[mazhar13]

Given that Blind played in a 3-man midfield, why should he be adventurous as the deepest midfielder of the 3. Rooney was supposed to be our dictator from midfield, but he was poor in dictating our tempo and rhythm along with being poor in his passing, overall. How can one really criticise Blind for not being adventurous in his passing, especially when we were down to 10 men and had one less attacker on the pitch?

To me, he's a very good defensive midfielder, and I've been really impressed by him so far. He's great at recovering from situations; his positioning is excellent; he's great at retaining possession and providing an option to central defenders; and he's good at filling in for our out-of-position defenders.

I think he has the potential to be a very good defensive midfielder if not world class. He's made an instant impact for us as a defensive midfielder, and he was the sort of player we badly missed in the past several seasons.

 

[Annahnomoss]

Given that Blind played in a 3-man midfield, why should he be adventurous as the deepest midfielder of the 3. Rooney was supposed to be our dictator from midfield, but he was poor in dictating our tempo and rhythm along with being poor in his passing, overall. How can one really criticise Blind for not being adventurous in his passing, especially when we were down to 10 men and had one less attacker on the pitch?

To me, he's a very good defensive midfielder, and I've been really impressed by him so far. He's great at recovering from situations; his positioning is excellent; he's great at retaining possession and providing an option to central defenders; and he's good at filling in for our out-of-position defenders.

I think he has the potential to be a very good defensive midfielder if not world class. He's made an instant impact for us as a defensive midfielder, and he was the sort of player we badly missed in the past several seasons.

He's already starting to look brilliant to be honest. He does exactly what LVG asks for him, nothing less and more importantly - nothing more. He has tackling and interception stats which are better than Carrick ever had in the league. His decision making on when to step forward and press and win the ball back or force some extra passes from the opponents to kill their counter - and when to just fall back - is world class.

Can't think of a defensive midfielder who does that thing in particular better than him right now.

 

[Kostur]

Yup, this whole criticism of him not playing this or that kind of ball is rather cringeworthy and simply deflecting all the blame away from Rooney ( because out of the trio that played against City you'd think that he's the man that's meant to take the play forward and dictate the tempo ).

 

[blitz133w]

Look at how much our distribution has improved with this guy in the field. Very confident on the ball and the defenders don't hoof the ball as much as before. They have belief in Blind and pass the ball to him. Along with all of this his interception and positioning is top notch. Loving this guy already

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yup, this whole criticism of him not playing this or that kind of ball is rather cringeworthy and simply deflecting all the blame away from Rooney ( because out of the trio that played against City you'd think that he's the man that's meant to take the play forward and dictate the tempo ).

How did you work that out? If he had footage of Rooney not playing the right pass in the same situation he would have used it.

The fact he had so few examples to use says more about Van Persie than it does about any of the players who were supposed to be supplying him.

 

[sincher]

He's already starting to look brilliant to be honest. He does exactly what LVG asks for him, nothing less and more importantly - nothing more. He has tackling and interception stats which are better than Carrick ever had in the league. His decision making on when to step forward and press and win the ball back or force some extra passes from the opponents to kill their counter - and when to just fall back - is world class.

Can't think of a defensive midfielder who does that thing in particular better than him right now.

'He does what LVG asks for him, nothing less and more importantly - nothing more.' Wow - BRILLIANT!

 

[Adebesi]

If there's one thing that pisses Van Gaal off its when his players do more than is asked of them.

 

[Kostur]

How did you work that out? If he had footage of Rooney not playing the right pass in the same situation he would have used it.

The fact he had so few examples to use says more about Van Persie than it does about any of the players who were supposed to be supplying him.

Not exactly what I meant, it's not down just to Neville's analysis. It's more down to the fact that in the midfield trio we've got against City you can clearly see the three roles given there: box to box Fellaini, #6 Blind and something around #10 Rooney. If people expect Blind to be more adventurous with his passing ( not just this one pass that he didn't make to RVP ) then they need to be reminded that he's pretty much shielding our defence and we shall not forget what a pile of shit he's in front.

When the last obstacle that's in front of our shit defense is going to start playing more risky passes then we're going to get absolutely destroyed by opposition. He simply has to play it safe and it's down to Rooney/Mata ( in this kind of formation ) to take care of those risky passes that will get our striker on goal.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Not exactly what I meant, it's not down just to Neville's analysis. It's more down to the fact that in the midfield trio we've got against City you can clearly see the three roles given there: box to box Fellaini, #6 Blind and something around #10 Rooney. If people expect Blind to be more adventurous with his passing ( not just this one pass that he didn't make to RVP ) then they need to be reminded that he's pretty much shielding our defence and we shall not forget what a pile of shit he's in front.

When the last obstacle that's in front of our shit defense is going to start playing more risky passes then we're going to get absolutely destroyed by opposition. He simply has to play it safe and it's down to Rooney/Mata ( in this kind of formation ) to take care of those risky passes that will get our striker on goal.

Ok, yeah. Agree with all of that.

 

[2mufc0]

Can he play centre back?

With Carrick back and he looked good against City he should be playing in the midfield but at the same time Blind doesn't deserve to be dropped.

 

[Adebesi]

Good question. Id rather see Carrick back there though, he is more experienced and will be better placed to organise the others at the back IMO.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Good question. Id rather see Carrick back there though, he is more experienced and will be better placed to organise the others at the back IMO.

A good few inches taller too, right?

 

[Adebesi]

Blind has lovely hair. Not strictly relevant but I thought Id throw that out there. With him in the team Woodward should be out there looking for a hair products partner.

 

[RedorDead21]

If there's one thing that pisses Van Gaal off its when his players do more than is asked of them.

Well Fergie kicked that excessive workrate and endeavour out of Rooney!

 

[Brophs]

Blind has lovely hair. Not strictly relevant but I thought Id throw that out there. With him in the team Woodward should be out there looking for a hair products partner.

My missus has been away so the match at the weekend was the first one she's seen this season. Her first comment when Blind came on the screen was "Who is he?" I take it she's a fan.

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

I don't think anyone has said he's at that level, he's just a similar type of player.

And there's a big difference with what he, busquets or players like him do. They sit in front of the back four and pick the ball up off them and pass the ball around everywhere. It's about having the intelligence to play the right pass and he's definitely shown that. Not to mention he has good positioning so picks up loose balls a lot and gets tackles in too. What cleverley did, and what he got bashed for, was always just playing pointless passes. He just wasn't good enough all around and he never had any intent in his passing. He wasn't playing the role that blind is, he was always a more attacking role that required more creativity in his passing, he just never had it.

Ok fair enough, but I still can't see Blind being a long term solution at CDM, we need much much more from someone playing in that position. Just keeping play ticking isn't enough. We need some drive, physicality and long passes from deep, something like what Ferdnando does for City. He was pretty much signed last minute anyway so I don't think LVG see's him long term either. I think LVG wants to try Strootman in that position if he regains fitness, which I think would benefit the team more.

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Neville is speaking lots of nonsense these days in short.

 

[Hed Zitin]

Neville has proven himself to be quite the idiot over the past 12 months.

What makes it worse is Ingurlands Gary Neville said sod all about Cleverley on this issue even when he had far more license to be more creative than Blind has.

 

[mazhar13]

Ok fair enough, but I still can't see Blind being a long term solution at CDM, we need much much more from someone playing in that position. Just keeping play ticking isn't enough. We need some drive, physicality and long passes from deep, something like what Ferdnando does for City. He was pretty much signed last minute anyway so I don't think LVG see's him long term either. I think LVG wants to try Strootman in that position if he regains fitness, which I think would benefit the team more.

If we were playing a midfield 2, with a number 9 and number 9.5 as our forwards, then your comment would have been fair.

However, we've been playing a midfield 3 ever since van Gaal came in. In a midfield 3, we have two players who can offer that forward drive with at least one of them offering some physicality and the other/both having the ability to dictate play from midfield. As a result, our 3rd midfielder will most likely be someone protecting the defence and providing the rest the freedom to play their game. If this 3rd midfielder plays a more risky game, how will the attacking players play at their best if they have no assured protection?

Having said that, if we have Carrick anchor our defence with Blind beside him and Herrera ahead of them, then you should expect more drive and forward play from Blind. However, as our deepest midfielder protecting our defence, you shouldn't want him to be too risky in his game.

 

[jem]

His use of English is so fecking obtuse at press conferences I do wonder how he gets his message across at training. I come away utterly confused about this philosophy based on what he's saying in interviews to the press, so feck knows what intellectual heavyweights like Smalling, Jones and Rooney are taking home from his briefings. I really hope he's speaking in Dutch and using someone who is fluent in both languages to translate.

Yet another reason why Blind is so useful.

 

[Adebesi]

And another reason why Van Gaal was so keen to keep "The Translator" around at Barca all those years ago.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Ok fair enough, but I still can't see Blind being a long term solution at CDM, we need much much more from someone playing in that position. Just keeping play ticking isn't enough. We need some drive, physicality and long passes from deep, something like what Ferdnando does for City. He was pretty much signed last minute anyway so I don't think LVG see's him long term either. I think LVG wants to try Strootman in that position if he regains fitness, which I think would benefit the team more.

Blind completes 3.6 long balls/90 mins and Fernando only 2.2. Blind's avg. pass length is 19m compared to Fernando's 15m and Blind passes forwards more often. Fernando's passing is limited and was the biggest criticism of his game from Portuguese league watchers on here. Fernando's passing ability is certainly not something we need. His physicality isn't giving him much advantage to his defensive game either as Blind beats him in everything. Blind has 5.8 tackles+intercepetions/90 minutes to Fernando's 4.1, Blind makes more than twice as many clearances and Blind is more successful in 50/50 duels as well. Blind is pretty much better than Fernando at everything.

 

[Cassidy]

Blind completes 3.6 long balls/90 mins and Fernando only 2.2. Blind's avg. pass length is 19m compared to Fernando's 15m and Blind passes forwards more often. Fernando's passing is limited and was the biggest criticism of his game from Portuguese league watchers on here. Fernando's passing ability is certainly not something we need. His physicality isn't giving him much advantage to his defensive game either as Blind beats him in everything. Blind has 5.8 tackles+intercepetions/90 minutes to Fernando's 4.1, Blind makes more than twice as many clearances and Blind is more successful in 50/50 duels as well. Blind is pretty much better than Fernando at everything.

Its a common misconception that all Blind does it sit in front of the back 4 and mop things up. If you watch the games we have played well in/one. Blind is usually at the start of most of our successful attacks, finding the front men up the pitch with his passing. I'm not saying he has some fantastic range of passing, but his passing does seem to be somewhat underrated.

 

[RedStarUnited]

Blind completes 3.6 long balls/90 mins and Fernando only 2.2. Blind's avg. pass length is 19m compared to Fernando's 15m and Blind passes forwards more often. Fernando's passing is limited and was the biggest criticism of his game from Portuguese league watchers on here. Fernando's passing ability is certainly not something we need. His physicality isn't giving him much advantage to his defensive game either as Blind beats him in everything. Blind has 5.8 tackles+intercepetions/90 minutes to Fernando's 4.1, Blind makes more than twice as many clearances and Blind is more successful in 50/50 duels as well. Blind is pretty much better than Fernando at everything.

Love it when its all laid out like that.

Perception Vs Reality.

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

Blind completes 3.6 long balls/90 mins and Fernando only 2.2. Blind's avg. pass length is 19m compared to Fernando's 15m and Blind passes forwards more often. Fernando's passing is limited and was the biggest criticism of his game from Portuguese league watchers on here. Fernando's passing ability is certainly not something we need. His physicality isn't giving him much advantage to his defensive game either as Blind beats him in everything. Blind has 5.8 tackles+intercepetions/90 minutes to Fernando's 4.1, Blind makes more than twice as many clearances and Blind is more successful in 50/50 duels as well. Blind is pretty much better than Fernando at everything.

Hmm, I've watched both this season and Fernando has clearly been the better player. Fernando was also performing much better against us prior to the sending off. Those Stats are impressive but Fernando still looks the better player for me.

 

[Cassidy]

Hmm, I've watched both this season and Fernando has clearly been the better player. Fernando was also performing much better against us prior to the sending off. Those Stats are impressive but Fernando still looks the better player for me.

I watched a game recently, maybe it was against Villa can't remember but Fernando had a complete mare. He has played well this season though I admit, but I don't think its clear cut that hes been better than Blind.

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

I watched a game recently, maybe it was against Villa can't remember but Fernando had a complete mare. He has played well this season though I admit, but I don't think its clear cut that hes been better than Blind.

Yeah, I'll admit Blind has some pretty impressive stats but I don't really look into those any more when looking at players. Apparently Rooney is better than Aguero if you wanna go by stats.

 

[Cassidy]

Yeah, I'll admit Blind has some pretty impressive stats but I don't really look into those any more when looking at players. Apparently Rooney is better than Aguero if you wanna go by stats.

I mentioned nothing about stats...

 

[girish]

Nothing on his performance today? I thought he did rather well, especially bringing the ball out from the back.

 

[Sam]

Am I the only one that thought he looked more comfortable as the left centre back, then Rojo has all season?

 

[Insanity]

Am I the only one that thought he looked more comfortable as the left centre back, then Rojo has all season?

No. And the way he brought out the ball is what is needed. Both Rojo and Blackett don't seem to have that ability.

 

[RuudTom83]

Another decent performance, his abilty to put in good performances every week without any drama is a blessing when those around him can't stay fit for more than 90 minutes.

If only Smalling and Jones could learn from him...intelligence is a valuable asset to have as a player.

 

[Devil may care]

Did fine, thankfully Palace offered very little in attack but him and McNair certainly bring the ball out the way LvG likes.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Wasn't tested as much in defense, so looked great but his ball control and passing looked so much more effective once him and Carrick swapped places and he got closer to goal. The difference between Carrick and him is that when Blind takes a shot he means to score rather than just probe because the ball happened to be there.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Also put in one wicked cross in the end, should be taking our corners really instead of Di Maria.

 

[Raees]

He was asked to perform a number of roles today and did his duties admirably. He's like the glue in this side, keeping it altogether at the moment.

 

[DevilRed]

We are definitely much better at keeping the ball because of him. Rarely puts a foot wrong and just gets the job done. Future captain material.

 

[Sonny1972]

His use of English is so fecking obtuse at press conferences I do wonder how he gets his message across at training. I come away utterly confused about this philosophy based on what he's saying in interviews to the press, so feck knows what intellectual heavyweights like Smalling, Jones and Rooney are taking home from his briefings. I really hope he's speaking in Dutch and using someone who is fluent in both languages to translate.

Maybe he speaks spanish and De Gea translates in English ??

 

[KiD MoYeS]

He's our seven out of ten every weekend, no matter where he plays. I really like this lad.

 

[Mark_GrumpyLion]

Considering he played slightly out of position, he played well again. He seems to have a commanding and calm air around him. Future captain, sure of that.