Make no mistake. For 45 minutes, Harry Maguire no longer looked a player suffering a crisis of confidence, but instead one in the midst of a full-blown one.
Erik ten Hag said all the right things in the build-up to Manchester United ’s clash with Nottingham Forest, but without Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez he had little choice but to do anything else.
“I have four really good centre halves, now it is up to them,” he said about starting his club captain alongside Victor Lindelof. But it took less than 200 seconds for the evidence to stack up to the contrary.
Forest are hardly the Premier League ’s elite and Taiwo Awoniyi - while a promising talent - is also short of the league's best. But with one flick-on and a turn of the shoulder, Maguire was cruelly exposed, into the referee’s book and onto the red-card tightrope.
And while Ten Hag’s sound bites were positive, his reaction to Maguire’s foul said it all. The Dutchman, so often reserved on the touchline, was visibly furious at his defender. Ten Hag has done all he can to not rock the boat when it comes to Maguire and his status within the squad, but surely at this point, the clock is loudly ticking.
Simply put, this is no longer the defender United spent an outrageous £80 million on back in 2020. While there were always question marks over the fee, there was a quiet acceptance that in Premier League circles, he was in the upper echelon.
Comparisons to Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk always felt forced, but United had hoped for a similar impact from their record arrival. And excusing recency bias, it hasn’t always been this bad. There was a time when he was at the very least serviceable.
But there is an argument that even those days are behind him. Minutes after his booking, with a braying crowd on his back, he inexplicably passed the ball directly out for a throw. The reaction from the City Ground wasn’t even satisfaction, but closer to a guttural laugh.
It should have got much worse for Maguire as well. If his wayward pass was inexplicable, the mistakes which led to the ball hitting his hand in the penalty area were mystifying. Thankfully for the England international, the referee and his team of video assistants offered him a welcome reprieve.
And perhaps it is a sign of where his United career stands that Roy Keane, who has offered to punch players in previous rants, could only laugh when watching the replay at half time.
The only surprise about Maguire’s first half is that it was allowed to be completed. Not only was he the weak link, he appeared a walking red card. Ten Hag had wasted no time in hauling off his cautioned players in midweek and so an embarrassing early withdrawal was definitely on the cards.
Options for a team ravaged by injuries probably dictated that couldn’t happen. And there is also the possibility that if United are to succeed this season, they will need a Maguire who still has a modicum of confidence in his own ability.
He may have also seen the reaction to Davinson Sanchez's hooking for Tottenham, celebrated by the home supporters like a late equaliser. Maguire isn't quite at that stage, but removing him from the action with a capacity crowd already calling him a " Leicester reject" may have seemed a little too harsh.
In fairness to Maguire, that act of loyalty was repaid after the break. Despite never looking totally assured, he did warm to his task and will return to Manchester having another clean sheet. Whether he has earned a long-term role in Ten Hag's ambitious Old Trafford overhaul remains to be seen.
