‘What I’m seeing is he could bring more to the team’: Robin Van Persie expects much better from captain Harry Maguire and reckons the Manchester United defender’s distribution HAS to improve
- Robin van Persie revealed that he expects much more from Harry Maguire
- Van Persie says the Manchester United defender’s distribution must improve
- Former United striker van Persie stressed that other players are also at fault
Robin van Persie has revealed that he expects much more from Manchester United captain Harry Maguire.
Maguire has been one of many United players to find matters difficult in the early stages of the campaign.
Former United striker van Persie stressed that Maguire’s distribution needs to improve in order to help his side take a step forward.
Robin van Persie has revealed he expects much more from Manchester United’s Harry Maguire
van Persie indicated that United captain Maguire’s distribution needs to improve significantly
Maguire has often been praised for the way in which he plays the ball out from the back, but van Persie says he has been unable to show those qualities.
Speaking on BT Sport, van Persie said: ‘Everyone is talking about Maguire being fantastic on the ball, so far he’s not been fantastic on the ball going forward with his passing but that’s not only down to him.
‘Overall, in some situations – the team is not well positioned. You see Fred coming to take on the ball from the centre-back places – he should not to do that, Maguire should do that – he should play in a zone higher up the pitch where it’s more difficult to play but it gives people more options to play.
‘Forward players should play as high as possible. It’s not clicking because the positioning of the players is not right.’
Van Persie was eager to point out that the problems that United have aren’t solely down to Maguire, with their whole team needing to step up.
United have found it difficult at times to orchestrate slick passing moves and there has been a lack of balance on some occasions.
Van Persie stressed the problems for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side aren’t just down to Maguire
Van Persie said: ‘On the pitch what I’m seeing is that he could bring more to the team, defensively but especially on the ball because everyone was talking about great he is on the ball.
‘It is not only down to him, you have to make space for each other. He should get options in midfield from the forward players. Do they give him enough options?
‘Sometimes it does click, you could see the midfielders did find the forward players but it’s not consistent enough for the moment. You should always have your runs in behind, you should always have depth in your game and that’s not always the case.’
There have been some positive moments for United this season, including the win against Paris Saint-Germain and the 5-0 victory against RB Leipzig.
However, Solskjaer’s team have found it difficult to maintain consistency and build up momentum.
