Maguire gets mad and gets even better.

Harry Maguire is one of the more sanguine footballers you could meet. He’s instantly likeable, and rarely prone to anger, even in the fray of a hugely competitive game. So the Maguire ire was very real when he reacted to Kai Havertz’s dive to nick a penalty at the Emirates. Lip-readers had a field day with Maguire’s verdict on the tumbling Arsenal player. Maguire either called Havertz a “cheating sh*thouse” or a “cheating sh*tbag”. Either way, the point was emphatically made. Simulation offends honest pros like Maguire. The Manchester United centre-back was performing well even before Havertz’s dive but he seemed to move into full defiant mode, especially when United went down to 10 with Diogo Dalot dismissed. Maguire dominated Havertz in the air, winning his headers. He intercepted, blocking five shots, and his passing was simple and effective. He was immense.

Harry Maguire. Photo: Charlotte Wilson/Offside via Getty Images.

Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system suits Maguire, especially with mobile midfielders like Manuel Ugarte offering extra protection to the defence. Maguire works well in a three, less prone to being isolated by a quick striker, and best when he can sit deeper. Maguire’s tough mentally and a great role model for others at United who might have lost their place, their way or their confidence. Maguire cares about his individual performance and he cares about the team. In a team short on leaders, Maguire stands even taller.

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Kai Havertz is not to blame for Arsenal not having a centre-forward. The club are. Many Arsenal fans always felt the sort of sum they paid for Havertz - £65m to Chelsea - should have been spent on a No 9. Havertz has some devotees, and they invariably message on social media when he scores, adding that he settled a Champions League final. Havertz has managed 26 goals in 78 games for Arsenal but of his 12 this season, only one has come against elite opposition (Paris St-Germain). He’s not a predator, not a warrior who intimidates defences and certainly not an elite-level serial scorer. He’s more finesse than finish. He does his best work ghosting from deeper positions. Havertz undeniably had a poor game against Manchester United, including that dive that outraged Harry Maguire, a missed sitter and a saved penalty. But he does not deserve to be scapegoated by the more volatile fringes of the Arsenal fanbase for their side’s failure to take their chances. The abuse that Havertz and his pregnant wife Sophia have received is disgraceful. “I hope you have a miscarriage,” read one message to Sophia on Instagram. What sort of people send messages like that? Social media companies need to do more to stop such hateful posts.

Havertz’s confidence is bruised anyway, and will surely drop even more after this abuse. Havertz could reflect on how Granit Xhaka won Arsenal fans back after his contretemps with them in 2019. Whether Havertz possesses Xhaka’s fortitude is another matter. He needs to toughen up, and stay up on his feet more, and Arsenal need to buy a finisher.

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Replay it again, Tam? Sadly no. The Football Association’s decision to surrender to the Premier League over FA Cup replays was always controversial and the damage inflicted on the world’s oldest football competition was shown at The Lamb yesterday. In one of the great 90-minute performances, non-League Tamworth held Premier League Tottenham Hotspur. Previously, Tamworth would have had a replay at Spurs’ magnificent stadium, a memorable day out, and an estimated £800,000 payday. Not now. Not yesterday. The tie went to extra time and the inevitable: Spurs’ superior fitness levels and reinforcements from the bench (Djed Spence, Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min) gave them the edge and a 3-0 extra-time victory over the amateurs. Some of the romance of the Cup died in an FA committee room. The third round of the Cup was always one of the epic days of the English sporting calendar but it has been tilted further in the elite clubs’ favour. A fairer way might have been going straight to penalties at 90 minutes. That would have given Tamworth more of a chance.

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Every time David Brooks has a good game for Bournemouth or Wales the heart lifts. Brooks recovered from Stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma, diagnosed in 2021, so every game is a gift, in a way, and one that he seizes fully. Brooks’ performance in Bournemouth’s 5-1 defeat of West Bromwich Albion was one of his best since returning to the game in 2023. His approach work led to Justin Kluivert’s far-post finish, clever through-ball brought Dango Ouatarra’s second and Brooks also set up Antoine Semenyo’s goal with a sublime pass. Brooks’ choice – and weight - of pass around the box is invariably intelligent. Talk of his leaving the Vitality is surely hasty.

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Kyle Walker has won six titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League in 319 games for Manchester City, and sits 22^nd on their all-time appearance list. He embarrasses himself at times off the field, but excels on it. But Walker’s mantra of “no one will ever beat me” now looks outdated. Time has beaten him. At 34, the famous speed is no longer fully there, nor the hunger to win. It’s time he left City before those realities are more exposed. Rico Lewis is more than ready to step up at right-back. Walker’s right to leave but, as he heads off, he deserves acclaim as a City great. That will mean so much to someone sensitive about how he is rated.

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Rio Ngumoha made a promising debut for Liverpool against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup on Saturday. The 18-year-old’s positivity, especially in the first half, will have raised some smiles, and maybe elicited a few sighs, at Chelsea’s academy where the attacker spent eight years. Chelsea were certainly unhappy at losing Ngumoha to Liverpool last year. But if the player felt his pathway was more open at Liverpool, and he was desperate to play, then his move made sense. Ngumoha could have been forgiven for looking around the Premier League, even Europe, and seen the number of Chelsea academy alumni flourishing elsewhere, including Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori, Tino Livramento, Tammy Abraham, Billy Gilmour, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Declan Rice, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Omari Hutchinson, Lewis Hall, Ian Maatsen, Conor Gallagher, Trevoh Chalobah, Andreas Christensen, Nathan Ake, Dominic Solanke and Ola Aina. That’s around £500m+ worth of talent.

Chelsea’s academy has some exceptional coaches, who develop good players, but too few are given a run at the first team because of the club’s lavish recruitment. Reece James managed it but is sadly too often held back by injury. Solanke would get in Chelsea’s current XI. So would Guehi and Ake, probably Tino Livramento in James’ place. Hall or Marc Cucurella? Probably Cucurella – just - for now but Hall develops quickly with more minutes at Newcastle United. Would Ngumoha have made his debut already at Chelsea? Enzo Maresca has such a big squad of signings that even the Cups, traditionally an opportunity to assess young talent, have to be used to give big names some games.

Of Chelsea’s 20-strong squad to face Morecambe at the weekend, only three were academy: James, Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong, the teenaged defender who remained on the bench but, in fairness, has been given a chance by Maresca. George has also featured in the Europa Conference League. Will George and Acheampong make it at Chelsea? Good luck to them but the odds are against. At least if they do move on, Chelsea will cash in on their talent – and the hard work of academy coaches.

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Solly March had played 10 minutes since returning from 429 days out injured when the big chance came. He’d played seven minutes in Brighton & Hove Albion’s stalemate against Brentford, missing one opportunity, and been on the field for three minutes against Norwich City when he expertly finished with an exquisite left-footed shot. March underwent two operations to repair a ruptured cruciate ligament and damage to the meniscus, then 14 months’ rehab, so that goal will have felt particularly sweet.

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It was so cold at the weekend that a couple of kids were playing ice hockey on a frost-covered football cage off the Holloway Road 200 yards from the Emirates. Stay warm and enjoy the week…