‘Not even an April Fools’ – Hojlund humiliated by damning Maguire stat as Man Utd fans demand centre-back plays up front

HARRY MAGUIRE tormented Nottingham Forest with his late cameo – then did the same to team-mate Rasmus Hojlund with a shock stat.

Boss Ruben Amorim brought on Maguire UP FRONT in the 88th minute as Manchester United battled in vain to cancel out Anthony Elanga’s winner.

AFP

Harry Maguire caused late chaos but to no avail[/caption]

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Sub Maguire spent nearly all his time on the pitch in the box[/caption]

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Rasmus Hojlund looked suitably gloomy after firing blanks in a 1-0 loss[/caption]

The England centre-back caused moments of chaos as he planted himself in Forest’s box to help create a frantic finale.

And although Maguire couldn’t find a leveller, he did enough for many Red Devils’ fans to claim he should stay in attack for the rest of the season.

That was a damning indictment on two United strikers in particular.

Joshua Zirkzee was hauled off after 66 minutes – replaced by forgotten midfielder Mason Mount.

And £72million buy Hojlund, a half-time replacement for Manuel Ugarte, fared equally poorly.

Then came a statistic that might have left even Amorim open-mouthed with surprise.

X account The xPhilosophy posted: “Harry Maguire accumulated more xG in Added Time against Nott’m Forest than Rasmus Hojlund has in his last 15 appearances.”

XG means expected goals – so in other words Maguire got in more inviting positions in just a few minutes than natural forward Hojlund has in months.

Rex

Starting striker Joshua Zirkzee had few opportunities for United[/caption]

Amazingly Maguire foused ALL his energy inside the Forest box

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One fan responded: “Not even an April Fools.”

Another said: “Keep Maguire up front until the end of the season. Better than our alternatives.”

Hojlund spent more time outside the box than in it

And a third claimed: “(Alejandro) Garnacho was our only threat tonight. Maguire was more of a threat then Zirkzee and Hojlund combined.”

A fourth argued: “Maguire has legit been the best striker we’ve had this game.”

In fact, it was difficult to hear a word against Maguire – or any in favour of Hojlund or Zirkzee.

“Maguire did more than our attackers,” one supporter insisted.

Another found that thought distressing as he wrote: “Maguire being our best striker right now is hurting my soul.”

And this viewer was just as critical of United’s normal strikeforce: “Maguire gave us more of an attacking threat in 6 mins than any of our forwards all game, that just shows you just how bad our attackers are.”

A few fans even resorted to sarcastic jibes at the toothless Red Devils.

One posted: “United weren’t bad – apart from the minor detail of trying to score a goal. But when Harry Maguire comes on in stoppage time and looks like the biggest threat, that neatly sums it all up.”

Joshua Zirkzee had few touches in the danger area