Jamie Carragher has again leapt to the defence of Harry Maguire and believes the Manchester United defender is so ‘broken’ that he was unable to defend himself from previous ‘over the top’ criticism from goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Maguire has been thrust further into the spotlight after scoring an own goal in England’s midweek win over Scotland where opposition supporters mockingly cheered and the 30-year-old’s mother hit out at critics in an emotional social media post afterwards.
Carragher believes the centre-back needs to be shown more respect by some of his team-mates and has doubled-down on his criticism against Onana after the United goalkeeper previously blasted Maguire during a pre-season friendly against Borussia Dortmund.
Carragher has already claimed Onana deliberately tried to endear himself to Red Devils supporters by ‘disgracefully’ yelling at Maguire during United’s 3-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund in July and believes somebody should have warned the shot-stopper against acting in such a manner.
‘I’m well aware of Onana being demonstrative at all his clubs, and I like the fact he communicates,’ tweeted Carragher.
Jamie Carragher has maintained his defence of Manchester United defender Harry Maguire
Carragher says Andre Onana (above) ‘disgracefully’ yelled at Harry Maguire in pre-season in an effort to win over the Manchester United fans after his £47m move from Inter
Former United captain Roy Keane (right) was often seen arguing with Peter Schmeichel (middle)
‘But to carry on like that in a pre season game when you’ve been at the club two mins, to the club captain, was way over the top.
‘Any player worth their salt (Keane, Vidic, Rio, Stam…and me!) would have told him where to go & to get back in his goal.
‘I felt he was trying far too hard to show the fans what he was about. The point was Maguire is that broken he didn’t say anything back. When he was well within his rights to do so,’ he added.
The incident at the time was celebrated by a host of United supporters who believe Onana’s disciplinarian approach is what’s needed to wake up Erik ten Hag’s defence.
United boss Ten Hag evidently knew what type of character Onana was after previously working together at Ajax and deciding to sanction his £47m summer move from Inter Milan.
Maguire had the captaincy stripped from him during the summer with Ten Hag instead handing the armband to Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes.
The playmaker brings a different approach to the role than previous captains mentioned by Carragher, but has been criticised for waving his arms in frustration at team-mates in the past.
Previous leaders such as Roy Keane and Nemanja Vidic were more forceful disciplinarians and would cause a scene on the pitch if they felt someone was in the wrong.
Carragher (pictured) believes one of United’s stars should have defended Maguire against Onana and intervened
Maguire was stripped of the Manchester United captaincy during the summer
Onana’s disciplinarian approach was well-known from his time at previous club Inter Milan
Keane would often be involved in arguments with former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel who adopted a similar style of communication to Onana.
However, Maguire looked low on confidence when he came in to the fray during United’s recent 3-1 defeat against Arsenal that saw Onana initially change his build-up play when the former Leicester defender came on.
Carragher believes former United captains would have ran to the defence of Maguire and told new recruit Onana to get back in goal and show some respect to players who have been at the club longer than him.
Meanwhile, Ten Hag has claimed the media focusing on Maguire is ‘crazy’ but told the centre-back to silence his critics by performing well.
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