Will Harry Maguire be given a chance thanks to Manchester United’s poor performance at the beginning of the season?
Manchester United suffered a complete 1-3 defeat against Brighton in the 5th round of the 2023/24 Premier League season held at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on the 16th (Korean time). Manchester United has been sluggish recently, losing 1-3 in the away game to Arsenal in the previous round, but they fell into an even bigger slump by losing at home against Brighton.
Manchester United scored the first goal in the 20th minute of the first half when Welbeck pushed in a cross from Simon Adingra in front of the goal during Brighton’s counterattack. Then, in the 8th minute of the second half, Pascal Gross, who received a pass from Taric Lamptey, beat Lisandro Martinez inside the penalty box and attempted a shot into the corner of the goal, widening the gap.
Afterwards, Manchester United allowed another goal to Joao Pedro in the 26th minute of the second half, completely losing the momentum of the game. Hannibal Mebri scored a consolation goal in the 28th minute of the second half, but the game was already tilted and the game ended 1-3.
Manchester United, who had great expectations just before the start of this season, was evaluated as having the potential to challenge for the title this season by bringing in Mason Mount, Andre Onana, Rasmus Høirun, and Sofien Amrabat in the transfer market.
The problem occurred within the team, not in the transfer market. First, performance issues and injuries to key players hindered the team. Although they won the opening game against Wolverhampton, they were significantly behind Wolverhampton in terms of performance, and in the previous game, the second round against Tottenham, except for a brief advantage in the first half, they were behind Tottenham throughout the game and lost 0-2.
Afterwards, they won 3-2 against Nottingham, but they showed signs of instability by conceding two goals early in the game. Then, they lost 1-3 in the fourth round of the league away to Arsenal, which dampened their mood, and even the home game against Brighton. They lost and are experiencing their worst slump at the beginning of the season.
In the end, Manchester United lost to Brighton, their first home loss this season, and fell to 13th place in the league standings with 2 wins, 3 losses, and 6 points. This is the first time in the club’s history that Manchester United has suffered two consecutive home losses to Brighton.
Coach Tun Haag said after the game about the recent slump despite huge investment, “All teams spent a lot of money. Brighton also spent money,” and “When Manchester United come, they inflate the transfer fee. This is also true.” He claimed.
He went on to promise a rebound, saying, “You can learn a lot from games like this. We created a lot of chances, but we couldn’t finish them off. It will be different in the future.”
Meanwhile, a former Premier League striker criticized Manchester United’s performance, saying that Maguire could play.
British media Sports Bible reported on the 17th, “Gabriel Agbonlahor said Maguire deserves to play after Manchester United’s loss to Brighton.”
According to reports, Agbonlahor commented on Manchester United’s defeat, pointing out Lisandro Martinez’s positioning when conceding the second goal. At the time, Lisandro suddenly advanced to block Gross, lost his balance and slipped, and Gross attempted a free shot from a wide space, shaking the Manchester United net.
Agbonlahor said, “The energy levels of Lisandro and Lindelof were similar. Lisandro tried to block Gross’ shot, but was fooled by him and ended up conceding the goal. If Maguire had done that, ‘ “I would have heard endlessly, ‘This is terrible, please exclude me from the starting lineup.’”
“Maguire deserves to play. He will be looking around the locker room now and thinking, ‘Why don’t I get a chance?’ “He deserves it. So fans should stop harassing Maguire and show the same energy to Lisandro and Casemiro, who were unable to play at the back,” he said, defending Maguire as not lacking anything compared to the defense in this game.바카라
Meanwhile, Maguire was recently called up to the England national team and played an international match despite not being able to play for Manchester United.
Maguire, who received a lot of criticism upon being selected, was criticized by fans for scoring an absurd own goal in the process of clearing the ball in the match against Scotland. However, he showed an attitude of not caring much despite the criticism, and even comforted Maguire for being the target of criticism, including David Beckham, the legend of the England national team.
However, Maguire was immediately benched upon returning to Manchester United after his international break. Even though Lisandro and Victor Lindelof showed disappointing performances in this match against Brighton, Coach Turn Haag did not consider using Maguire.
With attention once again focused on Manchester United and Maguire with Agbonlahor’s criticism, attention is being paid to whether Manchester United, who are underperforming, will use Maguire as a turning point in their defense.