‘Not even an April Fools’ – Hojlund humiliated by damning Maguire stat as Man Utd fans demand centre-back plays up front

HARRY MAGUIRE tormented Nottingham Forest with his late cameo – then did the same to team-mate Rasmus Hojlund with a shock stat.

Boss Ruben Amorim brought on Maguire UP FRONT in the 88th minute as Manchester United battled in vain to cancel out Anthony Elanga's winner.

The England centre-back caused moments of chaos as he planted himself in Forest's box to help create a frantic finale.

And although Maguire couldn't quite find a leveller, he did enough for many Red Devils' fans to claimt he should stay in attack for the rest of the season.

That was a damning indictment on two United strikers in particular.

Joshua Zirkzee was hauled off after 66 minutes – replaced by forgotten midfielder Mason Mount.

And £72million buy Hojlund, a half-time replacement for Manuel Ugarte, fared equally poorly.

Then came a statistic on social media that might have left even Amorim open-mouthed with surprise.

X account The xPhilosophyposted: “Harry Maguire accumulated more xG in Added Time against Nott’m Forest than Rasmus Hojlund has in his last 15 appearances.”

XG means expected goals – in other words, the revelation that defender Maguire got in more inviting positions in just a few minutes than natural forward Hojlund has in months.

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One fan responded: “Not even an April Fools.”

Another said: “Keep Maguire up front until the end of the season. Better than our alternatives.”

And a third claimed: “(Alejandro)Garnacho was our only threat tonight. Maguire was more of a threat then Zirkzee and Hojlund combined.”

A fourth argued: “Maguire has legit been the best striker we've had this game.”

In fact, it was difficult to hear a word against Maguire – or any in favour of Hojlund or Zirkzee.

“Maguire did more than our attackers,” one supporter insisted.

Another found that thought distressing as he wrote: “Maguire being our best striker right now is hurting my soul.”

And this viewer was just as critical of United's normal strikeforce: “Maguire gave us more of an attacking threat in 6 mins than any of our forwards all game, that just shows you just how bad our attackers are.”

A few supporters were even reduced to sarcastic jibes at the toothless Red Devils.

One fan posted: “United weren’t bad tonight – apart from the minor detail of trying to score a goal. But when Harry Maguire comes on in stoppage time and looks like the biggest threat, that neatly sums it all up.”