Harry Maguire was brilliant at the back against Fulham on Saturday. The centre-back is now getting some of the praise he deserves, with Martin Keown describing the England defender as one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League.
Manchester United struggled at Craven Cottage and it took a stoppage-time goal from Bruno Fernandes to win the match.
However, another player who was key in yesterday’s win was Maguire.
Maguire took a knock to his head early on in the game, but he recovered and battled on so that Fulham couldn’t get past him.
Speaking on Match of the Day, the former Arsenal defender gave his verdict on Maguire.
“He’s one of the top central defenders in the Premier League,” Keown said, as quoted by United In Focus.
That is a big statement and it’s not something any of us expected to hear – at any point – this season because it didn’t look like Maguire would get regular game time this term. However, injuries have changed that and the England international has become one of our better defenders as a result, starting in our last six consecutive matches.
Keown added: “He was dominated in every area today.”
Maguire has stood up
I haven’t become Maguire’s biggest fan overnight and I still think he needs to move on. However, he deserves massive credit for how he has handled himself this season.
Maguire knew before a ball was kicked this season that Ten Hag had other ideas for his defence. The manager wasn’t expecting Maguire to play 6 consecutive games at any point this season, yet he’s there and I can’t see him coming out of the team until Lisandro Martinez returns.
The question many had yesterday was whether Maguire is now ahead of Raphael Varane in the pecking order?
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