Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester United veteran Nemanja Vidic offers advice to under-fire club captain Harry Maguire
Speaking in an interview with The Athletic (Subscription Required), Manchester United veteran Nemanja Vidic has offered some advice to under-fire defender and club captain Harry Maguire on how to turn his poor performances around and get back to his best.
Maguire is going through arguably his worst season as a footballer, unable to put in commanding performances on the pitch as a leader and committing schoolboy errors to concede cheap goals at the back.
Vidic, who won 5 Premier League titles with Man United, said that one way to get the Englishman out of the firing line is not to play him in every match, opting to take him out for harder games and resort to only playing him in easy games to find form and confidence.
“I think you can do a few things and one of them is not to play every match as you try to find form again and get confidence. A coach could play him in easier games, not that there are many in the Premier League, and take him out for harder matches.”
Maguire was last seen playing for United in the 1-0 loss to Everton last night, as Anthony Gordon’s strike took a big deflection off the 29-year-old to nestle in the back of David de Gea’s goal as the keeper was left stranded.
“Give me a break”
The result against the Toffees is painful, but the pressure on the England international will only increase given that the goal came off a deflection from him. Given that opposition players have often gotten the better of him this term, this goal will go down as one more unfortunate moment for the skipper.
Vidic said that Maguire could take some inspiration from the former player’s own experience, when he had some horrible games for the club and needed to find his peace and grow once again, insisting that it was not a problem if a player asks the coach to give them a break to regroup.
“It’s not a problem if a player says to his coach that he’s not feeling great on the pitch. If he says: ‘Give me a break, give me a couple of weeks to regroup and train well and then play again’. I had some horrible games for United and needed to find my peace and grow again.”
Since signing for the Red Devils from Leicester City in 2019, Maguire has not quite looked the part as an elite centre-back, especially in comparison to previous United greats such as Vidic. The pressure on the Englishman grew even further when he was made captain just a few months after moving to Old Trafford.
Despite signing Raphael Varane last summer to partner Maguire and improve the latter’s performances, the skipper seems to have regressed even further this season. In fact, there have been a few games where the Red Devils looked better and more stable at the back with Varane and Victor Lindelof on the pitch instead of Maguire.
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Vidic certainly knows what he is talking about, having struggled initially when he joined the Manchester side. Overcoming his early troubles, the Serbian would go on to become the club captain and one of the finest defenders in the Premier League as well as in Europe, winning multiple trophies during his brilliant spell at the Theatre of Dreams.
Although it is unlikely that Maguire will be dropped for the ‘hard’ games, perhaps the summer could prove to be a time for the ex-Foxes man to take a break and clear his head as we prepare for life under a new manager and new era at the club from next season onwards where we will need our captain to be at his absolute best.
