"An absolute joke."
Gareth Southgate was quick to vent his displeasure at the Wembley crowd on Tuesday night after his England side beat Ivory Coast in their second friendly of the week after those inside the stadium had been audibly booing and jeering Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire - both before and during proceedings.
"We're either all in this together or we're not," Southgate continued, eloquent as ever.
During the now-foregone international break, after England's win over Switzerland, Luke Shaw had spoken candidly about it being "important to feel like you’re wanted" as a footballer, implying that it has been a personal hurdle when that hasn't always been the case from United fans.
Shaw is someone who has recently built a reputation for his willingness to deliver such frank interviews, hereby, when he does speak to the media, you can be assured that his utterances possess rhyme and reason. No matter, some people have still reacted with the 'weak mentality' card, which is particularly ignorant given that the discussion is around a player who has overcome almost losing his leg to win two player of the season awards at United.
The comments from Shaw now ring all the greater after Tuesday night's events at Wembley. It does seem almost beyond inexplicable that England fans would even consider booing Maguire - a player whose integrity to their side has been plain to see in recent years.
The tangent that Maguire may not have warranted international selection based on current club form is not an unreasonable one to venture down, but it’s similarly as understandable that Southgate would select him based off his pristine reliability for England. After all, Southgate is going to pick the squad that he feels is most likely to achieve the best results.
Come the final whistle, it felt fitting that Maguire had been one of England's better players as they cruised to a 3-0 victory. "I think he was brilliant," Manchester City's Jack Grealish said. "Our first goal comes from him driving out with the ball and the second one comes from him driving a little bit and then playing the pass into Ollie [Watkins]. Not every centre-back has those qualities."
It takes no level of particular genius to acknowledge that Maguire has regressed in terms of his standard for United this season. But then, it’s no coincidence that such regression isn’t anywhere near as evident when playing for an England side considerably superior by way of its functionality.
He, really, is nothing more than underperforming in a United team riddled by collective underperformance. It is wholly unjust that he has become the predominant scapegoat and major focus point of torrents of backlash amongst supporters. Somehow, those levels of slander have translated to England fans too.
Declan Rice labelled the situation a "total embarrassment", with Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane also amongst those to come out in support of Maguire. There was even a tweet of backing from Tottenham Hotspur's official account.
Ever since his switch to United in the summer of 2019, Maguire has been marred by constant flagging of and comparison to his £80 million price tag. Even if there is truth in the fact that he hasn't lived up to such an extortionate fee, it doesn't mean he has been a poor signing or failure of an acquisition. Frankly, you have to ask, how many defenders would actually live up to such valuation?
Of course Maguire has his flaws, but it has been proven time and time again that they are hardly those of debilitation. The insistence from so many that he is a bad footballer, always has been and always will be is bewildering, especially given the fact that such a vast number of United fans were pining in his absence in the Europa League final last term.
There was genuine devastation that Maguire wasn't available for the trip to Gdansk, and United somewhat crumbled in his absence. Now, the manner in which he transformed an entirely dysfunctional defence on his arrival at the club is being forgotten on the basis of a single season of inadequacy.
People seem unable to realise that it is hardly unordinary for players to have bad patches and even bad seasons - that is part of the parcel of being an elite sportsperson.
However, in the present day, where social media often reigns supreme, it is seemingly becoming more and more about everything having to fit a certain agenda - almost always riddled with masses of misinformation. There are endless amounts of nonsense circling the internet. And, in terms of football, there are perceptions of players such as Maguire which are oftentimes ill-aligned with any stats or even the eye test.
If you were to look in the comments section of a random football-related post on social media (within the realms of reasonability), you are more likely than not to see someone mentioning Maguire in a degrading manner when he isn't even mentioned in the post.
Social media comments themselves are mostly extraordinary in their imprecision too, with one Twitter user trying to argue that Maguire was deficient at the Euros and would watch every England game back to prove their point. A reminder: he made the team of the tournament - they will have been in for a nasty surprise.
Also fuelled by online agenda, still spreading like a wildfire, there has grown excessive, unnecessary fixation on the captaincy at United. The narrative that Maguire isn't enough of a leader seems to have emerged from nowhere. How are people deciphering that he doesn't bear such qualities when they clearly don't have access to the dressing room?
There is probably rationality behind the idea that the captaincy bears weight on him, but people aren't to know that for a fact. Whilst he has the armband, he should be given nothing but backing from fans for his position as captain. He wouldn't have the armband without a valid reason.
Nobody should resort to booing players merely because you render them unfit for purpose or out of sorts. Maguire has never done anything to disrespect his club or country, thus jeers - and the cheers when he was withdrawn against Atletico Madrid - are outright unnecessary.
It really has grown staggering that so many agenda-driven people have had their views distorted to the extent that they hold adamance that Maguire is a genuinely bad player; he has more often than not proven his worth for club and country, as much as people don’t seem to want to believe so.
It is obviously no secret that he has underperformed this season, but his substandard level should be attributed to nothing more than a vein of poor form. Booing and showering abuse at him is hardly going to accelerate any upward trajectory from his current lull. It is not going to solve any problems and is, to be frank, mindless.
Unfortunately, it seems there has been a neglection in the education of the virtue of support.
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