Manchester United centre back Harry Maguire delivered a captains performance vs. Leeds United in the Premier League yesterday.
After large scrutiny for his inconsistent performances under Ralf Rangnick, the Englishman delivered on the pitch once again.
It has been a difficult season for everyone at Man United but it has been even more challenging for the captain.
This season, the defence has been conceding second-half goals resulting in the final outcome being a draw or a loss after total control in the first half.
Most of the dropped points have been due to the defence switching off or being slow to react to balls over or through the back line, allowing the opposition players to pounce and score.
Every dull team performance will always attract attention about how the captain plays because of the importance of his role.
Many fans disagreed with Maguire being handed the armband when Ashley Young left the club a couple of transfer windows ago.
However, last night could turn out to be a pivotal moment in Maguire’s United career after opening the scoring in the 4-2 win vs. Leeds.
Harry Maguire’s game by numbers vs Leeds United:
100% aerial duels won
100% tackles won (2/2)
100% ground duels won
36 total touches
4 long passes played
2 ball recoveries
1 goalCaptains performance. 💪 pic.twitter.com/XVxBwQqJ9p
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) February 20, 2022
Maguire was 100% successful in his tackles, ground duels won and aerial duels won and didn’t put a foot wrong yesterday.
The quality of the pitch wasn’t helping the United captain at all, who proved to work better in difficult circumstances.
It was raining for the whole 90 minutes with an already waterlogged pitch due to a storm that had been tearing up England for the whole weekend.
Throughout the match, the 28-year-old registered 36 total passes while making two ball recoveries.
United fans will be hoping that yesterday’s performance could be the turning point that is needed for the captain, who is yet to win his first major honours with the club.