Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has finally given his say on the criticism he received last year.
When United fell apart last season under Rangnick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the England defender found himself at a disadvantage amid the wrath of fans, who blamed him for his "way of making mistakes" that caused the team to concede a lot of goals.
The club owner paid him a world-record transfer fee for the defender, but he kept making mistakes that cost his team dearly. For a while, Maguire became a laughing stock, a spokesperson for Manchester United's shortcomings, and a backbone for the team.
The culmination of all this ridicule was the former Leicester City player seeing hundreds of videos of defeat and a compilation of his mistakes on social networks.
Things got worse when Maguire began to get booed by his fans, so much so that the player and his family received bomb threats, which led police to conduct a thorough search of his home.
Speaking to The Times, Maguire said: "I still haven't really understood what the outside world is saying about me and I do my best to ignore what's going on outside the world. No one likes to be talked about in a bad way. It's just a human trait that we all have. ”
"The most important thing is that this happens when you're in the spotlight. I understand this perfectly. But when my family reads it, or things go to extremes, it may be harder for them to understand. ”
During the 90-minute interview, Maguire said he did not understand the overwhelming criticism, and that his family was under a lot of pressure because of the negative comments.
"Football is a team sport and when you lose a game, the individual performance is described as in-form. Of course, individuals may not be performing at their normal level, but if you are talked about more and more, it will have a follow-up effect, and more people will talk about you. ”
Maguire accused fans of shameful behavior by watching only short clips and highlights of the game on social media, rather than the traditional way of watching the entire 90-minute football.
He added: "More and more fans prefer short, expending, some highlights of football moments over the reality of the whole game. It's a shame for the football game itself, really. ”
Another reason he gave that led to his slander was cloud fans. According to Maguire, since most fans don't watch football matches in person, they tend to be swayed by the mentality of netizens.
"These fans are influenced by people with snarky views, or by bright spots that are detrimental to an individual or player," he said in the interview. In short, most fans cannot distinguish the team's defeat from the individual's failure"
Maguire hinted to The Times that he had fallen victim to the vice, and public opinion portrayed him as a bad player.