“He’s actually giving them a bit of a breather.”
Tyrone Mings has defended Harry Maguire following ‘ridiculous’ criticism over a supposedly baffling piece of footage from England training.
In the viral clip, a group of England players can be seen partaking in a ‘rondo’ exercise, in which two players in the middle of a circle try to intercept passes between the players standing on the outside.
The section of the video that was clipped and posted to social media shows Maguire bringing the exercise to an end, controlling the ball with two touches, rather than continuing the exercise.
Jordan Henderson’s reacted as if to question his decision to pause the drill, which sent social media into raptures.
😂| Hendo to Maguire during a rondo: ‘What you doin’??’ https://t.co/ybYgIhAfuA
— The Kopite Podcast (@Kopite_Podcast) March 26, 2022
Mings has since come to the defence of the Manchester United captain, offering some context as to why Maguire made that decision. Funnily enough, it wasn’t a matter of his supposed limitations, but a selfless decision to offer those in the middle a breather.
“I think it’s ridiculous really,” Mings told talkSPORT.
“We got to about 45 passes and he stopped the ball and I can only presume, there’s no other reason to stop the ball at that point, it was to give the people in the middle a breather.
“Once you get to 20 passes you are in for another one, so the two that were in there anyway were going to be in for another two when it got to 42, 43.
“He’s actually giving them a bit of a breather to say ‘that’s enough, let’s start again’.
“So to take a negative spin on that just shows people don’t always know what is going on and don’t quite understand the full context of the video.
“But for social media these days the truth is sometimes far less exciting than making something up or sending something viral.”
Maguire has been the focus of much criticism in recent weeks after some sub-par performances at club level, but was still handed an international call-up.
England manager Gareth Southgate explained: “He got us to a World Cup semi‑final and the European Championship final so there’s no doubt he’s more than capable of playing at the highest level.”
