Critics have looked less favourably on MacLaren as a captain. When he assumed the leadership of England, the press were reporting on the tactical performance of captains for the first time. MacLaren was among the first captains to study tactics. However, judgements on his effectiveness have varied greatly. For most of his career, he was regarded as an excellent captain. Contemporaries praised his tactical awareness; he planned minutely, and organised his fields extremely carefully to prevent batsmen scoring through blocking their favourite shots, a technique practically unheard of at the time. He liked to alter the batting order, a tactic which often divides critics, although it frequently succeeded for MacLaren. He was less successful in managing his team. Regarded as a pessimist, he openly showed disappointment at the composition of his sides, and became downcast when the course of the match was running against him. Some of those who played under him thought that his sides were unhappy ones which operated without joy and solely concentrated on winning. He encountered many difficulties over selection; he often promoted cricketers whom he considered to show potential and consequently railed against committees which did not provide him with the players he wanted. Down suggests that MacLaren was usually correct, being more experienced and a better judge than most of those who chose the teams. Peter Wynne-Thomas describes MacLaren's approach to selection as "unorthodox", and writes that while his ideas were sometimes successful, they failed badly at other times. Apart from his own failings, MacLaren had a reputation as an unlucky captain, both in terms of losing important players to injury and illness before vital games, and in the frequency with which he lost the toss before a match. Nor was MacLaren particularly popular; in later years, several people for whom he had been a hero changed their opinion once they met him.