Monday night saw England and Germany fight for a draw against each other in the Nations League campaigns for the World Cup. In the second half, goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Kai Havertz gave Germany a strong lead. Harry Maguire was seen to be struggling in the match.
However, England pulled back with with 3 goals thanks to Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Harry Kane’s penalty. Unfortunately, Nick Pope was late and allowed Havertz to score his second goal of the match and gave Germany a point.
According to the British press, the main issue of this all is Harry Maguire. The Manchester United centre back has shown the world on why Manchester United did not give him much game time lately. Many are doubting Southgate’s confidence in Maguire.
Before practically giving the ball to Musiala with an awful pass, the defender bunched the forward over. This was done out of sheer desperation as it took him quite some time to react to the situation.
Maguire’s feeble attempt to make things right for his team was by chasing the ball. That certainly did not help with the current situation as his apparent mistakes allowed Germany to go up with a two goals lead.
The media is now hounding after him, saying jis self-assurance is destroyed. They also say it was the involvement of a weak and bereft player that allowed Germany to nick one point in the match. The media is also pointing out that it is due to Maguire’s laziness that Musiala rushed into the penalty area and intercepted his pass.
Maguire responded to the criticism that he has been getting, claiming that it was only for internet views that people are ganging against him.
However, he is now under more scrutiny than ever before. Whether Maguire is a burden for the English team is now the current topic raging among football fans and news outlets.
Despite being only 29-years-old, his playing skills are reportedly “rusty.”
At the time of writing, there have been a total of 3,700 tweets about Maguire on Twitter, and most of the tweets about him are not nice. There is a Twitter thread stating “if you’re thinking of sympathising with Harry Maguire, don’t.”
https://twitter.com/MikeLUHG5/status/1574506461581160448?s=20&t=UlrXkOFL7CjJzZvhR7-y-g
It is alleged that his family have been trolling Twitter and calling names to others that have been criticising Maguire. He has also done multiple PR stunts that were considered as disrespectful. However, netizens understand the part where his family would support him.
Most people still agree that he deserves the criticism he faced due to his playing skills.
However, for England, they might still have a chance as Southgate opted for five defenders which shielded Maguire mostly. Maguire had a straightforward strategy which was heading and clearing. Unfortunately, when his plan backfired and was accountable for Germany scoring and that broke him down.