“You f—king s—house” are Harry Maguire’s what3words, cementing his association with Manchester United for eternity.
They should be emblazoned across T-shirts throughout the red diaspora, confirming the moment he returned to the centre of life at the club.
With the FA Cup third-round tie on a knife edge, United down to 10 men and facing a penalty that would have given Arsenal the lead had fate wished it, Maguire burned with rage, rounding on Kai Havertz following the simulated fall that earned the softest of spot kicks.
With no VAR to counter Andrew Madley’s egregious error, it was left to Maguire to dispense justice with a molten outburst that not only captured the essence of the moment but gave full expression to his rehabilitation under Ruben Amorim. From outcast to first name on the team sheet in weeks.
Maguire’s valorous display in United’s monumental triumph cemented a resurrection that is Trumpian in scale. Were he to run for a second term as club captain, he might just get it. Whilst Maguire did not incite a march on Old Trafford, there was a sense of desperation and decay about him under Erik ten Hag.
Deemed almost beyond use by club and country, Maguire retreated to the shadows in silent lament, wondering how it had all come to this. In Ten Hag’s first season, he made only eight Premier League starts and was an unused sub in the FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City.
A £30m move to West Ham later in that summer of 2023 was agreed and appeared the ideal solution for all parties before the move broke down over the failure of Maguire and United to agree severance terms on his contract at Old Trafford.
Injuries to Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw forced Ten Hag’s hand in season two.
Maguire made 22 league appearances yet without ever shifting the narrative of arc. Step up and be a leader, Ten Hag urged. It was too late.
Maguire had become a reason not to believe, a figure to blame for the defensive chaos around him and a symbol of decline.
Maguire’s performance in numbers against Arsenal
- 100 per cent successful take-ons
- 100 per cent aerial duels won
- 75 per cent ground duels won
- 50 total touches
- 11 clearances
- Five blocks
- Four recoveries
- One interception
Twelve months on from the signature 4-3 Champions League defeat to Copenhagen, Amorim assumed control of Old Trafford and Maguire’s fortunes were about to change.
The player for whom United paid a record £80m in August 2019 was suddenly breathing vital, new air, circumstances forcing Amorim to find a defensive solution to a porous team.
Matthijs de Ligt was incrementally claimed by the chaos of Ten Hag’s last days. Leny Yoro was still not fit. United needed experience and stability in the heart of defence.
Amorim looked about and landed on old Slabhead.
So revelatory has Maguire been in the eight weeks of Amorim’s reign, a contract extension has been triggered keeping him at the club until 2026. At 31 Maguire is still in peak mode, and on the evidence at Arsenal, might yet earn a further contract extension.
Maguire has always been a baller, his signature move striding out of defence with the ball, chin up, chest out, from Sheffield to Hull to Leicester, and on to Manchester.
He excels with the play in front of him, which Amorim’s system allows. He is vulnerable to ambush by quick counters, and was overrun during the last days of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and broken by the porous midfield in front of him under Ten Hag.
His best performances came with England, a team that for the most part dominated possession and sat deep in a flat back four.
Loved by Gareth Southgate and solid at the side of John Stones, the Manchester pairing underpinned England’s march to a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and a first Euro final three years later against Italy.
Maguire had fallen back even before injury kept him out of last summer’s Euros in Germany, and had no real England ambitions in the post-Southgate era. Even that might change now.
His performance against Arsenal was the more remarkable for the sickness that preceded it. Maguire was ill during the build-up but wanted to play and made himself available. He brings a sense of calm and authority to the United defence, which enjoys far greater protection from a midfield stiffened by the pairing of Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte.
Though Maguire was given a chastening reminder of the last days of Ten Hag in the home match against Newcastle United with the sacking of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen upon the midfield bulkhead of Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali, he was the rock upon which Liverpool and Arsenal subsequently floundered.
His stats on Sunday offer irrefutable evidence of his importance to Amorim. He lasted 104 minutes, more than 40 of them without the witless Diogo Dalot. His 11 clearances, five blocks and one interception underscored United’s epic resistance, not to mention the seven of eight duels won.
There can be no retreat now. United sit 13th in the Premier League with Southampton and Brighton to come in the space of three days. After letting off flares on the road, the time has come to make Old Trafford feel like home again.
Cry God for Harry, United and s–thouse slayers everywhere.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/5B2jD6K
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