WOLVES v MAN UTD
(^44) DAILY MIRROR MONDAY 19.08.2019
DM1ST
CENTRES OF
EXCELLENCE
Solskjaer reckons in Maguire and Lindelof he’s
finally found a central defensive partnership to
rival Ferdinand and Vidic and Pallister and Bruce
IN Harry Maguire and Victor
Lindelof, Manchester United
now have a central-defensive
pairing to rival the best the
club has seen.
Not since the days of Rio
Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic or,
before them, Steve Bruce and
Gary Pallister, have United had
such a formidable duo at the heart
of defence.
Maguire – the world’s most ex-
pensive defender at £80milion –
and Lindelof kept a clean sheet in
United’s 4-0 rout of Chelsea in
their opening Premier
League fixture of the
new campaign.
The pair struck up
an immediate under-
standing and looked
assured, providing the
secure foundation for
United’s attacking
players to wreak
havoc at the other end
and get their season
off to a flying start.
Maguire, 26, and
Lindelof, 25, have the
to fit into the way we are going to
play.
“I do have too many centre-
backs to keep everyone happy
right now, and that will be for us
to work out.
“But we need to win games, we
need to perform, so we’re going to
pick the players who will give us
the biggest chance to win
games.”
Although Eric Bailly is out
until Christmas after undergo-
ing knee surgery, Solskjaer still
has six centre-backs in his Old
Trafford squad, which he
acknowledged is too many.
“Eric’s injury means that
at the moment I’ve got six
fit ones, which is maybe
one too many to keep
everyone involved,” said
the Norwegian.
“But then that’s our
job, to make the most of
what we have now, and for
them to make sure they are at
their best every day in training.
“And when they get the
chance – because they will,
as we’ve got loads of
games – they have to
play well.”
Maguire – and Solskjaer’s vision of
his long-term alliance with
Lindelof – is bad news for the rest
of United’s centre-backs, with the
exception of Tuanzebe.
The 21-year-old, who has been
at United since he was eight, made
the bench for last week’s win over
Chelsea at the expense of the
more experienced trio of Smalling,
Jones and Rojo.
After Maguire and Lindelof,
Tuanzebe is now third-choice,
with the rest now squad players
and facing uncertain futures.
“Pre-season was a great chance
for Axel to show what he’s capable
of next to our players,” said boss
Solskjaer.
“I’ve seen him at Villa (where he
was on loan), I’ve seen him in mid-
field here, and at right-back, but I
wanted to see him next to Victor,
next to Phil. We know he’s going
to be a big, big part of this club in
the future. He probably impressed
me more than I expected. That’s
why he’s on the bench.
“He can slot in midfield and
right-back as well, so he’s able to
play different positions.
“I’ve got no reason to pick any
players that I don’t think are going
potential to develop a successful
long-term partnership, with boss
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confident
they can go from strength to
strength.
“I hope Victor and Harry don’t
give me a reason to change,” said
Solskjaer ahead of tonight’s trip to
Wolves. “No injuries, suspensions
or lack of concentration.
“They can both play, they read
the game really well.
“Harry has presence in the box.
It’s great for any centre-back to
have that presence next to them
and I’m sure Victor will enjoy that.
“We’ve only played once but we
want that partnership
to develop with David
(de Gea) at the back.
“We want to play
out from the back, but
we’ve got other good
centre-backs around
as well. Axel Tuanzebe
is knocking on the
door. And we have
Marcos Rojo, Chris
Smalling, Phil Jones –
they all want to play.
There’s competition
for those places.”
The capture of
BY DAVID McDONNELL
@DiscoMirror
TV TIMES: Live on Sky Sports
Main Event from 7pm
WOLVES MAN UTD
Patricio De Gea
Bennett Wan-Bissaka
Coady Lindelof
Boly Maguire
Doherty Shaw
Neves Matic
Moutinho McTominay
Dendoncker Pogba
Jonny Lingard
Jota Martial
Jimenez Rashford
PROBABLE TEAMS
BY DAVE ARMITAGE
RYAN BENNETT says Harry
Maguire is living proof that
football’s ugly ducklings can grow
into beautiful swans.
Fellow central-defender Bennett
sees £80million Maguire up close
tonight as Manchester United visit
Molineux.
Both of them have graduated
through the school of hard knocks
on their way to carving out careers
as Premier League stars. Maguire
might have now cost almost £100m
in fees, including the world record
transfer for a defender in this
summer’s move to United, but he
started his career in the lower
divisions of English football.
Former Grimsby defender
Bennett (right) joined Wolves on a
free from Norwich and his
combined transfers add up to
£3.5m. And he reckons not having
everything put on a plate makes
players stronger and hungrier to
make the most of things.
Bennett said: “Harry’s a very
good player. As a young lad he came
up the same way I did. He plied his
trade at Sheffield United in League
One and the players who played
with him speak highly of him.
“What he’s done on the pitch has
been fantastic and is for everyone
to see, but off the pitch he is a good
lad too.” Wolves will be hoping to
have the kind of success against
United that they had last season.
They drew at Old Trafford,
then knocked United out of the
FA Cup before beating them in
the league at Molineux.
Bennett added: “The past is the
past. From their side they know
they didn’t have a very good season
by their standards last year and
they’re looking to put that right.”
BENNETT: HARRY AND ME ARE PROOF THAT HARD WORK CAN TAKE YOU TO THE TOP
SUPERBIKES
TOURING CARS
rider made a lunge up
the inside on the
second lap.
The Be Wiser Ducati
rider was caught on
TV screaming and
pointing at Honda’s
Irwin, who later took
to Twitter to admit: “I
am so sorry,” then
added the hashtag
“#idiot”.
struggled for speed in
their 3 Series BMWs
around the fastest
circuit in the UK.
“I was starting to
feel like this was never
going to happen,” said
Cammish, after his
first win of the season.
“This is my best ever
weekend with first,
second and fifth.”
REDDING SEES RED AS
IRWIN TAKES HIM OUT
BY ZOE BURN
SCOTT REDDING
clashed angrily with
Andrew Irwin in the
second Bennetts
British Superbike race
at Cadwell Park.
Redding (above)
confronted Irwin after
they both ended up in
the gravel trap when
the Northern Irish
CAMMISH CLAIMS FIRST WIN
AS HONDA CLOSE IN ON BMW
BY SIMON MELLUISH
THE Hondas of Dan
Cammish and Josh
Cook closed in on the
championship-leading
BMWs as the British
Touring Cars roared
into Thruxton.
Cammish and Cook
claimed a win apiece,
while Colin Turkington
and Andrew Jordan
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