I know what Joshua Zirkzee was going through at Manchester United - because I've been there
It was a day of redemption at the Emirates Stadium. Altay Bayindir was the villain last time Manchester United were in north London but emerged as the hero this time. Even his narrative arc was outdone by Joshua Zirkzee, however.
Two weeks after being booed off by his fans at Old Trafford, Zirkzee scored the winning penalty in the shootout to give United a thrilling FA Cup third-round victory against Arsenal. 'Oh, Joshua Zirkzee' rang out from the 7,956 United fans behind the goal where the penalties had been taken.
But there was another hero out there who knows a thing or two about coming back from the dead at United. Harry Maguire was in bed and ill on Friday while his teammates trained at Carrington. Two days later, he lasted 104 minutes and could barely summon the energy to drag himself off the pitch when he was finally withdrawn.
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Maguire, magnificent once again at the heart of the United defence, was given a rousing reception from the away end. The 31-year-old has been outstanding since Ruben Amorim told him it was a "no-brainer" to take the one-year option in his contract.
That didn't always look like being the case. Since the start of last season, Maguire has been getting better and better, but he knew his time at Old Trafford was nearly up when he experienced a couple of seasons of despair.
In September 2023, when United lost 3-1 at Arsenal, Maguire was sarcastically cheered by the Arsenal fans, who saw him as a mistake waiting to happen. The same happened on England duty at Scotland the following month, when the Hampden crowd's cheer saw Maguire put through his own net.
Fans booed him during pre-season games in Melbourne, Las Vegas, and Dublin and had become a figure of fun. Fans up and down the country lampooned him and treated him like some kind of imposter rather than a serial England international that United had paid £80m for.
Maguire was stripped of the captaincy, relegated from being a regular starter, and told he could leave the club. But he didn't give in, and now he is back in the team, a starter for five games in a row and a key part of Amorim's back three.
"There’s no doubt I had a tough year in my third season when Ralf took over, I wasn’t at my best, I knew that," Maguire said after the pulsating win against Arsenal.
"I knew I needed to find something to stay at this club because it demands high standards, and I feel like I’ve found something."
That is a fine example to some United players who find themselves in a similar position. Maguire's dedication, desire, professionalism and refusal to quit got him through the dark times. He knows exactly what Zirkzee is going through after his Newcastle nightmare.
"I’ve had a time for this club where things are tough, and everyone seems to come against you, but one thing’s for sure is that the United fans stick with you. When times were tough, they stuck with me," he said.
"That game against Newcastle, he was the unfortunate one to get subbed off. You could have subbed any of the 11 players off at that moment in time, and they would have all got booed because we all deserved to get booed because we were awful in the first 30 minutes. He was the unfortunate one that the manager seen the tactical nous of it, and Kobbie came on and changed the game that day.
"It had nothing to do really with Josh. He probably knows that, and he probably felt it at the time, even though it was disappointing for him. It’s a great ending today that he scores that winning penalty, and the lads had full faith in him that he does."
Zirkzee wasn't the only United hero. Bayindir conceded four times in the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Tottenham just before Christmas and was at fault for two of them, including conceding directly from a corner.
His kicking was shaky early on at the Emirates, but Bayindir saved Martin Odegaard's penalty in normal time, denied Declan Rice in injury time and then kept out Kai Havertz's effort in the shootout, which ended up being the only penalty missed.
Again, Maguire knows how fortunes can change at United, but he also makes a point about the noise around the club, how the bad days and the good days can be amplified to be worse or better than they actually are. For Maguire, the key is finding that balance within yourself.
"When you play for this club, the lows are really low, and the highs are really high. You’ve got to try and maintain yourself," he said.
"There’s going to be games where you play bad. Those games when you play bad everyone jumps on you. But those games when you play well, you become the best player in your position in the world, so you’ve got to stay grounded, level-headed.
"He [Altay] was brilliant, he made some big saves at some crucial moments. The penalty, if we had gone 2-1 down then it would have been really tough to come back from that. He made a great save from Declan as well late on, but that’s what he’s there to do.
"I’m sure he would have been disappointed with his game against Spurs. We see him day in and day out in training; he can produce quality saves, he’s a good goalkeeper and an experienced goalkeeper, so I’m really pleased for him."
There was pride in the United performance at Arsenal, just as there had been at Anfield a week ago. But they remain 13th in the Premier League ahead of Thursday's Old Trafford clash with Southampton.
Maguire said the league table was "embarrassing" to look at and that it was essential United now repeated those away performances against the big boys against a Saints side sitting bottom, with just six points to their name. Consistency is key.
"We’ve got good, experienced players who’ve had good careers," he said. "We all have the belief that we should be a lot higher in the table. We know that. To be sat where we are in the Premier League, it’s nowhere near good enough for this squad.
"But it’s down to us to change it. We’ve got to go on a little run. You don’t really look after results. You’ve got to look after performances. You can get too wound up looking at results and worrying about results. If the performances are high over a period of time, the results will come, and that’s what we’ve got to maintain."
