Manchester United captain Harry Maguire’s tumultuous relationship with fans continues as boos from spectators cast a shadow on their 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace in their pre-season friendly in Melbourne.
Maguire who drew the ire of United fans last season following a string of poor results was confirmed as team skipper for the upcoming season by new manager Erik ten Hag, who plans to partner the England international in central defense with £57m new signing Lisandro Martinez.
However, as evidenced some fans among the 76,499 crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, they did not share that faith in the retention of the defender and had let it be known
United midfielder Donny van de Beek showed support for his teammate amidst his debacle: “I didn’t know really what happened. But if I saw the game today, I think Harry was playing really well.”
“He was aggressive, he got so many balls, so that means he has a big personality. He has a lot of experience, so I think that’s positive what he [showed], his performance today.”
Aside from the bitter reception to McGuire players who had no such issues were the goals scorers. Anthony Martial Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were all on the scoresheet for the Red Devils.
Both Martial and Rashford have found a renewed form under ten Haag thus far scoring in back-to-back games Martial netting in three straight games on tour. Despite United going down to 10-men losing Will fish in the 84th minute, they were able to hold for the win
Joel Ward got the Palace’s consolation goal as they suffered their second successive loss in Preseason having gone down 2-0 to Liverpool last week in Singapore.
