Jamie Carragher believes that Manchester United defender Harry Maguire finds it easier to play for England due to the slower pace of international football.
The Three Lions pulled off an impressive 6-2 victory over Iran on their World Cup debut in Qatar with Maguire earning plaudits for his performance.
“I think the fact that it’s a slower pace would say that at international level it helps Harry Maguire,” Carragher said in his Sky Sports News column.
“He will be disappointed with the goal, of course,” he said of Mehdi Taremi’s first goal.
“He got a little too tight with his finishing man, but you’re glad when he came out it was just sickness.”
Maguire’s importance to England on the international stage is in stark contrast to his form at club level, where the United captain has lost his place to the summer signing of Lisandro Martinez.
For Carragher, a combination of slower play when playing against nations, England’s general lack of alternatives in his position and Maguire’s threat from set pieces are the factors that keep him key in Gareth Southgate’s plans.
“I think the fact that Harry Maguire and John Stones are together, Stones has been playing a lot of right-back for Man City this season, while Harry Maguire has been in and out of the Man United team, they are still the best pairing for England. That shows that strength in depth in the center of defense may not be what we want, so it’s imperative that we get Harry Maguire back on the pitch.
“You look at the last World Cup, we had such success on set pieces and Maguire was a big part of that. Every time the ball goes in, if it’s anywhere around you, you feel like there’s a good chance something is going to happen – he should have taken a penalty in that first game.
“That’s really where England have excelled in the last two tournaments in terms of set pieces, especially four years ago, so if England want to do well again in this tournament, you’re going to need set pieces and they looked really on point. in that”. first game, so hopefully he can continue.”
With England facing the USA tonight, Southgate will again be relying on Maguire as England look to record their first competitive victory over the Americans.
He did well to set up Bukayo Saka with a knockdown to double England’s lead against Iran and will hope to offer a similar threat today.
With the exception of the mistake mentioned by Carragher on Taremi’s opening goal, Maguire looked solid defensively, although it could be argued that with Iran seeing only 22% of possession, he had little to do.
