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2014-15 Performances


View full 2014-15 profile

6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
29
Clean sheets
9
Goals
2
Assists
3
Yellow cards
4
He was playing next to Fellaini, who had an abysmal game, keep ting giving the ball away and left him exposed. As I say, that's not a failure in Carricks style of play, if you keep losing the ball in stupid areas you're pretty much helpless.
Well at a certain period, later in the match, Fellaini did more work than Carrick. He was actually winning the ball and tried to block balls.
 
Well at a certain period, later in the match, Fellaini did more work than Carrick. He was actually winning the ball and tried to block balls.

It's almost as if you've completely forgotten what I've been saying about why Carrick is so good defensively during this whole debate.
 
It's almost as if you've completely forgotten what I've been saying about why Carrick is so good defensively during this whole debate.
I think it's quite louzy, it looks like its an excuse to doing literally nothing. He didnt influence the game in any point, he got caught out all the time, with that argument, Carrick is never at fault. It was true that we were sloppy, but Carrick didnt do anything and his approach was way to passive.
 
I think it's quite louzy, it looks like its an excuse to doing literally nothing. He didnt influence the game in any point, he got caught out all the time, with that argument, Carrick is never at fault. It was true that we were sloppy, but Carrick didnt do anything and his approach was way to passive.
Ramsey was pretty much anonymous all game bar one shot and eventually was substituted. Coincidence?

Edit: I've also just been reliably informed that Carrick actually made the block which lead to the 2nd goal in this particular game. Interesting stuff.
 
What a non-argument, what about Wilshere and Chambo.
The notion was that Carrick was asked to perform specific duties on Ramsey. No idea why you'd mention Chamberlain when he was playing on the wing. As for Wilshere, he was playing left of centre which is where Fellaini was (or wasn't).

Anyway, we've gone off on enough of a tangent already. I've outlined how Carrick's style of defending is effective regardless of the system, and you've given an inaccurate example of one game that may suggest otherwise, so I'd like to think I've put a stronger case for Carrick being better defensively than Blind.

On the contrary, I like Blind and I think he is very good defensively also, and will only improve with experience. It's a lot more satisfying being able to appreciate to players ability without having to go out of my way to downplay the other, but a decent debate has been turned a bit silly now so we'll leave it there, there's not a lot more I can say on the matter.
 
The notion was that Carrick was asked to perform specific duties on Ramsey. No idea why you'd mention Chamberlain when he was playing on the wing. As for Wilshere, he was playing left of centre which is where Fellaini was (or wasn't).

Anyway, we've gone off on enough of a tangent already. I've outlined how Carrick's style of defending is effective regardless of the system, and you've given an inaccurate example of one game that may suggest otherwise, so I'd like to think I've put a stronger case for Carrick being better defensively than Blind.

On the contrary, I like Blind and I think he is very good defensively also, and will only improve with experience. It's a lot more satisfying being able to appreciate to players ability without having to go out of my way to downplay the other, but a decent debate has been turned a bit silly now so we'll leave it there, there's not a lot more I can say on the matter.
This is not FIFA, man marking isnt part of our game. With all those changes of positions it would be silly to look at the player who's opposite on the line up.

There's not much you've said about Carrick accept for his invisible contribution of whom you havent really given examples. Carrick's best defensive performance was vs City, why dont you give examples of that, where he was actually helping the defence, clearing blocks, intercepting, positioning himself and others.
 
This is not FIFA, man marking isnt part of our game. With all those changes of positions it would be silly to look at the player who's opposite on the line up.

There's not much you've said about Carrick accept for his invisible contribution of whom you havent really given examples. Carrick's best defensive performance was vs City, why dont you give examples of that, where he was actually helping the defence, clearing blocks, intercepting, positioning himself and others.
You do realise man marking is a tactic that is used in every game? Charlton-Beckenbauer in the 60's, Keane-Vieira, Xavi-Pirlo in the 4-0 battering a couple of years ago. Fletcher always used to man mark Lampard when we played Chelsea, there's a few well known examples. You make tactical preferences in order to nullify the opposition, that's just blatantly obvious and if you don't understand such basic aspects of football then it explains why youre completely ignorant to Carricks qualities as a footballer.

In terms of examples, they've already been covered. Carrick comes back, we suddenly stop conceding and start winning games. To reiterate, "you don't understand his influence until he's not there" whys that even a quote? Because the best examples of his defending aren't obvious.

Anyway, the best thing I can present to you is a video Gary Neville does, which is pretty much Carrick for beginners;

 
You do realise man marking is a tactic that is used in every game? Charlton-Beckenbauer in the 60's, Keane-Vieira, Xavi-Pirlo in the 4-0 battering a couple of years ago. Fletcher always used to man mark Lampard when we played Chelsea, there's a few well known examples. You make tactical preferences in order to nullify the opposition, that's just blatantly obvious and if you don't understand such basic aspects of football then it explains why youre completely ignorant to Carricks qualities as a footballer.

In terms of examples, they've already been covered. Carrick comes back, we suddenly stop conceding and start winning games. To reiterate, "you don't understand his influence until he's not there" whys that even a quote? Because the best examples of his defending aren't obvious.

Anyway, the best thing I can present to you is a video Gary Neville does, which is pretty much Carrick for beginners;

Oh and that wasnt because of de Gea saving our ass? We could concede 5 easily vs Liverpool alone and played with 5 defenders. Not fully Carrick's class that's led to that.

I know man marking exist, but it would be laughable to judge a player's performance on the player that was opposite to him in the line up, especially vs Arsenal, they olay such interchanginf football that that's just ridiculous.
 
You do realise man marking is a tactic that is used in every game? Charlton-Beckenbauer in the 60's, Keane-Vieira, Xavi-Pirlo in the 4-0 battering a couple of years ago. Fletcher always used to man mark Lampard when we played Chelsea, there's a few well known examples. You make tactical preferences in order to nullify the opposition, that's just blatantly obvious and if you don't understand such basic aspects of football then it explains why youre completely ignorant to Carricks qualities as a footballer.

In terms of examples, they've already been covered. Carrick comes back, we suddenly stop conceding and start winning games. To reiterate, "you don't understand his influence until he's not there" whys that even a quote? Because the best examples of his defending aren't obvious.

Anyway, the best thing I can present to you is a video Gary Neville does, which is pretty much Carrick for beginners;


Just watched the vid, that's exactly what I was talking about, him closing down the areas, making players unavailable and what Fergie mastered, but vs Arsenal, with those super dynamic players it just didnt work. It would need a superhuman to try and stop Arsenal's dynamic and interchangeable midfield. Their midfielders got the ball easily as it was just too much, even City has struggled to do that. Only Barca in recent years has entirely dominated their midfield, and that was by putting enormous pressure on them.
 
Oh and that wasnt because of de Gea saving our ass? We could concede 5 easily vs Liverpool alone and played with 5 defenders. Not fully Carrick's class that's led to that.

I know man marking exist, but it would be laughable to judge a player's performance on the player that was opposite to him in the line up, especially vs Arsenal, they olay such interchanginf football that that's just ridiculous.

We've been going man for man in every big game this season lmao. Fellaini-Cesc, Rooney-Toure, Carrick-Ramsey. van Gaal did the same in the World Cup, see De Jong-Messi. If you are given a role to nullify the biggest threat of the opposition and you do it successfully, you've had a good game, so long as you haven't done anything ridiculous in possession. I saw another example in the 4141 thread before, Park-Pirlo. Did Park have a good game in your opinion? The only reason they're opposite each other in the team sheet is because they've been placed there for a reason.
 
Just watched the vid, that's exactly what I was talking about, him closing down the areas, making players unavailable and what Fergie mastered, but vs Arsenal, with those super dynamic players it just didnt work. It would need a superhuman to try and stop Arsenal's dynamic and interchangeable midfield. Their midfielders got the ball easily as it was just too much, even City has struggled to do that. Only Barca in recent years has entirely dominated their midfield, and that was by putting enormous pressure on them.
At the risk of repeating myself, again, we gave them the ball under pressure which meant we were unorganised defensively. After the first 30 minutes when we weren't under such pressure they didn't really create anything apart from the goal.
 
I never understand why people compare Blind defensively to Carrick. The latter is always effecting the game due to his immaculate positioning, which is why people say that you don't realise how important he is until he's not there. Blind is a much more "in your face" type of DM. Not in the sense that he puts himself about, but he's a lot more mobile than Carrick and is a able to nip infront of players and intercept the ball when he anticipates passes.

He's not as good as Carrick yet, he gets caught out at times and he hasn't got the passing range, although he's still a very good passer. Carrick is brilliant, and it's exciting to know that Blind will be learning of such an assured midfielder, it bodes well for the future.
Carrick hasn't been brilliant for a long time now. Blind has been one of our best players this season.
 
Carrick hasn't been brilliant for a long time now. Blind has been one of our best players this season.
Incorrect, he had a poor season last season and has come back strong this one. If you have any replies, you can check any of my posts over the last page or 2 for my response.
 
Hilarious.
Would you describe him as brilliant since the last time we won the title?

I'm not even sure whether Carrick not being brilliant is supposed to be seen as a dig at him. He's a very good midfielder and has been great for us over the years. But I wouldn't call his peformances for the last season and a half or more brilliant, although he has been unlucky with injuries at times.
 
Incorrect, he had a poor season last season and has come back strong this one. If you have any replies, you can check any of my posts over the last page or 2 for my response.
He's been alright this season's so far. No offense but I don't care enough to go looking for your previous posts.
 
He's been alright this season's so far. No offense but I don't care enough to go looking for your previous posts.
None taken, it was more a way of me saying I've exhausted my opinion about Carrick/Blind over the last couple of pages and can't really be arsed to go over it again haha.
 
Would you describe him as brilliant since the last time we won the title?

I'm not even sure whether Carrick not being brilliant is supposed to be seen as a dig at him. He's a very good midfielder and has been great for us over the years. But I wouldn't call his peformances for the last season and a half or more brilliant, although he has been unlucky with injuries at times.

Before I answer your question, I am curious to know if you think Blind (in his current form) is better than Carrick (in his prime).
 
Before I answer your question, I am curious to know if you think Blind (in his current form) is better than Carrick (in his prime).
Nah, Carrick was the best midfielder in England the last time we won the league, which was his best season.
 
Nah, Carrick was the best midfielder in England the last time we won the league, which was his best season.

Then fair enough. Perhaps I misinterpreted what you said. While Carrick hasn't been brilliant (by his standards) this season, he has in my opinion, had very good games since his return from injury.(during Blind's absence).

We must after all remember that Carrick has over the years, always had slow starts to the season. (Remember how Fergie mentioned this during his press conferences).Once he gets into his groove he's excellent. Unfortunately for him, the injuries this season(perhaps owing to his age) are preventing him from having a consistent run in the team. So my argument is that he 'couldn't' be brilliant so far. Last season, was an anomaly. Under Moyes many in the team under performed and I wouldn't hold that against him.

To summarize,my view on Carrick is pretty much the same as yours. (In terms of him being the best in England when we won the league). Over the last few pages, in this thread however, I can see a lot of Carrick bashing and frankly its frustrating.

I like Blind, but I don't rate him as high as I rate Carrick (not at this stage). I would say though that he has been one of the most consistent performers this season.
 
Blind has to be our best buy in the last 2-3 seasons! Totally worth what we spent on him, our best CM buy since Hargreaves
 
Things Blind does better than Carrick

  • More mobile on the ball, he is technically very gifted.. holds onto the ball with comfort and composure, it allows us to play despite being pressed by opponents because defenders know if they pass it to Blind, we aren't going to lose it. He can wriggle away and hit a forward pass.
  • Links up play better. He creates more triangle situations due to his movement to receive a pass. He makes it easier for others to play.
  • Can drift into wing or forward positions and create danger... because he is comfortable technically and running with the ball he can drift into attacking situations and not look like a duck out of water. He has a good feel for a delicate pass too.. Carrick isn't great at those soft defence-splitting passes, whereas Blind has a wand of a left foot.
  • More aggressive tackler. Presses higher up the pitch and wins ball far in advance of the halfway line and allows us to counter-attack high up the pitch.
That said, Carrick is better at defensive coverage and is proven against top teams. Unfair to compare them now, I still think we need to see Blind against top sides before we laud him as the Messiah. He is definitely a better player than Carrick against weaker sides and if we are to play a more attractive style of football, we need Blind in the side.. not Carrick.

He was one of our best players against City and Chelsea.
 
Blind has to be our best buy in the last 2-3 seasons! Totally worth what we spent on him, our best CM buy since Hargreaves
He's had a tough competition tho. This is another reason why he looks so good he's been actually the only CM signing since Hargo
 
Carrick has been such an integral part of United most successful period, so it is hard to say Blind is already the better player.

But so far, the sign is encouraging, and I hope he won't be restricted to a mere hardman / Makelele's DM.
 
Blind can be a monster for us. A really good signing, Louis. Dank je wel.
 
He's had a tough competition tho. This is another reason why he looks so good he's been actually the only CM signing since Hargo
Herrera, Fellaini and Anderson were bought to play in midfield.. its not that he's been average or that we haven't had any good midfielders in the past to compare his performances against And say he's been a good buy
 
Herrera, Fellaini and Anderson were bought to play in midfield.. its not that he's been average or that we haven't had any good midfielders in the past to compare his performances against And say he's been a good buy
Anderson was brought at the same time as Hargo, forgot about Fellaini completely.. I wouldn't compare Blind to Herrera yet after his MOTM performance but against the worst opposition in the league.

Herrera had a couple of great games too and didn't really have a chance to impress. And I rate him higher anyway, even for the money. He will be integral part of our success in the years coming, with Blind I am still not sure even I am starting to like him, I just don't see his ceiling as high as say Herrera's or diMaria's.. I dare to say this in DB thread so I will be smashed I know.

Blind, Herrera and Fellaini doesn't make a big number. Obviously Scholesy and Giggsy prolonged their career etc.. but still I think Fergie should have bought at least replacement for Carrick long time ago..
 
Stop the bickering guys, play both of them I say.

--Herrera--Carrick--Blind--
-------Rooney--DiMaria---
---------Falcao/RVP------

Id try something like that...
 
Blind has to be our best buy in the last 2-3 seasons! Totally worth what we spent on him, our best CM buy since Hargreaves

Strange. Hargreaves completely bombed as a CM and had to make do with playing wide. Blind is clearly an infinitely better signing for midfield
 
You could see Carrick deep, Blind just ahead of him and DiMaria or Herrera in front bursting forward being a good midfield in tough games.

The most encouraging thing about Blind is that he's probably not done improving as a DM. 2 seasons ago he was at LB and he's only 24. I think many of us assume he's got a low ceiling due to his being used as a utility guy and his lack of pace, but he's smart, pays attention defensively and has the ability to spot creative passes from deep, so who knows.
 
Maybe we should actually be building our midfield around this guy, rather than looking at Strootman/Vidal and the other big names. Surround him with players that will allow him to play his game at the best of his ability, players who make up for his lack of physical strength and will get forward and give Blind good options for progressive passes.
 
Smart player, not really physical buth with a very good pass and sound ability to read the game on him. I'd prefer this season's Blind to this season's Carrick. Although Michael at his peak was one of the best midfielders in the league, whereas Daley is yet to reach those heights (but its obvious he has the potential to do so).
 
Blind and Felliani for the next game against West Ham.. I would line up this way.
---Back 4--
--Felliani--Blind
Demaria Januzaj
Rooney--RVP/Falcao
 
Blind only had a significant impact in the last two Eredivisie seasons, and the time he spend as a holding midfielder was one season. He was *really* bad in his first season as left back and even after showing some improvement in his second year his contact would probably not have been extended had Boilesen not been injured.

Vernon Anita was the key player that reinvented the DM position and helped Ajax win the first two of four championships, and in honesty was the better holding midfielder (except he made a dumb transfer to Newcastle and is now rotting away there as that club has no clue how to use him). De Boer is blind as a bat when it comes to judging midfielders and messed about with failed experiments like Janssen before injuries forced him to play a technically gifted player like Aissati and later Anita in that position, which proved crucial in their second season half comeback. After Anita left De Boer mucked about with that turd from Liverpool (Poulsen) when injuries yet again rescued him as he was forced to move Blind to DM and again the team rapidly improved. Blind only made the world cup squad as Holland has no half decent left backs, and I doubt Blind would have made a transfer without his WC performance and Van Gaal. Blind made the most of the chances he got, but he can't complain about luck in his career.

I can see the value in your reaction There were rumours in public that Martin Jol (the predecessor of De Boer) was not that impressed of him and that he could leave the club. During this time the infamous ‘fluwelen revolutie’ started, whereby Cruyff and his buddies basically shook the whole club and demanded a new policy based on youth and future investment. His dad Danny blind became the assistent and its commonly known that if you win the trust of de Boer, you will definitely see a lot of football. He also made his debut against arch rivals Feyenoord. Basically, all the pieces came together for him to flourish under De Boer and eventually becoming what he became today.

He had a slow start, yes i agree with you. There were even times where he got booed by the fans in the Arena. There is a fine line between failure and success and Blind fit thats profile perfectly. For example, in 2012 there was a home match against AZ Alkmaar and they played a piss poor match and when he got substituted the fans massively cheered for it. 2 years later, again a home match between Ajax and Alkmaar the public massively cheered ‘ one more year, one more year’! So, yes, i think he contributed the most during the last 2 seasons.

Regarding Anita, yes he became a stable midfielder under De Boer. His lack of height was/is compensated with his grit and he is not doing that bad at Newcastle, right ? I don't think its a coincidence that Blind had a good WC performance and that he is developing as a United midfielder. Historically, there is a long list of players who transfered to a big club after a World Cup, so i dont think there is anything wrong with that. Van Gaal is well known in possessing 'profiles' of players that suit his system in the most effective manner. Blind was not the only LB that we ( Holland had). In the 5-3-2 system he flourished because of the wide spaces between the wing back. Yes, we dont have an abundance of talented left backs. We had/have players like Emanuelson, Van Aanholt and even Buttner. At one point atleast 5 players were linked with United ( De Vrij, Martins Indi, De Jong, Vlaar and Blind). Conclusion, Blind had his share of luck during his career, but the fact that he overcame that is a big advantage. Football is not only about having your bench or start time, it's also about mental growth and becoming stronger to face the challenges that one will have in his career. I applaud him for that.
 
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Man Utd 3:0 Cambridge
Quickly becoming my favorite player. So intelligent on the ball and always seems to be in the right place.