Manchester United fans have called for Harry Maguire to be stripped of the captain’s armband after his latest disappointing performance for the club.
Maguire made two costly blunders as they dropped points on the road in their 1-1 draw with bottom of the league Burnley.
Raphael Varane thought he had headed in the opener for Ralf Rangnick’s side only for VAR to overturn the call after Maguire, standing in an offside position, blocked off the run of Jay Rodriguez.
Harry Maguire who made two costly mistakes in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Burnley
Raphael Varane thought he had scored his first United goal to give the Red Devils the lead
Maguire was judged to have blocked off Jay Rodriguez in an offside position and Varane’s goal was overturned
He then got spun by Wout Weghorst before Rodriguez held him off to bag the equaliser
Paul Pogba put United ahead before Burnley hit back just two minutes into the second-half.
Wout Weghorst skilfully turned Maguire before playing in Rodriguez who held off the United skipper to slip home an equaliser and earn a 1-1 draw.
Later in the game, Maguire was booked for purposefully bringing down Rodriguez while the striker was about to run in on goal, with debate surrounding whether he should have been sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity.
It was a miserable night for Maguire who has suffered with poor form for the majority of the season
United fans have taken to social media to rip into Maguire’s performance with one fan labelling him as ‘Burnley’s man of the match.’
RizzyUtd hopes whoever becomes Manchester United’s permanent manager replaces Maguire as he tweeted: ‘I’ll rate the next manager by how fast he benches Maguire and strips him of captaincy.’
Impressionist Al Foran commented: ‘Get that armband off Harry Maguire aswell, he’s going to make more costly errors like that shocking one tonight.’
United fan page Stretford Paddock said: ‘Maguire just isn’t good enough,’ while another Twitter user went as far to say: ‘Harry Maguire is the worst signing in this club’s history.’
Fans have been calling for Maguire to be stripped of the captain’s armband throughout the season
David Scott hit out at the amount United spent to sign Maguire from Leicester in August 2019, as he said: ‘The biggest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that Maguire was worth £80m.’
A lot of United fans were not happy with Maguire’s mistake which cost Varane what would have been his first goal for the club since joining from Real Madrid last summer.
Twitter user ralfzii posted after Burnley’s equaliser: ‘From denying Varane a goal to this. Harry Maguire is Burnley’s man of the match.’
MaxUtd commented: ‘Harry Maguire robbed Varane of a goal and was at fault for the Burnley goal. Get this fraud out my club.’
Another user posted: ‘Harry Maguire really cost Varane a goal, cleansheet and Man Utd the 3 points. And he’s the captain.’
Mark Goldbridge from fan channel the United Stand posted: ‘I’d be fuming with Maguire if I’m Varane for that. He was scoring the goal anyway and Maguire doesn’t need to do it.’
Tekker360 hit out at Maguire for his mistake leading up to Burnley’s goal as he said: ‘Harry Maguire makes the players around him better. For example he made Weghorst looks like Messi.’
United fans were not the only people to hit out at Maguire, as Rio Ferdinand branded Maguire’s performance as ‘poor’ and said he was ‘lucky not to be sent off’.
One United fan suggested that Maguire had made Weghorst look like Lionel Messi
Ferdinand said on BT Sport: ‘The goal was poor on Harry’s part. He will take responsibility for that. He needs to iron it out. Even the challenge he made over the halfway line. He’s lucky to have stayed on the pitch.
‘It’s a performance he won’t be happy with. I don’t know if it’s a hangover from the Euros, physically and mentally.
‘There hasn’t been the consistency from a player of his stature this season. We can level it at Harry Maguire but this whole team has to take responsibility.’
Describing Burnley’s equaliser, Ferdinand continued: ‘There’s McTominay, he’s your protection, all he’s got to do, Maguire, is keep pushing him away, he hasn’t got to overcommit, as soon as he over commits, it’s a great piece of skill, this pass is sublime, if Kevin de Bruyne does that [Weghorst pass] we’ll all be going crazy.
‘This touch across Maguire [from Rodriguez] takes him completely out of it. I don’t think Maguire is quick enough to have got there to affect that situation once it got beyond him.
‘It’s about stopping it at the source, once he has the big No 9, keep him facing [away from] the goal, he’s got the security of McTominay in front of him, he can deal with him a little bit, these are small mistakes leading to big moments.’
Ferdinand’s fellow pundit Rachel Brown-Finnis, and former Everton goalkeeper, voiced her concerns on how Maguire’s performances could have a negative affect on team-mates around him as well as questioning his leadership.
Rio Ferdinand said Maguire was ‘poor’ and ‘lucky not to be sent off’ for a challenge on Rodriguez
Ralf Rangnick’s side dropped out of the Champions League places with their 1-1 draw
‘He’s got to have a calm head and not make rash decisions. But we saw him run back and you could see how he was almost treading water. How slow he looked,’ she added.
‘I just think he was switched off on too many occasions. As a goalkeeper I want someone who is calm and making assured decisions. He’s played as the England captain and as the United captain and I expect that from a leader. He hasn’t been a leader at the moment.’
Maguire after a brilliant Euro 2020 campaign with England has suffered a miserable season with the Red Devils.
His performance against Burnley was the latest match where he has made costly errors which have cost United this season and fans have been calling for him to be dropped as captaincy and from the starting 11.
In dropping points to Burnley, United dropped out of the Champions League places with West Ham moving up to fourth after their 1-0 victory over Watford.
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