Why Gareth Southgate Always Picks Harry Maguire

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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.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:04 Harry Maguire is having one of the worst seasons in his entire club career, and

00:09 yet when the England squad rolls around, without fail, Gareth Southgate picks him.

00:13 Hello everybody, Adam Cleary, 442, and you know it,

00:16 it's the question that dominates every single international break.

00:19 If you're an England fan,

00:20 why is Harry Maguire seemingly undroppable in this Gareth Southgate squad?

00:24 And, well, believe it or not, there is actually a reason.

00:28 I'm gonna show you.

00:29 So if you can cast your mind back a couple of days,

00:30 this is England versus Italy as they set up.

00:32 They were both in a 4-3-3.

00:34 There he is, that's Harry Maguire left-sided center back in the back four.

00:38 And the reason we're going to this game is because it included a moment around 50

00:41 odd minutes in that can only be described as Harry Maguire doing a Harry Maguire.

00:46 Now England, whatever their faults, are usually a very well organized team.

00:49 When they have to defend, they all get nice and compact.

00:51 When they move up the pitch, they all move as a unit.

00:53 But sometimes, football just happens, doesn't it?

00:55 And on the occasions where football just happens,

00:57 Harry Maguire is occasionally guilty of making very bad decisions as a defender.

01:01 You'll have seen him do this a few times, but it happened in the Italy game.

01:03 When England get stretched and a ball is played from the midfield into an attacker

01:08 somewhere in England's final third,

01:10 Harry Maguire does exactly the wrong thing and gets caught out.

01:13 As the ball comes in, he breaks out of the defensive line to try and

01:16 get an early challenge in to either force the player to move backwards or

01:19 to maybe even win the ball.

01:21 Except what the really good attackers will do is they will recognize him charging

01:24 out of this space, they will knock the ball off to a teammate,

01:27 they will get him turned, leave him all at sea, and

01:29 then get into the space he has just vacated.

01:31 He absolutely loves making that run.

01:33 You can almost hear John Stones going, Harry, no, when he does it.

01:37 But he does it all the same.

01:39 And because it is a very poor decision, his teammates can't anticipate it,

01:42 they can't get back over and cover quick enough, someone gets cleaved through one

01:44 goal, and they're gonna have another go here.

01:46 [SOUND]

01:51 Anyway, now this just happened against Italy, but

01:53 you've definitely seen him do it before.

01:55 Look, here he is doing it again, and every time he does,

01:58 it ends up all over social media.

01:59 People say he's absolutely rubbish, they can't understand why he's in the team, and

02:02 the cycle repeats again and again and again and again and again and again and

02:05 again.

02:06 But the reason I'm here today, my friends, is to tell you that while this is a massive

02:09 problem with Harry Maguire's game, when it comes to playing for this England squad,

02:13 that is pretty much the only major problem with Harry Maguire's game.

02:17 Yeah, look, I know, I can already hear the scoffs through the screen, and

02:20 to be honest, I can scarcely believe it myself, but

02:21 I'm just gonna really quickly show you what it is he brings to this England side,

02:25 and hopefully, his selection will make a little bit more sense.

02:28 So obviously, it varies by opponent and situation, but

02:30 normally, when England have the ball at the back and

02:32 they're trying to make something happen, they end up with this little four thing

02:35 going on between Pickford, Stones, Maguire, and

02:37 one of the central midfielders, usually Declan Rice.

02:39 This gives you some nice passing angles that you can knock it about quite easily.

02:42 The fullbacks, they'll quite happily come back to join in, but

02:44 what England wanna do is keep the ball in this sort of area, in their own third for

02:48 long enough that it creates space in the final third for a line-breaking pass.

02:53 And what I mean by line-breaking is if you imagine this is their forward line,

02:56 it's pressing the defenders, this is their midfield line,

02:58 it's marking the midfielders.

02:59 England want to be patient enough with the ball at the back that somebody can get

03:03 a bit of space, they can hit a line through both those lines, they get turned,

03:08 and they're in.

03:08 And they're actually pretty good at doing this.

03:10 Like you saw it all through the Italy game and all through the Ukraine game,

03:13 either Stones or Maguire getting a ball into either Bellingham or

03:15 Henderson when they're in a really good position and

03:17 they've got a bit of space to play in.

03:19 And fundamentally, the reason Harry Maguire is in this England team is because

03:22 these passes are really hard.

03:24 They require good vision, good intelligence, and

03:26 also excellent technical ability.

03:28 Because it is kind of a risky move to do, because if you've got midfielders who are

03:32 sort of pushing up field and pulling away from their markers, and

03:34 you misplace that pass, all of a sudden you're in real trouble there.

03:39 And the reason Harry Maguire is an automatic pick for

03:40 England is because he's really, really good at those kind of passes.

03:45 Just a quick look at all of his passing numbers here.

03:46 Despite the fact he's been out of the Manchester United side,

03:48 hasn't played that much football in the last 365 days,

03:52 which is what this graph covers.

03:53 He's still almost in the top 5% of European football for

03:57 the number of long passes.

03:59 The really interesting stat though is this, switches.

04:01 Because as much as England like to play this pass between the lines or

04:04 into the fullback, they also are not afraid to switch the ball to the opposite

04:07 side of the pitch if that is where the space appears.

04:10 You saw Kane do this for his goal against Ukraine.

04:12 The England side had sort of moved over to the left hand side, which is given,

04:15 let me just demonstrate, Saka loads of room on the right.

04:18 Kane received the ball around here, put it all the way out to that side, and

04:21 then lo and behold, Saka gets across it and Kane gets the goal.

04:23 England are not afraid of the old school ground switch it.

04:28 Also his short passing numbers are really good, like for

04:29 all the problems people have with England's defence.

04:31 You very rarely see Maguire, Pickford, or

04:33 Stones ever give the ball away or concede a cheap throw in or

04:36 lose possession when they're in that build up stage.

04:39 Also, he's not the best at this, but he's still in like the top 20% in Europe for

04:42 progressive carries, which means that when they're knocking it around and

04:45 it's just not really happening, he's the one who tends to get on the ball and

04:48 just make that run into the centre of the pitch, which sort of pulls the rest of

04:51 the defence with him and all of a sudden the midfielders got to decide if they're

04:54 going to engage him, which of course creates a bit of extra space.

04:57 It's not his main job, but he does do it and it is important.

05:01 So why does Gareth Southgate always pick Harry Maguire?

05:03 Well, because England are a possession based team, they're a passing based team,

05:07 and Harry Maguire is one of the best centre backs in the world,

05:10 sorry for progressing and passing the ball.

05:13 And he's just a pretty solid defender at the same time.

05:15 Like I know he's guilty of that rush of blood and England do concede goals that way,

05:18 but by and large, England as a defensive unit are pretty solid.

05:22 That's kind of an okay weakness to accept for everything he brings to the team,

05:25 I think.

05:26 And just as one final point, players get selected for their national teams,

05:30 for any national team based on their performances for the national team.

05:34 And then if you're out of form or you're out of favour with your club side,

05:36 yes, obviously the manager has to keep that in mind, but bottom line,

05:39 if you play well for your country, you should keep playing for your country.

05:42 And like it or not, my friends, Harry Maguire and pretty much any other player

05:46 in this side you would care to pick on, does usually play pretty well for England.

05:51 There's Jordan Pickford, of course, in his natural position of his arms up going,

05:54 "Wap your love the rear of me like how we in the lands."

05:57 So why does Harry Maguire continue to get picked at left-sided centre back for England?

06:02 Well, because Harry Maguire continues to be the best option at left-sided centre back for England.

06:07 Doesn't matter if you like it, doesn't matter if I like it, he just is.

06:11 But no, you're right, good point.

06:12 He does have a head that looks like a massive paving slab.

06:14 So let me know in the comments below whether you would pick him for England,

06:16 and if you wouldn't, who would you play instead?

06:18 But in the meantime though, thank you so much for joining us on 442.

06:20 The subscribe button is right there.

06:22 The share button is right next to it.

06:24 We're doing daily football videos that are, in my humble opinion, not bad.

06:28 Until the next one though, I have of course been Adam Cleary, @adamcleary, C-L-E-R-Y,

06:31 on all the socials, and I will see you later.

06:35 Bye.

06:37 Oh.

06:38 And that's it, that's the video.

06:40 Thank you so very much for watching and making it all the way till the end.

06:43 Somebody's keen.

06:44 While you're here, please do consider subscribing to the 442 YouTube channel.

06:47 We've got loads of awesome football content dropping all through the week,

06:50 as well as an amazing library of documentaries, player interviews,

06:54 and performance guides as well.

06:55 Until next time though, thank you once again for watching.

06:57 I do hope you enjoyed yourself, and I'll see you soon.

07:00 Goodbye.

07:01 Bye.

07:02 (upbeat music)

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