Harry Maguire Booed During Manchester United's Pre-Season Fixture Against Crystal Palace

Manchester United continued their hot streak in pre-season during the their Crystal Palace fixture in Melbourne.

In their second of two fixtures at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after a 4-1 win over Melbourne Victory, Anthony Martial opened the scoring with his third goal in as many games.

The score was then doubled by Marcus Rashford, before Jadon Sancho added a third.

Palace pulled one back through Joel Ward, however it was in vein as Manchester United yet again won under Erik ten Hag in pre-season.

Despite this, one cloud that hung over the opening half of the fixture was that boos could be heard ringing around the stadium whenever Manchester United captain Harry Maguire touched the ball.

It did not help that in the opening few moments of the game, Maguire misplaced a pass that led to the ball going out of play.

His actual performance during the fixture was fine for a player who’d only played a single half of football so far in the summer, playing some good passes and generally facilitating Ten Hag’s desired style of play.

There were moments where he made important blocks, most notably to deny Rak-Sakyi in the 27th minute, and held his back line well.

As the fixture continued, the booing started to shift into cheers as it was recognised that the performance he put in was a positive one.

In the 41st minute, Maguire took a stinging shot towards goal, and although his strike was ultimately off target, it was met with loud applause as the crowd showed support for the No.5.

The boos could continue to be heard into the beginning of the second half, although they were much milder than in the first 45 minutes. By the time Jadon Sancho slotted the third goal home, all had been forgotten by the crowd.

The controversy surrounding Harry Maguire started from the moment he first joined Manchester United.

Signing for a fee of £80 million in the summer of 2019, he was made captain of the club in February of that season, with many claiming that it was the wrong move to captain a player who had only just signed for the club.

The player continued to have a mixture of form throughout his first season, and although at points he played some incredible matches, there have been moments where the defender has played poor performances, which was a consistent theme throughout the squad last season.

"I don't know where that sort of thing comes from, why they have to boo him," club legend Bryan Robson commented to MUTV during half-time.

Erik ten Hag has spoken on Maguire, stating "I will support him everywhere I can. In the end, he has to do it by himself and he has the qualities to do it.

"He has showed it so often in the past. I always see the captaincy as an issue that I dictate."

"The team building for me is an important point and I always talk about a group of leaders. The captain is a really important one and I’m happy with him."