It wasn't all to do with money, Man United were willing to give half the fee from West Ham to Maguire, to make up the difference in the wage shortfall until the end of his current contract. Maguire may well have agreed to go on loan to get his career back on track, but Man United wouldn't entertain a loan, so he decided to stay and fight for his place (despite dropping down the pecking order, he still made 31 appearances for Man United last season).
Having read Henderson’s interview in The Athletic, he actually came across as outstandingly naive. So my guess is he’s too thick to lie about it all. He’s clearly gone for the money and told himself stories to be able to back it up.
I've defended Maguire in the past, and still think the criticism of him is ridiculously over the top, but I do now think it's time to drop him from the England team. As soon as he came on yesterday, it was immediately apparent the defence were 5 yrads deeper, and the pace of the game dropped as Harry took so long over choosing an option. In the first half the CB's moved the ball on quickly and that helped pull the Scots around and create gaps further up. That was much less the case in the second half. The other issue is probably to do with the (understandable) drop in confidence from Maguire. One of his strenghts used to be the accurate long passes through the lines to forward players, he barely hits a forward pass now. I think I'd rather see Stones plus Dunk or Guehi now. Mind you, Southgate knows far more about international football than I do, so I could be wrong (I'm not).
I kind of agree. Now we have all but qualified I think now is the time for Southgate to look at his options. The problem is Stones wasn’t available for this one. I suspect we’d have seen him playing and Maguire not (but still in the squad) if so.
I believe Gareth Southgate is a genuinely decent guy who is protecting HM against all the abuse and ridicule but really should have told HM that if you’re not playing regularly then I can’t pick you. Southgate has not helped himself or Maguire. Maguire should of also swallowed his pride and gone to West Ham.
What a delight it was to wake up to see we had beaten the Auld enemy, and convincingly too. Having watched the highlights, Bellingham is some player, he has everything, balance, skill, power and an eye for a goal.
Dunk and Stones would be a good partnership, Walker seems to be getting even better at RB. It’s just the left side that is in question, a fit Luke Shaw would be great.
Scored 5 goals and got 1 assist in 4 games for Los Blancos already too and only just turned 20. We may well have the next generational talent on our hands.
Right at the outset, Gareth himself stated that unless players were playing for their clubs regularly, he wouldn't select them. I'm not particularly getting into the Harry debate, just restating what Gareth himself said.
His progression has been crazy. It’s like the move has added to his ability alone because he just carries himself completely differently and plays with the arrogance you need to be an elite player. Him Rice and Foden is arguably the best midfield 3 a team could play in the world.
We're not going to play those as a midfield three though, he has to stick Foden wide right to get him in the team and that position is normally going to go to Saka.
I think as a country we just overrate Foden a bit. Not that he isn't a brilliantly talented player, but it isn't necessarily enough. In elite teams like Man City and England he isn't trusted to play in midfield presumably because of his all-round game being sub-par compared to the competition. Yes he can twist and turn on the ball which looks great but can he compete in the midfield for 90 minutes like Rice and Bellingham do, and even Henderson hence his continued inclusion ahead of Foden in midfield. Maybe one day he'll get to that elite level where he really is a must pick for England and Man City but right now he clearly isn't.
He’s started every game but 1 for Man City this season. There is quite the obvious reason for why he doesn’t start in midfield regularly though for them in the form of the best midfielder in the world De Bruyne.
