Harry Maguire had been dropped for Manchester United’s win over Liverpool, setting the opportunity for Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane’s partnership to impress while the England international was relegated to the role of observer from the bench.
Heavily beleaguered Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has been told unflatteringly that Erik Ten Hag made the right decision by dropping him for the match against Liverpool.
Maguire had been omitted from the squad for the surprise win over the Reds, as newbie Lisandro Martinez and seasoned campaigner Raphael Varane’s partnership kicked in at centre-back with the former in particular impressing as the hosts restricted Liverpool to five shots on target.
This means that the England international route back into Ten Hag’s starting XI would be a tough one to negotiate. Having clearly struggled for form over the past 12 months, his abject performances saw him being dropped when Liverpool visited Old Trafford earlier this week.
Given that Maguire was named captain by Ten Hag, the decision by the latter to drop him came as a surprise. However former United keeper Ben Foster insisted that the Dutchman had done right in leaving a flailing Maguire out of his team.
“It’s important at that point, you’ve just got to pull them out of the firing line. It’s just one thing after another. The best thing to do… it’s almost like a dying dog, just put them out of their misery for a little bit,” Foster told talkSPORT.
“Best thing to do is take him out of the team, take him out of the spotlight, whether it’s just one game or even if it’s just for four or five games. It could be a month or six weeks, but you’ve just got take him out the firing line.
“I felt a little bit for some of the lads who missed out the other night – the likes of Ronaldo and Maguire. The lads put that performance in and straight away every one goes, ‘See, as soon as you take the dead wood out or the players who haven’t been performing out, that’s what we do!’
“It was the right decision anyway. At the end when Ronaldo came on, can you imagine if Liverpool equalised? The pelters Ronaldo would’ve got! Coming on and then them losing the lead, it would have been horrible.”
Despite Martinez and Varane impressing for the Red Devils, Foster believes that Maguire retains a part to play at United while casting doubt on Chelsea’s reported interest in the centre-back. He instead made it clear that Ten Hag will doubtless be calling on Maguire again over the course of the season.
“He’s not leaving. Harry Maguire’s earning nearly £200,000 a week. I don’t know many Premier League clubs willing to pay that. I also think that Lisandro Martinez is a very good centre-back when you come up against certain teams,” Foster added.
“When you come up against a physical, tall team that are going to play for free-kicks into the box, corners, I think he’s going to struggle. Those are the games where you need your height, people like Harry Maguire who get the ball out of the danger areas.”