For the first 15 minutes of Manchester United’s trip to Nottingham Forest, it looked like Harry Maguire was having another one of those days.
Within three minutes, the skipper was in the book after rugby tackling Taiwo Awoniyi, giving Forest a chance to bully the out-of-form defender and tease him into a second yellow.
And then 10 minutes later the City Ground gave its biggest cheer of the afternoon when Maguire jogged steadfastly into the Forest half before hitting a simple pass straight out of play.
The crowd’s verdict? “Leicester reject… Leicester reject…”
— Maguire GOAT (@MaguireSkills) April 16, 2023
But despite the shaky start, despite the booking, despite the glee from the Forest fans and the palpable terror from those in United colours, Maguire eventually began to cobble a performance together.
Towering header was followed by robust clearance, and as the game went on it looked as though Maguire’s years playing alongside Victor Lindelof might actually be a helpful thing, not a shared trauma they were now being forced to relive.
By half time, United were ahead and the captain looked assured. Or as close to it as you could reasonably expect.
It was only after about 70 minutes that the nerves started to kick in for the United fans.
After all, it had only been three days since Maguire cost United their Europa League advantage by failing to jump for a challenge against Youssef En-Nesyri, instead letting the ball cannon into his head and then into United’s goal.
If there’s one thing those fans know, it’s that a blunder could come at any moment until the final whistle blows.
But today wasn’t going to be like Thursday.
Because while those around him were getting nervous going into the home stretch, Maguire dug into his admirable (if sometimes confounding) reserves of confidence.
It’s that same bullishness that caused the Yorkshireman to back himself to the media during the recent international break. “I shouldn’t really need to prove myself at this level,” he said. “I’ve made over 50 caps. I’m England’s top-scoring defender.”
Of course, when that confidence manifests itself as footballing actions, it can go either way.
In the 76th minute against Forest, it produced one of the moments of the match — a small bit of redemption for the heavily memed 30-year-old which also went some way to settling the result of the match.
With the ball bouncing into United’s half and Maguire the…
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