Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has been singled out for much of the criticism at Old Trafford this season, but the statistics may debunk that.
The England defender has struggled to consistently put in solid displays compared with the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Dias at rival clubs. He was dropped to the bench by Ralf Rangnick for the Reds ' recent draw with Watford.
Rangnick has been open with his thoughts on the former Leicester central defender in recent weeks, as Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane have led criticism from the punditry studio. But stats obtained by Opta suggest that, while Maguire's performances have seemingly dipped on the face of things, he is registering similar numbers to the highest-rated Premier League defenders.
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Liverpool's Van Dijk has rediscovered his supreme form following his long injury lay-off and is among the top performers with Rudiger, Dias as well as Tottenham's Cristian Romero and Arsenal defender Gabriel. Van Dijk eclipses Rudiger in terms of his 63 per cent duel success rate with the Chelsea stopper coming in 62 per cent and City talisman Dias, who clocked in at 51 per cent.
Maguire is among the leaders in ball recoveries with 119 this season, but still falls way short of the Liverpool defender who has 160. He does come in higher than Dias and Gabriel, who have 97 and 96 respectively.
The United skipper has a better tackle success rate than both Rudiger and Gabriel. But despite certain figures posing positive signs for the England man, some of the figures correlate with the criticism as he has made one mistake leading to a goal, as well as committing three errors that led to an opposition shot.
Maguire has also been dribbled past 11 times this season — more than any other defender this season.
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