Erik ten Hag's first major call as Man Utd manager labelled "a poor move"

Erik Ten Hag's decision to stick with Harry Maguire as captain of Manchester United has been branded 'a poor move'.

That's the verdict of former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore, a man who well knows the value of leadership figures in the dressing-room after playing alongside some of the best captains of his era in Stuart Pearce, Ian Rush and John Barnes.

Collymore said: "Erik ten Hag's decision to keep Harry Maguire as captain just keeps the pressure on the defender. He could have gone young and given it to Scott McTominay. If Cristiano Ronaldo ends up staying, he could have given it to him as the senior head and the totem.

"Or, and this is who I'd have handed it to, he could have given it to David De Gea. To be fair, at the minute, the last thing United need to be doing is worrying about a captain.

"They could give it to the kit man in terms of the good it would do. But in terms of giving it to Maguire, it's simply giving more fodder to people who want to criticise the club when results aren't going their way.

"He still has the court situation hanging over him, he's still a toxic figure amongst a lot of United fans. And with those two factors in mind, Ten Hag should have just let him play, just let him be a centre-half and given it to the goalie.

"So it's a poor move from the new boss because all it does is put more pressure on Maguire. Unless he's convinced Maguire, from what he has seen already, is ready this season to smash it out of the park, but I just don't believe that could be the case.

"And it's one thing sticking with a captain who has just enjoyed a really good season, another altogether going into a pivotal season for Manchester United with a captain who had a really, really bad time last time out."

Collymore added: "At Forest, we had Stuart Pearce, at Aston Villa it was Gareth Southgate and Steve Staunton, and Andy Townsend was captain of his country. At Liverpool, it was a case of, 'Take your pick — Ian Rush, John Barnes…' It's really important, particularly if you're in flux, that you have strong voices, and the voices of Barnes and Pearce were very strong at times when things weren't going so well.

"Stuart called a meeting in a pub when we had a disappointing start to our first season back in the Premier League and it turned the season on its head. And I remember John saying training wasn't good enough one day and leading the players off the training ground.

"You need a big voice in the dressing room and it helps when that someone is on the back of a really good season. There aren't many of them at United, of course, but De Gea would be the most obvious choice.

"He is a senior international, he has been there a long time and, as a keeper, you're not involved in the action anywhere near as much as a central defender, who could well be error-prone."