the times | Thursday October 15 2020 2GM 67
Sport
Harry Maguire is badly off form,
which can happen to any player, but
the fact that he made two such
reckless challenges to earn two yellow
cards suggests his head is not in
the right place. I don’t want to kick
him while he is down but you have
to say that those were two very
dangerous tackles that could have
broken the ankles of his opponents.
The Manchester United defender
has not looked like reaching the level
of which he is capable since he came
back from that troubled holiday in
Greece. Last night he was poor even
before the fouls.
It is rare for a player to be doing
so badly for club and country at
the same time but that is the case
with Maguire.Maguire’s problems
It was quite clear that Denmark
had a much better structure
to their team than England.
They are a very well-drilled side.
They do not have an
unbelievably gifted player,
although Christian Eriksen,
right, can be a top player on his
day, and they lack a fantastic
goalscorer but they are still
effective. I remember watching
Kasper Dolberg, the centre
forward, a few years ago at Ajax
when he was talented but lazy.
Now he looks more prepared to
work hard for the team and
was doing well until he had to
depart injured, after being on
the end of one of those fouls
by Harry Maguire.I found the substitution of Ainsley
Maitland-Niles in the first half
very strange. The left wing
back was taken off in the wake
of Harry Maguire’s red card,
with Kyle Walker moving
across from centre back to
fill that role and Tyrone
Mings coming on to take
Walker’s place. Maitland-Niles
had done nothing wrong in
difficult circumstances, with the
left side quite unbalanced.
Marcus Rashford, ahead of
the Arsenal player, was offering
him little support and giving the
ball away in dangerous places. It
was a big kick in the teeth for
Maitland-Niles and something that
could really affect a player.Organised Denmark Strange substitution
Tony Cascarino’s talking points
I’m scratching my head over the
penalty decision. I couldn’t detect
a touch on the Danish player by
Kyle Walker. To me, he misses man
and ball but if there was a touch
then the decision to give a penalty
is correct. Would VAR, if it had
been available, have intervened?
Because there is disagreement, it is
not a clear and obvious error and
so the decision would not have
been overturned.
6min Maguire’s first yellow 31min Maguire’s second yellow
RICHARD PELHAM/NMC/POOLjordan pickford
everton, age 26
Strayed into an area
he did not need to be
and caused panic
around the penalty
decision.
5kyle walker
man city, 30
Harshly penalised for
the penalty but was
fortunate Wass wasted
a chance to punish his
poor marking later on.
6conor coady
wolves, 27
Made a good
covering tackle to
deny Dolberg and
continues to impress(^6) in the national team.
harry maguire
man utd, 27
Booked for a lunge on
Poulsen early on and
a dreadful first touch
and tackle on Dolberg
sealed his dismissal.
3
reece james
chelsea, 20
Blotted his copy
book with a red card
after the final whistle
and will miss the
next match.
5
kalvin phillips
leeds united, 24
Industrious in
midfield, but his
pairing with Rice
lacked invention, even
before the red card.
6
declan rice
west ham, 21
The midfield balance
is not right and that’s
not Rice’s fault.
Southgate preferred
function to flair.
6
ainsley
maitland-niles
arsenal, 23
Was sacrificed after
Maguire’s dismissal.
Had been steady
(^6) until then.
mason mount
chelsea, 21
Denied by a brilliant
save. Took up good
positions but needed
to be more careful
with his final ball.
6
harry kane
tottenham, 27
Did not look sharp
after his thigh issue
and took a whack on
his ankle from Spurs
teammate Hojbjerg.
6
marcus rashford
man utd, 22
Tried his luck from
distance but he was
careless in possession
on a number of
(^5) occasions.
England (3-4-3)
Total 60
Substitutes: T Mings for Maitland-Niles (36)
Now appears to be ahead of Michael Keane
and Joe Gomez in the pecking order 6
J Sancho for Mount (72)
D Calvert-Lewin for Rashford (72)
J Henderson for Rice (76)
Booked Henderson, Phillips
Sent off Maguire, James
By Paul Joyce
who’s there for you in those difficult
times. He’ll come through it and he’ll be
a better player and a stronger man for it.
He knows there will be criticism after
this and you have to accept that. To go
down to ten men is costly for the team.
But we fully back him. Knowing Harry
as I do, he’ll want to play football. The
best place for him to be is on the pitch.”
The Chelsea defender James spoilt
an impressive performance when he
became the first England player to be
sent off on his first start after confront-
ing the referee Jesús Gil Manzano.
“That’s something he has to recog-
nise is not acceptable,” Southgate said.
Inter Milan’s Christian Eriksen
scored the penalty conceded by Walker
just moments after Maguire was dis-
missed. England slipped from the top of
their Nations League group to third
place and face Belgium next month in
Brussels before hosting Iceland.
England are in talks to play Australia
at Wembley on November 12 as re-
placements for New Zealand, who
withdrew from the fixture because of
Covid-19.