Football Digest: Maguire 'needs saving from himself'
Jamie Carragher has dug out Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana for his conduct towards Harry Maguire and claims he would have told him ‘where to go’ if he was his team-mate. The United stopper came under fire for unleashing a verbal tirade towards Maguire in a pre-season match in July, and the Liverpool icon has accused the Cameroonian of contributing towards Maguire feeling ‘broken’.
The 30-year-old faced scrutiny again during the international break after coming off the bench and scoring an own goal in the 3-1 friendly win over Scotland. Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate jumped to Maguire’s defence and suggested he is unfairly treated by former footballers and pundits, but it seems Carragher is on his side.
The Sky Sports pundit called out United fans for jeering their own club captain over a prolonged period of time, before he singled out the incident in a friendly against Borussia Dortmund when Onana screamed at his team-mate for allowing Dortmund a chance on goal. And he thinks the goalkeeper is culpable for undermining Maguire, who was replaced as United captain by Erik ten Hag.
“Manchester United fans jeered Maguire during pre-season games in 2022 and 2023. One of the most distasteful incidents of all occurred during the friendly with Borussia Dortmund in July, when new signing Andre Onana started yelling at Maguire, in my view disgracefully playing to the gallery to endear himself to United fans,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
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“I watched that in disbelief, but it said everything about what has gone wrong. Maguire was still the club captain then. He should have reacted furiously, put Onana in his box and demanded respect. Instead, he has the persona of someone whose confidence and authority is utterly broken.
“It was a similar story when Cristiano Ronaldo returned and reports emerged about power struggles in the United dressing room. That is when the undermining of Maguire gained momentum.”
Carragher then doubled down on his comments when responding to an article in The Guardian, which had taken the side of defending Onana’s actions, tweeting: “I’m well aware of Onana being demonstrative at all his clubs, and I like the fact he communicates.
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“But to carry on like that in a pre-season game when you’ve been at the club 2mins, to the club captain, was way over the top. Any player worth their salt (Keane, Vidic, Rio, Stam… and me!) would have told him where to go & to get back in his goal.
“I felt he was trying far too hard to show the fans what he was about. The point was Maguire is that broken he didn’t say anything back. When he was well within his rights to do so.”
Maguire looks set to be left out again by Ten Hag when returning to club action as United prepare to face Brighton. Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof are likely to start in front of Onana, who will retain his place between the sticks.
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