Harry Maguire is having his worst-ever season at Man United, but remains a permanent fixture in Gareth Southgate's England team. We look at the reasons why.
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00:00Harry Maguire is having one of the worst seasons in his entire club career, and yet when the
00:09England squad rolls around, without fail, Gareth Southgate picks him.
00:13Hello everybody, Adam Cleary, 442, and you know it, it's the question that dominates
00:18every single international break if you're an England fan, why is Harry Maguire seemingly
00:22undroppable in this Gareth Southgate squad, and, well, believe it or not, there is actually
00:27a reason.
00:28I'm gonna show you.
00:29If you've been following me back a couple of days, this is England versus Italy as they
00:32set up.
00:33They were both in a 4-3-3.
00:34There he is, that's Harry Maguire left-sided centre-back in the back four, and the reason
00:38we're going to this game is because it included a moment around 50-odd minutes in that could
00:42only be described as Harry Maguire doing a Harry Maguire.
00:46Now, England, whatever their faults, are usually a very well-organised team.
00:49When they have to defend, they all get nice and compact, when they move up the pitch,
00:52they all move as a unit, but sometimes football just happens, doesn't it?
00:55And on the occasions where football just happens, Harry Maguire is occasionally guilty of making
00:59very bad decisions as a defender.
01:01You'll have seen him do this a few times, but it happened in the Italy game.
01:04When England get stretched and a ball is played from the midfield into an attacker somewhere
01:08in England's final third, Harry Maguire does exactly the wrong thing and gets caught out.
01:13As the ball comes in, he breaks out of the defensive line to try and get an early challenge
01:17in to either force the player to move backwards or to maybe even win the ball.
01:21Except what the really good attackers will do is they will recognise him charging out
01:24of this space, they will knock the ball off to a teammate, they will get him turned, leave
01:28him all at sea, and then get into the space he has just vacated.
01:31He absolutely loves making that run, you can almost hear John Stones going, Harry, noooo!
01:37When he does it, but he does it all the same.
01:39And because it is a very poor decision, his teammates can't anticipate it, they can't
01:42get back over and cover quick enough, someone gets played to on goal, and they're gonna
01:45have another go here.
01:47Ooooooh!
01:51Anyway, now this just happened against Italy, but you've definitely seen him do it before.
01:55Look, here he is doing it again, and every time he does it, it ends up all over social
01:59media, people say he's absolutely rubbish, they can't understand why he's in the team,
02:02and the cycle repeats again and again and again and again and again and again and again.
02:06But the reason I'm here today, my friends, is to tell you that while this is a massive
02:09problem with Harry Maguire's game, when it comes to playing for this England squad, that
02:13is pretty much the only major problem with Harry Maguire's game.
02:17Yeah, look, I know, I can already hear the scoffs through the screen, and to be honest
02:20I can scarcely believe it myself, but I'm just gonna really quickly show you what it
02:23is he brings to this England side, and hopefully his selection will make a little bit more
02:27sense.
02:28So obviously it varies by opponent and situation, but normally when England have the ball at
02:31the back and they're trying to make something happen, they end up with this little four
02:34thing going on between Pickford, Stones, Maguire, and one of the central midfielders, usually
02:39Declan Rice.
02:40This gives you some nice passing angles that you can knock it about quite easily, the fullbacks,
02:43they'll quite happily come back to join in, but what England want to do is keep the ball
02:46in this sort of area in their own third for long enough that it creates space in the final
02:51third for a line-breaking pass.
02:53And what I mean by line-breaking is if you imagine this is their forward line that's
02:56pressing the defenders, this is their midfield line that's marking the midfielders, England
02:59want to be patient enough with the ball at the back that somebody can get a bit of space,
03:04they can hit a line through both those lines, they get turned, and they're in.
03:08And they're actually pretty good at doing this, like you saw it all through the Italy
03:11game and all through the Ukraine game, either Stones or Maguire getting a ball into either
03:15Bellingham or Henderson when they're in a really good position and they've got a bit
03:18of space to play in.
03:19And fundamentally, the reason Harry Maguire is in this England team is because these passes
03:23are really hard.
03:24They require good vision, good intelligence, and also excellent technical ability because
03:28it is kind of a risky move to do because if you've got midfielders who are sort of pushing
03:32up field and pulling away from their markers, and you misplace that pass, all of a sudden
03:37you're in real trouble there.
03:38And the reason Harry Maguire is an automatic pick for England is because he's really, really
03:43good at those kind of passes.
03:45Just a quick look at all of his passing numbers here, despite the fact he's been out of the
03:47Manchester United side, hasn't played that much football in the last 365 days, which
03:52is what this graph covers, he's still almost in the top 5% of European football for the
03:57number of long passes.
03:59The really interesting stat though is this, switches, because as much as England like
04:02to play this pass between the lines or into the fullbacks, they also are not afraid to
04:06switch the ball to the opposite side of the pitch if that is where the space appears.
04:10You saw Kane do this for his goal against Ukraine, the England side had sort of moved
04:13over to the left-hand side, which is given, let me just demonstrate, Saka loads of room
04:17on the right, Kane received the ball around here, put it all the way out to that side,
04:21and then lo and behold, Saka gets across it and Kane gets the goal.
04:24England are not afraid of the old school ground, switch it!
04:28Also, his short passing numbers are really good, like for all the problems people have
04:31with England's defence, you very rarely see Maguire, Pickford or Stones ever give the
04:34ball away or concede a cheap throw-in or lose possession when they're in that build-up stage.
04:39Also, he's not the best at this, but he's still in like the top 20% in Europe for progressive
04:43carries, which means that when they're knocking it around and it's just not really happening,
04:46he's the one who tends to get on the ball and just make that run into the centre of
04:50the pitch, which sort of pulls the rest of the defence with him, and all of a sudden
04:53the midfield has got to decide if they're going to engage him, which of course creates
04:56a bit of extra space.
04:57It's not his main job, but he does do it and it is important.
05:01So why does Gareth Southgate always pick Harry Maguire?
05:03Well, because England are a possession-based team, they're a passing-based team, and
05:07Harry Maguire is one of the best centre-backs in the world, sorry, for progressing and passing
05:13the ball.
05:13And he's just a pretty solid defender at the same time, like I know he's guilty of
05:16that rush of blood and England do concede goals that way, but by and large, England
05:20as a defensive unit are pretty solid.
05:22That's kind of an okay weakness to accept for everything he brings to the team, I think.
05:26And just as one final point, players get selected for their national teams, for any national
05:31team, based on their performances for the national team.
05:34And then if you're out of form or you're out of favour with your club side, yes, obviously
05:37the manager has to keep that in mind, but bottom line, if you play well for your country,
05:41you should keep playing for your country.
05:43And like it or not, my friends, Harry Maguire, and pretty much any other player in this side
05:47you would care to pick on, does usually play pretty well for England.
05:51There's Jordan Pickford, of course, in his natural position of his arms up, going,
05:54Whap your love to me like how we the lads!
05:57So, why does Harry Maguire continue to get picked at left-sided centre-back for England?
06:02Well, because Harry Maguire continues to be the best option at left-sided centre-back
06:06for England.
06:07Doesn't matter if you like it, doesn't matter if I like it, he just is.
06:11But no, you're right, good point, he does have a head that looks like a massive paving
06:14slab, so let me know in the comments below whether you would pick him for England, and
06:16if you wouldn't, who would you play instead?
06:18But in the meantime though, thank you so much for joining us on Thoughtful 2.
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06:31on all the socials, and I will see you later.
06:35Bye, bye.
06:38Oh.
06:39And that's it, that's the video.
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07:01Goodbye.