This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
People shouldn’t kid themselves over Manchester United new boy Harry Maguire after just one game, says former Red Devils defender Paul Parker.
Parker played for United from 1991 to 1996 and made 105 appearances for the club, and he has spoken to The Mirror about why people shouldn’t be so quick to judge the England international after just one game since his £80m move from Leicester.
What did he say?
The 55-year-old said: “There’s no doubt Maguire started off well with a decent enough performance and a clean sheet, but let’s not kid ourselves.
“The win flattered United and allowed nice things to be written and said, but I’m not getting carried away.
“United scored those two quick goals, so for me, it was a false scoreline. People are saying Maguire is the best ever on the evidence of just one game. So you can’t judge him and say he’s going to be a Man United great after one game up against a weak Chelsea team.”
Can’t disagree
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea came to Old Trafford last weekend with the intent to attack, and a lot of space in behind was created as a result which suited Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s pacey forward line of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
Maguire dealt with his individual battles well and came out of the match smelling of roses, hence the narrative of him being United’s saviour as Parker alludes to.
However, the whole team had a nice, easy day on the afternoon and there will be plenty of harder challenges to come for the former Hull man – the media shouldn’t be making such iron-cast narratives on just a single fixture.
Doing this will only set Maguire up to fail if he endures a tough time in his next outing, and will also lead to the 26-year-old having enormous amounts of pressure placed on him after just one game – the bottom line is that the Englishman has achieved nothing at Old Trafford other than a mere three points.
He should be allowed to settle in at his own pace and not have any wild claims made about his form so soon into his career, even if the comments are all positive.
