RALF RANGNICK knocked back calls for Harry Maguire to be stripped of the Manchester United captaincy last month.
The Old Trafford interim boss said at the time: “I don’t see a reason to do that – as long as Harry is playing, he will be the captain.”
Yet after another disastrous night for the world’s most expensive defender at Burnley on Tuesday, the question is how long will he be playing?
Phil Jones and Victor Lindelof are fit and waiting in the wings – keen to be given a chance to play alongside first choice Raphael Varane.
Both were on the bench at Turf Moor so got a close up view of Maguire’s worrying decline.
The pundits didn’t hold back with former England captain Alan Shearer calling Maguire’s efforts to prevent Burnley’s equaliser ‘embarrassing’.
Ex-United centre back Rio Ferdinand waded in too calling it a ‘night he would want to erase’.
He went on to claim Maguire has not looked right physically or mentally this season and seemed to be suffering a hangover from the Euros.
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Previously the BT Sport pundit suggested Maguire had been handed the United captaincy – a role which carries such significance historically – too soon after his arrival in summer 2019.
Questions over whether he is respected by his team-mates have raged for a while now – notably when Marcus Rashford was heard telling him to ‘shut the f*** up, you k***head’ at Crystal Palace in March.
And that was before the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo – a player of legendary standing both at the club and in world football.
Letting the Portuguese superstar take the armband would perhaps allow Maguire to focus on improving his own dismal form for a while.
The defender must be wondering where it has all gone wrong in the few months since that golden summer with England – as Tuesday night was just the latest night to forget.
When the pressure comes, they are managing to break and score, we have to do better in those moments
Harry Maguire
He came under fire in a defeat against his old club Leicester in October and was worse still in the 5-0 drubbing against Liverpool.
Then he had another shocker as United were outclassed by City in front of their own fans just a couple of weeks later.
He scored for England that month and – judging by his celebration – thought he was silencing some of his critics.
Yet Keane called it ‘embarrassing’ and said his performances for United over the previous couple of months were a disgrace.
There was plenty more flak coming his way in the first game back after the international break when his red card at Watford proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Since Rangnick took charge, United have tightened up at the back to some extent – but still the question marks over their captain remain.
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His lack of pace has been exposed too many times but there also now seems to be a lack of confidence which is affecting his game.
Now he will be having nightmares for the rest of the week about Jay Rodriguez – the Clarets forward who had not scored a Prem goal in almost a year before Tuesday night.
The United defender’s block on the ex-Southampton forward resulted in Raphael Varane’s early header being ruled out.
Then soon after the break, Maguire was completely bamboozled by Wout Weghorst’s neat turn and Rodriguez then cut across him to pull the basement boys level.
Later he got away with one as the Clarets forward threatened to leave him behind by tugging him back – and was relieved to see it was only a yellow.
A red card would have capped a miserable night – although some may argue an enforced spell out of the team is exactly what he needs right now.
After the game though, he suggested the problems lay with United’s failure to finish their lowly opponents off during a dominant first half.
He said: “When you create that amount of chances, you have to score the second goal. You know how important that is in football. It was similar to Friday against Middlesbrough.
“We’ve created enough chances to win. It’s two points dropped.”
Maguire did admit that his team are struggling when their opponents get on top – hinting at a weakness in their mentality – even though it was his mistake that led to the equaliser.
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He added: “You come to places like this and you have to expect a bit of pressure.
“When the pressure comes, they are managing to break and score, we have to do better in those moments.”
United have to do better – but so too does Maguire.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
