Maguire criticism has gone too far, but he does need a move and why Southgate doesn’t trust Alexander-Arnold

caughtoffside

·29 September 2022

Maguire criticism has gone too far, but he does need a move and why Southgate doesn’t trust Alexander-Arnold

In his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, former Aston Villa and Liverpool striker Stan Collymore discusses some of football’s biggest talking points, including Harry Maguire and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s England woes, as well as which teams will come out on top after this weekend’s North London and Manchester derbies.

——————————————-

OneFootball Videos

Big wins on the cards for Arsenal and Manchester City…

I think you have to favour both home teams – Arsenal and Manchester City.

Both teams’ form has been excellent during the opening stages of this season. I don’t want to take too much away from Tottenham Hotspur, because they too are playing really well, and are more than capable of going to the Emirates and coming away with all three points, but I just think Arsenal will edge it.

Manchester City and Manchester United in a derby is a tasty fixture too, and to be fair, the old cliche of ‘form goes out of the window in derbies’, is actually true, particularly in this case. The form guide definitely has no place in a fixture of this magnitude, but with that being said, I still think Pep Guardiola’s men will come away victorious.

Manchester City are red-hot favourites to beat rivals Manchester United this weekend.

Derbies nowadays tend be to very technical, stand-offish and cagey encounters, and I don’t expect that to be any different this weekend.

One thing that I do think will serve as good news to fans is the referee’s instructions to allow games to flow where possible. For example, if Jack Grealish plays for the Citizens, you’re likely to see United players go flying into him early on and maybe get away with it. The same will probably apply to the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka for Arsenal, so these two fixtures are almost certain to have a fair bit of bite to them.

Unfortunately for both away teams though, I just can’t see anything other than City and Arsenal wins.

Virgil Van Dijk’s move to Liverpool did not help Harry Maguire, and here’s why…

Harry Maguire went from Hull City to Leicester City and did very well, but anybody who has watched football for a significant period of time will know that he’s not Franco Baresi or Rio Ferdinand. He is a traditional, stand-up defender who will head it, kick it and organise those around him, so from that perspective, he’s a solid British defender that any club in the last 60 years would have snapped up.

However, the biggest problem that both Maguire and Manchester United have had is that at the time he joined from Leicester City, the Red Devils were going through an incredibly turbulent period. They needed to bolster the spine of their team. But also, they had a specific need for a dominant defender and that has been demonstrated by the likes of Eric Bailly, who it sadly didn’t work out for, so Maguire’s importance, which is always going to be compared to the likes of Nemanja Vidic and Jaap Stam, has been amplified even further.

Harry Maguire has come under constant fire in recent months.

Liverpool’s signing of Virgil Van Dijk for around £75m did not help Maguire either. Especially considering how much of a successful transfer he has been, but at the time, Liverpool set the bar very high and it allowed Leicester City to dig their heels in and ask for the same kind of eye-watering fee for Maguire.

Had Van Dijk not moved to Anfield, Maguire would probably have left Leicester City for closer to £40m and the pressure on him would be far less and his price tag, which he had no control over, became the stick in which the media and some fans have used to beat him with.

Criticism has gone too far…

Players understand that there is always going to be a lot of focus on those of them who cost the most but what they don’t expect to happen is for criticism to extend from playing performances to almost personal attacks, which is what I fear is happening with Maguire.

Everybody knows that Manchester United was an enigma a couple of years ago and that’s because they had a top squad but they weren’t gelling on the field, and in Maguire’s case, he seems to be a scapegoat no matter what.

For example, I saw recently a broadcaster and a website take a pop shot at him because he has previously been relegated with Hull City, came to United, who then missed out on Champions League football, and most recently has been relegated to the Nations League’s B division with England, and I really don’t think that is fair – It’s actually grossly unfair.

Maguire was blamed for England’s lacklustre performance against Germany last week.

There is no constructive criticism in that punditry, that’s basically saying “look at all of these relegations, what is the common denominator? – Maguire. It must be his fault!’ – Well, why doesn’t the same logic apply to Liverpool’s Andy Robertson? – He also got relegated with Hull City and has hardly transformed Scotland into international contenders. We must be consistent in our approaches and in Maguire’s case, it’s really one-sided.

Admittedly, Maguire hasn’t played well for 18 months, but I don’t think he has been the root cause of England and United’s problems. I think it would be fair to say that he has been a part of it. It’s a team game, so whatever contributions a player makes, good or bad, they’re one of 11, and we must remember that.

Time at Old Trafford is running out but there will be a lot of clubs interested…

I can’t see him getting back into Erik ten Hag’s starting 11. The only way I think that would be possible is if ten Hag decided to go with a back five, and again, I can’t see that happening.

He does stand a chance of coming in during domestic cup matches, and ten Hag may even throw him in with the under-23s to keep him ticking over, and although I expect Maguire to be a good enough professional to get his head down and do whatever is asked of him, I think his time at Old Trafford is ultimately coming to an end.

Maguire’s agent is Paul Stretford, who was also my agent when I was a professional player, so I know Stretford will not want his star client sitting there not doing much. He will know that he has a real big asset on his hands, so he will want him to be playing.

MORE: Exclusive: Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing – Spurs were serious about signing Arsenal new-boy, Messi update, and more

Trent Alexander-Arnold is too good for England to ignore…

When you get called up to your national team, it is still the peak. I know some people would argue that the Champions League is the more prestigious competition, but given the fact they only come around once every four years, World Cups, for me, are still the pinnacle.

However, one player who has come close but has failed to progress internationally has been Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Throughout my career, I played with Gareth Southgate twice, once in Crystal Palace’s youth setup, and again at Aston Villa where he was my skipper, and I can tell you for certain that he likes round pegged players for round holes.

When it comes to full-backs, Southgate’s first priority is defending and then attacking and unfortunately for Alexander-Arnold, as we all know, his game is very much the opposite of that.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is not Gareth Southgate’s England plans ahead of this winter’s Qatar World Cup 2022.

Alexander-Arnold is going to give his manager a whole host of offensive and creative options, but the biggest concern with him is his ability when going back towards his own goal, and that has been the case for him while playing in a very good Liverpool team, so you can perhaps understand Southgate’s caution.

I think in Southgate’s mind, he is worried that the likes of John Stones and Maguire, who aren’t exactly in the form of their lives, would come under more defensive pressure if Alexander-Arnold were on the right side of the backline.

However, my advice to Alexander-Arnold would be to keep going. Keep turning up whenever called upon and wait for your chance – because it will come.

Yes, it is very unlikely he is going to play in this winter’s Qatar World Cup, but he can’t throw the towel in. He’s only 23 years old, so even after this year’s tournament, he will still have at least two more World Cups ahead of him.

Whether it is Southgate that gives him that chance or another manager, he will get it and when he gets it, I hope he grabs it with both hands because he is just too good to ignore.