Roy Keane believes Harry Maguire is the primary cause of Manchester United’s pressing problems.
The 52-year-old says the team is ‘frightened to death’ to fully commit to an aggressive press because of fears Maguire will be caught out by a ball over the top.
United slumped to a disappointing 2-1 loss in their latest Premier League game against Fulham last weekend.
Jamie Carragher criticised the team’s defence for sitting so deep compared to their midfield.
Carragher’s comments led Keane to suggest that Maguire is the root of their problem, with huge gaps created due to some players pressing and others hanging back.
“They aren’t pressing up,” he told the Stick to Football podcast. “I don’t want to be just pinning it on Maguire, but there’s always that worry with Maguire coming up and squeezing the pitch like all the other top teams are doing,”
“There’s that worry with him all the time – that’s where there are gaps. They are frightened to death to come all the way up because they’re thinking anything over the top, he’d be in trouble.”
Maguire was one of the better performers against Fulham
Most of the United players were awful against Fulham last weekend, including Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Casemiro.
Maguire was one of the few players who actually did well in the Old Trafford encounter on Saturday.
He was lucky to stay on the pitch after his nasty lunge on Sasa Lukic, but he scored a late goal that should have been enough to secure a draw for Erik ten Hag’s side.
Maguire had 104 touches in the match with a pass accuracy of 93 percent. The centre-back made five clearances, three interceptions and one tackle, while he also won four of his five aerial duels.
While Maguire could be pleased enough with his own performance, Keane is right to question whether his presence in the line-up impacts the rest of the team.
