Gabby Agbonlahor slams 2 Manchester United stars and calls for Harry Maguire to return to starting XI
Former Premier League footballer Gabby Agbonlahor has slammed Manchester United duo Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez for their performance in the recent 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest. He believes Harry Maguire would have been slaughtered on social media if he was making the same mistakes as the duo.
Manchester United were 2-0 down to Nottingham Forest inside four minutes at Old Trafford on Saturday, August 26. They managed to recover and seal a 3-2 win in the second half, but the game was a wake-up call for Erik ten Hag.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Agbonlahor said that Maguire should be back into the United starting XI. He added that they cannot repeat the same in the UEFA Champions League this season, or they would suffer humiliating defeats.
"Varane and Martinez. I mean, get Harry Maguire gets all the stick from me, bring him back in! The way Manchester United are playing now, this was Maguire playing like Varane and Martinez; he'd be getting slaughtered on social media. And if you are going into the Champions League with playing like this, you're going to get some hidings."
Manchester United have won two of their three Premier League matches so far.
Gabby Agbonlahor defended Harry Maguire against his Manchester United teammate
Goalkeeper Andre Onana reacted furiously to a Harry Maguire mistake during the pre-season game against Borussia Dortmund.
Gabby Agbonlahor jumped in defense of the Englishman and said that attacking a teammate on the pitch was wrong.
He said:
"First of all Harry Maguire did nothing wrong. He gave the ball to a midfielder, who gave it away, and I feel like he is an easy target. I don't like that from Onana, I fell like he is an easy target. Are you doing that to [Lisandro] Martinez? I don't think you're, or even [Marcus] Rashord like that?' Maguire is an easy target, so I did not like the look of that."
He added:
"I would understand if it was a big mistake, and cost a goal, or it was Harry Maguire's fault, fair enough, but I want to see that same energy from every player. I understand he [Onana] is trying to create high standards, but when you watch games with him, he has given the ball away a lot and made mistakes. Imagine Harry Maguire doing that to him."
Harry Maguire was close to joining West Ham United earlier this month, but the deal did not materialize. MEN have reported that he wanted Manchester United to pay the difference he would be losing if he had agreed on reduced wages to join the Hammers.