Harry Maguire had a challenging start to the game against Nottingham Forest, surviving a scare for a penalty that Forest boss Steve Cooper believes should have been awarded. The central defender was named in the Manchester United side at the City Ground following an injury suffered by Lisandro Martinez earlier in the week.
Maguire found himself in trouble just three minutes into the contest when he hauled down Forest forward Taiwo Awoniyi, who appeared to be through on goal. Due to the rather blatant nature of the challenge, Maguire picked up a yellow card and was then on the receiving end of stick from the Forest supporters who humorously called him a ‘Leicester reject’. Maguire shone for Forest’s midlands rivals, Leicester, between 2017 and 2019 after joining from Hull City. In that time, he made 76 appearances for the Foxes before moving to Man United in a deal worth an estimated £80million.
Maguire’s afternoon almost got even worse after he appeared to handle the ball in the penalty area, leading to calls for a spot-kick. However, the England defender breathed a sigh of relief as he escaped unpunished, despite a VAR check. On the incident, Forest boss Cooper said: “I think it is [a penalty], I don’t think it’s debatable either. But how VAR have not seen it is difficult to take, really. I’m not going to talk here and say that’s why we haven’t won today, we’ve still scored the second penalty and it could even have been a second yellow card for Harry Maguire so it could’ve been a game changer. I don’t think referees at this level can make mistakes like that and the same with the VAR as well.”
Despite the tough start, Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag praised Maguire for his resolve in a match Man United went on to win 2-0. Ten Hag said: “It was not easy for Harry Maguire but he dealt with it [yellow card] very well. I believe we are the team with the most clean sheets in the Premier League (14) so we know if we defend as a team, we’re focused and we bring a solid performance we are good at it.”