We assess key issues facing Manchester United’s manager after he was given at least one more match in charge
When Harry Maguire is good he is excellent and when bad he can be amateurish in a way the very best centre-backs never are. Think Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk or Manchester City’s Rúben Dias, whose errors are collectors’ items, and who are yet to be witnessed in farcical defensive mode when it really counts, as Maguire was in his calamitous outing against
Liverpool on Sunday. In 7,164 minutes of
Premier League play since joining in summer 2019 the (supposed) defensive linchpin has the highest error-leading-to-chance tally of Manchester United’s outfield players: seven. The maligned – and dropped for Raphaël Varane – Victor Lindelöf is not in the top four, and Maguire’s two mistakes leading to goals is again the most of any non-goalkeeper. Last term Maguire was a model of consistency. But this season he is back to the Maguire of his opening campaign: inconsistent on a consistent basis. Maybe Ole Gunnar Solskjær should consider that a match or two out of the XI would shake Maguire up.