We have long since raced past the point where there are any undecideds in the Harry Maguire debate.
To the noisy band of detractors decried by Gareth Southgate on Tuesday night, 134 minutes of unfussy competence in an England shirt this week will not count for much.
Instead it was the split-second decision to stick out a leg at a hopeful Andy Robertson cross that provided further evidence he does not belong in a squad blessed with vibrancy and verve and heading to Germany with a realistic chance of winning the Euros.
Perhaps, then, a novel new pitch from the man himself might move the dial. If picked for an England squad with aspirations of winning the Euros Maguire says he can fulfil a new role: the Three Lions’ human shield.
It was a position he found himself in at Hampden Park, where he was the target of incessant heckling from a home support that had little else to cheer. This was not hatred for the man his teammates call “H”, more mocking a player who has become the butt of opposition supporter’s jokes.
Underneath the granite exterior Maguire projects, it must surely have hurt.
“Well, it pretty much takes the pressure away from my team-mates and puts it all on myself,” he said afterwards, laudably facing the media for the first time since a difficult summer that saw him stripped of his club captaincy and relegated to fourth centre-back choice at Old Trafford. “It makes them play better, for sure.”
For all the other charges laid at Maguire’s door, no-one could doubt his mentality.
As Scotland’s fans crowed – and even the PA announcer seemed to relish announcing him as the scorer of their second-half goal – he continued to play his medium range passes from the back. For all his rustiness, his radar did not exactly look faulty and he must be commended for standing up to the pressure of hostile environment baying for a Maguire misstep.
It is this that Southgate loves and it is the reason why whatever his critics might think he looks a shoo-in to make the squad for Germany ahead of others who play regularly for their clubs.
It is a kind of catch-22 for Maguire. The more he is picked the more it ramps up the pressure on him from those incredulous that form is not Southgate’s gold standard.
Will he cope as we edge closer to the finals in Germany?
Maguire seems unconcerned. “I would not say I am a person who struggles with pressure mentally.
“I have been through a lot in the last couple of years and I have been Manchester United captain for nearly four years.
“You take a huge lot of responsibility and everything that comes with it and that is a lot of bad as well as good but it was a huge honour.
“Of course it was a hostile environment [at Hampden] and they piled pressure on myself. I would not say I am used to it but I can deal with it.”
Perhaps he does not always help himself.
Maguire had it within his gift to take some of the heat out of the narrative by moving on from United in the summer and indeed i understands his team were looking at alternative options both at home and abroad.
The equation felt simple: a player no longer wanted by his manager offered an escape route with a guarantee of Premier League minutes.
But a loan move to David Moyes‘ West Ham, despite heavy speculation, never really came close to fruition because the finances didn’t stack up.
“How can I put this?” he said when asked for the first time about that prospective move.
“We just didn’t come to an agreement and they were happy for me to stay and I was happy to fight for my place.
“I want to do that and every time I train or play I will give everything.”
His salvation may come when the Champions League returns next week.
Manchester United will be back in the realms of three games in a week, a squad hamstrung by injury and disciplinary issues might become stretched and Maguire is counting on opportunities coming his way.
“I considered everything [when making a decision] and I know, at the moment, when I have not started a game in the first four games of the season, the story comes to me,” he says.
“I finished off last season with two very strong performances for England and I have played in all five matches to help put us where we are in qualifying so I need to keep performing when I get chosen.
“Listen, at club football I want to play games, I want to play football. The first four weeks were hard because it was one game a week and the manager didn’t select me but we have lots of games coming up now and I am sure I will play lots of games.”
If Erik ten Hag isn’t sold, Southgate certainly is. If John Stones is assured of one of the central defensive roles, Maguire is battling Crystal Palace‘s Marc Guehi and Brighton‘s Lewis Dunk for the other.
Guehi is the form man but Dunk, so assured against Scotland, isn’t far behind. Maguire’s trump card appears to be minutes in the big games.
Has he offered Maguire any assurances?
“Gareth has been brilliant with me ever since I made my debut,” the United man says.
“He keeps saying ‘Keep playing well, keep doing a job for England and keep helping us progress’.
“You see this team is progressing. He played me at the World Cup and I thought I had a fantastic World Cup having played not so many games.
“But yes, I have got to keep performing when I get chosen. I felt like I did in Ukraine and in the second half against Scotland although what happened happened.”
It should be noted that in the away end, they sprung to his defence, singing his name throughout the second half. Maguire appreciated it, raising a clenched fist as he trudged off.
“The fans have always been with me, they’ve seen what I’ve delivered in 59 caps,” he said.
Even if the debate around his selection has become entrenched, it seems unthinkable that Southgate will not have him in the trenches come June next year.
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