Makalele?
17
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 29
- Clean sheets
- 9
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 4
Makalele?
Busquets, Carrick... Not weak, Blind isn't weak either, he's just not a "tank" like Matic.
Bizarre comment agreed. We only paid £7m for Vidic so he wasn't a top player either.
Don't think he was signed by LVG to be a regular starter, he is just a quality bench player who was available at a relatively good price and has some experience with the *cough* PHILOSOPHY 
. He is an intelligent player but his lack of athleticism is exposed quite frequently. You may say that Busquets isn't a lot better physically but he is way more technical than Blind.
. He is an intelligent player but his lack of athleticism is exposed quite frequently. You may say that Busquets isn't a lot better physically but he is way more technical than Blind.Pirlo would be one of them as well. His playing intelligence and great positioning makes up for his lack of physical ability though.
Hes such an intelligent player. Very Scholes like in how he always knows exactly where to direct his first touch. Not his best game but still did his job better than most of the others did theirs.
I love blind but We definitely need a bigger and taller defensive midfielder, blind is weak as a puppy and it shows
Busquets and carrick aren't great defensively. Blind is weak, he offers no physical presence at all, terrible athlete.
You're having a laugh if you think Makalele was weak.
Well, Blind is taller and weighs more than Makelele. Who can bench press more? Haven't a clue, but Blind isn't weak.
Neither is Blind. I presume what you meant to say was "physically imposing" or something along those lines. Neither Makalele or Blind would put the shits up you in terms of their stature.
His performances have been slightly overrated - which comes as no surprise as he is a fan favourite, it seems like some fans are buying into the player rather than his performances, he hasn't been terrible though and its still his first season
No wonder you think Blind cant defend then
Busquets IS great defensively, but I'm not too sure about Carrick. Carrick is just about decent, not great and not bad. Before anyone argues just remember a couple of seasons ago how much everyone moaned about using Carrick as a DM.
I don't think there's anything really to support that. If you look at the average position of the two you'll see they're more or less identically placed, and in terms of pressing it was always Blind who was pushing right up to the edge of their box when necessary while Herrera pressed from a deeper position. Blind made plenty of forward runs when we were in possession too. Herrera's the more attacking and creative of the two when in possession but that's about it.
Surely the only reason he would be a fan favourite is because his performances have been at a consistently high level?
Let's buy Akinfewa, play him as DM and settle this once for all.
Yea or actually fans are buying into him through his good performances.
Or nah, we all just want to shag him because he's pretty.
What's all this criticism?
He's not weak. Especially not weak 'as a puppy'.
He's not weak. Especially not weak 'as a puppy'.
Your words not mine.
He has had some good performances but he has also been shocking in some games - but he didn't get any stick
Can't remember one game where he was shocking. Average? Yes. Bordering bad? Probably, sometimes he just goes with team's performance. Shocking? No.
He was not weak or slow.
Only 5'11, same as Blind. Not having that. Needs to be at least 6'2.
Maybe it was just me but Blind and Ander need to change their game a bit when we have only 2 in midfield,sometimes they pressed in same time leaving a huge hole behind.
Who cares who's bigger, who's got more strength is something else altogether. Its a balance thing when it comes to football, not just size. Sterling despite being tiny is made of some sturdy stuff, in a 50-50 with Gervinho for example the winner wouldn't be the bigger, heavier guy.
I think people expect him to sit deep and defend deep and rely on positioning like Carrick does just because they have similar responsibilities in our build up play. Blind clearly has been given the freedom to be proactive and press instead of backing off like Carrick does. We are always going to have those occasional moments where both get caught with a Blind-Herrera midfield because both are proactive with their pressing in the opposition half. Adding Carrick and going to three in midfield could add a lot of balance to our midfield defensively, because Blind and Herrera could go with their natural instincts and still have cover.
I think a lot of Blind looking weak is that he tends to go charging in to cover the inordinate amount of space he has to cover with the way we have been set up this season.
Whats the problem with giving away fouls? Whether we like it or not breaking up play like this is a big part of the game and being able to intelligently indentify danger and stopping it through fouling is a big asset.
I think this has less to do with Blind and more to do with how van Gaal wants us to defend. It's not just Blind who's been doing this: everyone's been defending like this.
However, when Blind hasn't been defending aggressively, he's taken up excellent positions and recovered well. On the ball, he's very good at starting off attacks and maintaining possession. I just hope that van Gaal doesn't try to make him an aggressive ball winner as it just isn't his game. He's much better off playing a more disciplined defensive game with a #8 and #10 in the team playing with more aggression, defensively.
Can't believe people say he's poor defensively. Wtf
Only Man. Utd. fans can make such arguments. I think most of them still want a Keane-like midfielder, and seeing midfielders like Matic, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, etc., makes them want these sort of players even more than those who aren't physically strong.
It's almost like reading criticism of Carrick from 5/6 years back. Ridiculous.
This has to be one of the most bizarre things i've read on here.1. Busquets and Carrick not great defensively. Really?
2. Weak? Slow, yes, but he is certainly not weak
3. "Physical presence". By that logic Valencia is our best player by a mile, seeing as he is a physical beast. He is not though is he?
I bet that it'll take some time before they really warm up to Blind. They're ignoring the rest of his defensive game and just focusing on him trying to close down the opposition with aggression and tenacity.
Don't understand this criticism in the slightest.
He's had some great games, and no particularly bad games. He was decent today, nothing special but it was a solid performance.
He's had some great games, and no particularly bad games. He was decent today, nothing special but it was a solid performance.
Makelele was very strong and had very strong acceleration until he was comfortably into his 30's. Weird thing to even have to defend, but he was already 30 when he came to the Prem, so I tihnk people think he was slower than he really was.
Has the odd wayward touch that sends the ball into a dangerous area, every few games or so, but in general he's having a great impact this season. Good at providing outlets for the defence, good at reading dangerous situations and rushing to tackle, to clear or to intercept, and he's good at sensing when he needs to move the ball on quickly. Most of all, he seems to have a really good awareness of what's going on around him, and in turning the right way on the ball to get into space, and he doesn't wig out under pressure.
One of our best signings this season.
One of our best signings this season.
Didn't think he was that good to be honest. Gave the ball away a few too many times and picked up a lot of fouls. If Fellaini had committed the same fouls I guarantee he would have been booked and copped it on here. His form has dropped away a bit which is disappointing but it is a new league and all that. Wouldn't mind giving him a spell for Carrick soon just to freshen him up again.
Stopping counter attacks by committing a foul is a smart thing to do. If you're not gonna catch the player you might as well bring him down. If that's what his detractors are arguing about...