Harry Maguire Hammered For Header That Was ‘Perfect Assist’ For Newcastle Goal

Manchester United fans are criticising Harry Maguire after his defensive header fell right into the path of Newcastle's Allan Saint-Maximin to score.

After a slow opening, Marcus Rashford's solo strike had given Manchester United the lead at Old Trafford on the half-hour mark.

However six minutes later, when Maguire attempted to flick a cross clear inside the United penalty area, his weak header fell right at the feet of Saint-Maximin who fired into the roof of David de Gea's net.

It was admittedly a difficult header to get right for Maguire. But heading it out for a corner - or literally anywhere that wasn't right into Saint-Maximin's path - would probably have been preferable.

That left the Premier League game 1-1 at half time and had some football fans once again pointing the finger at Maguire for a costly defensive error that led to a goal.

The 27-year-old has had occasional struggles, on and off the pitch, since he arrived from Leicester for £80 million in 2019.

However the England centre-back has largely looked solid of late, particularly alongside Eric Bailly in defence.

But the reaction to his latest error - if that's how you view the attempted header clear from a difficult position - shows there's still plenty of Man United who still are not convinced by Maguire.

Topics: Harry Maguire, Football, Manchester United, Premier League

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

@otheralexreid