He fecked up in the first ten minutes
gave the ball away and watched as Moses missed when he should have buried.Other than that though you are right he found his feet after that.
17
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 56
- Clean sheets
- 22
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Status
He fecked up in the first ten minutes
gave the ball away and watched as Moses missed when he should have buried.Other than that though you are right he found his feet after that.
West Ham's two best chances came from Blind errors. Other than that he was okay.
He started poorly but did get better. Wasn't one of his better matches though.
His decision making was all over the place today.
He was all over the show yesterday and a couple of his mistakes very nearly led to goals.
Every chance they created came down his side; it's not necessarily his fault, but something Evra would always be slaughtered on here for. He looks completely lost when someone runs past him. He just stops, basically. Good range of passing and has been solid, but yesterday was not his best match.
Yeah I've noticed this. he gives up far too easily. Happened against Moscow as well.
The Sun voted him as Star Man yesterday
Wolfsburg 3:2 Man Utd
Loved his simple tackle in the box against Draxler there.
Excellent corners again tonight.
Play him every match.
Excellent corners again tonight.
Play him every match.
Pathetic defending for their second goal and gave away the free kick for their first! Yes he's great!!
He's excellent for going forward, but looks a bit exposed in defence when he's up against a dangerous attacking team like Wolfsburg tonight.
Smalling's having a horror show as well for once, so isn't covering for him as he usually does.
So because he's in defence he gets the blame?
Not BFS or Smalling's fault?
Whole defence messed up. Blind couldn't do much if you rewatch it.
So because he's in defence he gets the blame?
Not BFS or Smalling's fault?
Whole defence messed up. Blind couldn't do much if you rewatch it.
He was clearly at fault for the second and he gave away the free kick for the first. Was it his man for the first? Not sure but if so that is even worse. He plays well when we have the ball but is a weaknesses when we don't. Not on the same level as Dante.
What about varela? If anyone should be the last man it should have been him.
Not sure what you mean buddy?
Our best player in the first half.
Exactly what i was thinking wouldn't have another CB instead of him.
Had a blunder like the one against West Ham early on, but overall a very tidy performance.
He is the least of our problems. Pretty solid performance compared to the rest of them.
I wonder if he will be given a go in midfield again, at times he seemed the only one capable of finding a pass.
When Smalling and Jones come back, I'd like to see us try this.
Also, his corners are brilliant. Always manages to whip them into a dangerous area.
Maybe try him and Schneiderlin, give Morgan freedom to press higher up the pitch.
Them with Herrera in front as the #10 would be pretty interesting.
So you want this:
--Jones-Smalling-
Schneiderlin-Blind
------Herrera-----?
Don't think you are on to something other than even more boring football. No ball playing centre backs, two defensive midfielders and a box-to-box midfielder. I can't picture that working out.
--Jones-Smalling-
Schneiderlin-Blind
------Herrera-----?
Don't think you are on to something other than even more boring football. No ball playing centre backs, two defensive midfielders and a box-to-box midfielder. I can't picture that working out.
Blind and Smalling are a fantastic pair that harmonize perfectly, the only part of our outfield line up that is sorted.
He realised quickly that Schweinsteiger wasn't doing anything so started doing his job for him.
He really needs to play in Midfield. Its clear that Carrick is well past it and can't do the job anymore. BFS has been surprisingly poor in midfield as well. I really feel he can do a better job than both of them. He has got the legs, great ability to read the game, can pick a pass, and unlike our other midfielders can have a pop at the goal too. I really want him to play alongside Schneiderlin, he can't be any worse than Carrick or BFS.
I think that transition might happen as soon as next season once we find a ball playing center back. He is the natural successor to Carrick's midfield role and a combination of Schneiderlin - Herrera and Blind offers a bit of everything.
I think he benefits when playing as a CB that can bring it out in to midfield and pick his passes with much less pressure on the ball than he'd get playing as an actual CM.
Our converted midfielder is the last defender standing...
I was unconvinced by him last season, despite his early-season form as a CM & then his good run as a LB, but I think he is now one of only three players who simply has to start every game when fit (alongside Smalling & DDG), regardless of where he plays. His class on the ball adds so much to our play. Imagine him with Arsenal's attack in front of him - he'd get 20 assists a season from the centre of defence.
Unbelievable.
I like Blind, he is one of my favourite players in the squad, and I am one of few people who defended him a lot last season, but I think people are overrating him as a CB just because of his ability on the ball. I think it simply isn't enough, because he simply doesn't have the body(no homo) for a defender, and he is too slow.
IMO, he is better midfielder and a LB/LWB than a CB. Having him as a defender is good against shit sides who you dominate for 90 minutes, but we aren't doing that often enough so that's why I think we shouldn't rely on him there in the future. Saying that, I still like him more than both Jones and Rojo. I think Jones is better CB in general, but he simply isn't reliable. And I would have Blind in the side always because he is simply very good player, but not as a CB all the time.
I am quite sure our defence will be poor now that we are missing Smalling who meant Blind a lot, even if our other first choice defenders/fullbacks return to starting XI.
IMO, he is better midfielder and a LB/LWB than a CB. Having him as a defender is good against shit sides who you dominate for 90 minutes, but we aren't doing that often enough so that's why I think we shouldn't rely on him there in the future. Saying that, I still like him more than both Jones and Rojo. I think Jones is better CB in general, but he simply isn't reliable. And I would have Blind in the side always because he is simply very good player, but not as a CB all the time.
I am quite sure our defence will be poor now that we are missing Smalling who meant Blind a lot, even if our other first choice defenders/fullbacks return to starting XI.
Defensively he has shown he's more than up to the task (providing we have an actual DM to stop players getting the run on him) those claims of being exposed by strength and speed seem to have all but disappeared. He's also become integral to our attacking play, he's so positive on the ball and I almost expect something to happen when he's in possession, you can see the team ahead of him come alive and more often than not he'll find someone on the half turn.
Smalling is a beast but he can't pass the ball to save his life. Only about 20% of his long passes reach even close to our players. I think Smalling needs blind as much blind needs Smalling if not more.
Smalling is fine in terms of distrubtion, you don't know what you're on about.
Well, it's ~40% actually in comparision with Blind's ~55% which isn't that bad actually if Blind is the best in the team when it comes to that and the reason why he is playing in defence.
But yeah, carry on.
I have seen both of them attempt long balls and Blind is miles ahead in that aspect. He can even see an opening much better than Smalling does. Most of the time Smalling misjudges the weight required on the pass. Anyway the point was that i think it does Smalling a lot of help to delegate most of the passing from the back so that he can concentrate on the actual defending which he is undoubtedly the best at.
And Blind plays in defence because he is very good at tackling, intercepting a pass, maybe better than a lot of actual CBs in the league. It's not as if the only reason he plays is because of his passing.
Obviously it's not as if he can't pass. He can pass very well to players around him but long ball accuracy may be very low.
Well, I agree that Blind is better passer, but it's not like Smalling is that bad as you said. 40% succesful long balls in comparision with Blind's 55% isn't really that bad. I posted Smalling's passing chalkboard in his thread few games ago after people criticised him for his passing and his map actually looked more creative than our actual midfielders' map. It just shows that people see what they want to see.
Anyway, it's quite clear who the better defender and who means more to our defence, considering van Gaal even dropped Blind few times this season(including City game where Jones started even though it was his first game after the injury). As I said, I am sure we will realise how important is Smalling in next few games. But we might play defensive football so who knows.
As for the bold part, yes, it mostly is. Do you see Blind playing for other teams in the league who defend deep or just don't play possession football no matter how good he is at those things you mentioned(and he isn't that great in those things either, not even in his natural position where many people actually questioned his positional awereness quite often here).
Btw, to make clear again, I like Blind, he is one of my favourite players in the squad and probably the bst van Gaal's signing IMO, and I think he needs to start for us in pretty much every game, just not as a CB all the time.
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