West Ham United right-back Ben Johnson doesn’t understand Manchester United player Harry Maguire’s current situation.
The 29-year-old Manchester United centre-back is currently out in Qatar on international duty with England for the World Cup.
His inclusion in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad was somewhat of a surprise, given the fact that he has played only 280 Premier League minutes for Man United this season (Transfermarkt).
Maguire has become somewhat of a pariah figure under Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford.
And Ben Johnson has made it very clear that he doesn’t understand why Harry Maguire gets so much criticism.
The former Leicester City ace has been one of the best and most consistent players for England in the World Cup out in Qatar so far. In fact, he is an absolute colossus every time he plays for the Three Lions.
And the Manchester United man has been getting support from his peers…
Ben Johnson doesn’t understand Manchester United star Harry Maguire situation
The West Ham right-back sat down to speak on the Happy Hour Podcast.
And the 22-year-old responded when asked about how criticism of players seems to have escalated over the past few years:
That’s the one that is so frustrating. You will see a comment (on social media of a fan criticising a player), then it’s a spiral. You see it with players now, he can’t do this and he can’t do that. Then everyone else goes, ‘oh, he’s can’t do this and he can’t do that’. Then it’s a thing that gets on to the news. It creates a big thing and there is a focus on it. I think players don’t need that. You aren’t going to be able to excel. For example, Maguire now, he’s a top player, like someone that England needs and he is just getting caned all the time. There is no need for it.
I have to agree with Johnson here.
Harry Maguire is a magnificent centre-back in my opinion, and he certainly hasn’t ever let England down.
I feel like sometimes one or two people start criticising a player on social media and then it snowballs. Before you know it, the player is getting hounded daily on Twitter and Facebook and then in turn, that affects his confidence.
The Manchester United defender has handled everything that has come his way extremely well in my opinion.
Ben Johnson’s comments on Harry Maguire make total sense and the West Ham ace has highlighted an issue that we clearly have regarding the criticism of players on social networking sites. We have all done it. However, perhaps there are times when the criticism turns into abuse and then it has gone way too far.
Well done to Maguire for bouncing back from the relentless stick he’s received recently.
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