What’s happened to ‘our Arry’

[TMELcfc]

Just an opinion... but maybe some of the below?

 

Too much football (world cup etc.)

Head turned in summer

Loss of confidence - it happens to the best (Rashford & Pogba were awful 6 weeks ago...)

Defensive organisation in general in this team is awful, not just down to one player, makes him look worse? If he was part of a cohesive unit, he'd probably look like a Rolls Royce...

Waiting for Puel to go... like some of the others it seems...

[Wymsey]

Perhaps transfer speculation over him in on his mind now, being that Man United in particular have a strong interest in him?

[STUHILL]

19 minutes ago, EnglishOxide said:

We've got the fifth best defence in the league. He can't be doing that bad.

We've got the fifth best defence in the league because we play with two, sometimes three ultra defensive CM's, that shield the back four. 

 

I don't see it as such a positive as others do when you consider that and how we struggle to break teams down. 

 

I do think Maguire is struggling though and he is a shadow of himself from his World Cup exploits. 

 

I think there was a lot of hype around him and he isn't as good as some in the media were suggesting last year, but he is still a top CB in the Premier League and should be doing much better than he is. The question is, why isn't he? Be interesting to see if Puel does go, whether Maguire and a few other players like N'didi, will get back to their best. Otherwise, I do think then you have to question if they are actually that good after all. 

 

[Manwell Pablo]

Think he’s been fine personally. Few dodgey performances but most cbs have them, clearly had a problem today and was left on far too long.

[fuchsntf]

33 minutes ago, nwl fox said:

I don't think he's properly recovered from injury

This is what I think,plus like all CBs,he still collecting experience..!!

[Bert]

Another player that had a solid first few games with us which made the majority of fans think he was immense, when in truth his defending wasn’t all that - he’s just good on the ball. He’s still got a lot to learn as a defender. Positioning at times is absolutely awful. He’s even getting beat in the air now which never happened. 

[Ric Flair]

31 minutes ago, Babylon said:

I'm not sure that he's ever been that solid, he wasn't called up on the back of us being solid was he. It's what he can do on the ball that stands him apart. Problem is we've have to reign him in a bit with that as it disrupted the back line a lot.

Think he's mustard in a back 3 going forward but in a back 4 it has to either be curtailed or he's sometimes a hinderance. 

[Manwell Pablo]

17 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

We've got the fifth best defence in the league because we play with two, sometimes three ultra defensive CM's, that shield the back four. 

 

I don't see it as such a positive as others do when you consider that and how we struggle to break teams down. 

 

I do think Maguire is struggling though and he is a shadow of himself from his World Cup exploits. 

 

I think there was a lot of hype around him and he isn't as good as some in the media were suggesting last year, but he is still a top CB in the Premier League and should be doing much better than he is. The question is, why isn't he? Be interesting to see if Puel does go, whether Maguire and a few other players like N'didi, will get back to their best. Otherwise, I do think then you have to question if they are actually that good after all. 

 

 

Neither Ndidi or mendy are “Ultra” defensive, they are deep lying granted. Old Wilfred loves a run forwards, Mendy perhaps is a bit more naturally defensive but he’s contributing his fair share of ridiculous mistakes leading to goals as of late more. Playing three forward players and a number 10 in front of two slightly more conservative players is a common enough setup anyway. We’ve seldom played three, it’s been more common recently but taking the season as a whole it’s mostly been two.

 

 

[cal21212121]

Think people are being very harsh on him, he would benefit from having someone quicker next to him. Maguire and Morgan whilst playing a high line is a dream for any team looking to exploit in behind like Wolves did today. 

I also think he looks a bit exasperated by the lack of options and quality in midfield, the amount of times he's been looking for a pass and there has been nothing on so he waves his arms around then passes to Wes in defeat.

[STUHILL]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Think he's mustard in a back 3 going forward but in a back 4 it has to either be curtailed or he's sometimes a hinderance. 

I still day dream of a back 3 of Soyuncu, Evans, Maguire, with Chilwell and Ricardo as flying wing-backs 

[Mehrez]

Agree that he suits a back 3 much better than the two, not having the best of seasons for reasons already mentioned in this thread. One thing I don’t get about us is why we haven’t looked at how England used him for corners - moving around making a nusence, the love train etc we don’t do any of that we just stand there man to man static, can’t remember the last corner we scored from

[UniFox21]

As has been mentioned above, he had a hugely hectic summer with little rest.

[dyanmark]

Never been convinced of his status as an England standard payer like Chilwell he is easy on the eye running with the ball but came from Hull who were shipping goals,

A good quick pass will; do the job

[Guest Kopfkino]

Get him alongside Evans and he'll be much better. Him and Morgan just doesn't work, whilst Evans is comfortably the best defender we have.

[Tuna]

Pair him with Evans, Morgan's done at this level if today is anything to go by.

[5waller5]

The same as a few players I think ..... He's trying to work out what Puel wants him to do. I think they are all trying to play for the manager - but are confused as to what he wants, which stifles their play as they try and work out if they are doing the right thing.

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

Had his big fat slab head turned.  Or maybe bit injured, seems he's always been shaking something off since the summer

[funkyrobot]

It’s called head been turned by a top 6 club syndrome. Needs to step the fcuk up in my eyes and show us that he is the Harry that we know he can be. He’ll be off at the end of the season imo. 

[David Hankey]

Name a player where their form hasn't dipped this season.

[Ian Nacho]

1 hour ago, EnglishOxide said:

We've got the fifth best defence in the league. He can't be doing that bad.

Probably something to do with the two defensive midfielders. Before the Liverpool game at home where we started playing Ndidi and Mendy, we were woeful at the back. 

[funkyrobot]

12 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

Name a player where their form hasn't dipped this season.

Andy King ?

[Samilktray]

I remember when some of our fans were saying he was better than Van Dijk last season

[mucfox]

Maguire and Chilwell are the most overrated players in the whole PL - both are average players and not more

[Analysethis]

He looks really leggy this season. Apart from Harry Kane, I cant think of many of the England World Cup side that lost to Croatia who are doing that well. Walker dropped by Man City, Henderson doesnt play much for Liverpool, Lingaard and Sterling havent been as good as last season, Pickford iffy. Lets hope its a little bit of fatigue and not being in a strop for not getting his dream move last summer.

[inckley fox]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

But how much of that was when he was injured?

 

Our defence all of a sudden tightened up when he was injured.

 

Be interested to see our defensive record with him vs without him this season.

 

Not saying he's bad or should be dropped all of a sudden, just not sure how much your argumentholds water.

We concede 1.4 per 90 minutes in the league with him on the pitch, 1.0 without him, though we're only talking about, what, 5 and two half games when he hasn't played, so the sample size isn't the best. In the cups we averaged 0.5 goals against without him, though one of those games was Newport. In all competitions, we concede 1.4 per game with him in the side, 0.8 without him, which doesn't reflect too well on him.

 

For me he needs to be in a three man defence. If that happens he can advance more and it may also offer some help someone like Choudhury who Puel seems to prefer in a three man midfield (I'm not sure we can afford to play a three man midfield too often because our options in central midfield aren't the hottest, whereas in defence we have more at our disposal, especially if you include Benkovic in that), as well as giving the full backs more protection. And yes, I'd definitely bite someone's hand off for anything in the 50m+ range because even in the modern market I doubt he's worth much more. Unless you play a back three or his game seriously develops.