He was hiding – Ashley Williams slams Harry Maguire for disappointing performance against Newcastle United

Former Everton and Swansea City center-back Ashley Williams feels Harry Maguire was hiding and didn’t give proper support to goalkeeper Andre Onana after their 1-0 loss against Newcastle United at St James Park on Sunday.

Anthony Gordon scored the only goal of the match as he found the back of the net in the 55th minute. Newcastle United dominated the contest with a total of 22 shots whereas the visitors could only take eight shots. Furthermore, the home team had 59% of possession and thus deserved all three points.

Meanwhile, Maguire has been under the pump for his ordinary performances and thus has been kept on the bench. But with injury woes, Ten Hag is forced to play the English defender in the playing XI.

This was United’s sixth league loss of the season as their poor run continued in the Premier League.

Speaking on the YouTube channel Vibe with Five, Williams elaborated: “You know how many times he put himself in a position where he knew, I know that he knows, “I cannot get this ball off [Andre] Onana and I’m leaving him’. That’s what I can’t deal with. As much as I agree with you with the not tracking back… I can’t deal with that.”

“I also can’t deal with the sneaky kind of like, I’m [going] to look like, so how many times you go inside and point to [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka like as if, ‘No, no, give to to Wan-Bissaka and I’ll get it on the next’. He’s hiding, there’s so many accounts of it. That’s why my melon was going when I was watching it.”

“I’m saying everyone’s had to say about him, he’s turned the corner, they’re saying he defended well, fair enough… but what about when Newcastle just pressed high up the pitch? There’s no target man so you can’t bypass the press, you gotta be good and play around the press which they’re not but they tried to do. But you gotta have at least the bottom six trying to get on the ball and help.”

Meanwhile, former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea is close to securing a deal with Newcastle United.

Manchester United will next take on Chelsea at Old Trafford on Wednesday.