No 1. Then there is the club’s particular byzantine brew of politics and peccadilloes. At United Richard Arnold is the chief executive but the real finger on the button is across the Atlantic. And there are six: one for each of...
Lack of future certainty in Ralf Rangnick’s side is resulting in failure not only defensively but also in their nerve and will If there is good news for Manchester United on a bleak afternoon it is that their performance was good in parts. Admittedly those parts were few and far between and confined almost entirely to the first half, but that is still better than the derby at Old Trafford in November.The use of Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba as central attacking players, to the extent it caused Manchester City problems, worked, at least before half-time. But the problem is that none of that much matters if you’re going to defend like the visitors did. Continue reading...