[arthurka]

I for one owe some here an apology.. I thought many times last year that he didn't have it in him. Weak, slow and useless but at the later stages last season he was brilliant and has kept it up this season.. He has won me over big time and is winning Mou over aswell. So I am sorry that I ever doubted you Blind and to the ones here that told me to look at all the clear signs I am sorry..

Brilliant player and a bargain of a signing..

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

 

[pseudo_canadian]

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

 

[Dec9003]

Deals with everything thrown at him! For me he's the best centre back we have

 

[RedPnutz]

What the feck is a vertical run?

When you run up the stairs of a building, I would imagine.

 

[Handré1990]

At this point I hope it's all about Bailly vs Smalling to partner Blind for Mourinho.

My first op (and only so far) in the newbs revolved around the question of the "myth" of what constitutes a good CB. I asked the question why so many wanted to buy a new CB to partner Smalling, all the while Blind, imo, contributes so much more to the team as a whole. Problem is, the newbs is a dead and cold place, so I'll give it a try here.

This was back in the start of April when Smalling was still seen as the second coming, and my view has not changed a bit.

What Blind brings to the team is invaluable imo. He is just so damn cool under pressure, to me it looks like he always knows where to find his team mates, and that's nothing short of amazing considering the fact that he's played with like a thousand different constellations. When he is pressed, he gets the ball under control, and plays it out of danger. Because of this, he is really demoralizing his harassers. I've played as a striker myself, and to be constantly trying but never getting any results from pressing is fecking tedious and mentally exhausting.

Don't get me wrong, I rate Smalling, but not remotely close to what seems to be the caf consensus, he still has it all to prove in my book. I can't describe how many times I wanted to kick myself watching Smalling hoofing it left and right when put under any semblance of pressure. Blind knows when to clear it and when to play it. In this I'm in total agreement with LvG (one of the only times), control matters, especially in defence. Doesn't matter if it's possession or counter attacking.

Am I just completely oblivious to other important aspects, or should Blind actually be the one the others should compete to partner?

 

[LouisDanGaal]

I for one owe some here an apology.. I thought many times last year that he didn't have it in him. Weak, slow and useless but at the later stages last season he was brilliant and has kept it up this season.. He has won me over big time and is winning Mou over aswell. So I am sorry that I ever doubted you Blind and to the ones here that told me to look at all the clear signs I am sorry..

Brilliant player and a bargain of a signing..

It's surprising for me he has won Mourinho over as a CB. In a midfield 3, I would have thought, or as cover for left back but a starting CB just doesn't suit the image of a Mourinho team I have in my head. Last preseason when we first started trying it out, I thought it was stupid, LVG played so many players out of position and it only worked out a couple of times, but this is one of his finest experiments. I remember early last season hoping Jones would get back to sort out the defence. Blind just does what he does, adapt to a new position almost instantly and play with an assuredness and class only few players in the squad have.

 

[LouisDanGaal]

At this point I hope it's all about Bailly vs Smalling to partner Blind for Mourinho.

My first op (and only so far) in the newbs revolved around the question of the "myth" of what constitutes a good CB. I asked the question why so many wanted to buy a new CB to partner Smalling, all the while Blind, imo, contributes so much more to the team as a whole. Problem is, the newbs is a dead and cold place, so I'll give it a try here.

This was back in the start of April when Smalling was still seen as the second coming, and my view has not changed a bit.

What Blind brings to the team is invaluable imo. He is just so damn cool under pressure, to me it looks like he always knows where to find his team mates, and that's nothing short of amazing considering the fact that he's played with like a thousand different constellations. When he is pressed, he gets the ball under control, and plays it out of danger. Because of this, he is really demoralizing his harassers. I've played as a striker myself, and to be constantly trying but never getting any results from pressing is fecking tedious and mentally exhausting.

Don't get me wrong, I rate Smalling, but not remotely close to what seems to be the caf consensus, he still has it all to prove in my book. I can't describe how many times I wanted to kick myself watching Smalling hoofing it left and right when put under any semblance of pressure. Blind knows when to clear it and when to play it. In this I'm in total agreement with LvG (one of the only times), control matters, especially in defence. Doesn't matter if it's possession or counter attacking.

Am I just completely oblivious to other important aspects, or should Blind actually be the one the others should compete to partner?

I rate Blind higher than Smalling too quite comfortably.

But yes you are very focused on one aspect of defending, cool under pressure and the ability to play a pass, basically being good on the ball. Smalling is superb in the air, in my eyes that's his greatest strength, Blind is good at duels because he reads the ball well but he isn't as strong at defending crosses. Smalling is also faster, stronger, more physical. Blind is more aggressive, faster at reading which leads to his interceptions and tackles.

We play zonal so we can make up for Blinds lack of height by giving him an overlapping zone with Fellaini, which we have done, just makes sure we can get the best out of Daley and not suffer because of his lack of height.

In my eyes Blind is just about the first name on the team sheet after De Gea

 

[PepsiCola]

At this point I hope it's all about Bailly vs Smalling to partner Blind for Mourinho.

My first op (and only so far) in the newbs revolved around the question of the "myth" of what constitutes a good CB. I asked the question why so many wanted to buy a new CB to partner Smalling, all the while Blind, imo, contributes so much more to the team as a whole. Problem is, the newbs is a dead and cold place, so I'll give it a try here.

This was back in the start of April when Smalling was still seen as the second coming, and my view has not changed a bit.

What Blind brings to the team is invaluable imo. He is just so damn cool under pressure, to me it looks like he always knows where to find his team mates, and that's nothing short of amazing considering the fact that he's played with like a thousand different constellations. When he is pressed, he gets the ball under control, and plays it out of danger. Because of this, he is really demoralizing his harassers. I've played as a striker myself, and to be constantly trying but never getting any results from pressing is fecking tedious and mentally exhausting.

Don't get me wrong, I rate Smalling, but not remotely close to what seems to be the caf consensus, he still has it all to prove in my book. I can't describe how many times I wanted to kick myself watching Smalling hoofing it left and right when put under any semblance of pressure. Blind knows when to clear it and when to play it. In this I'm in total agreement with LvG (one of the only times), control matters, especially in defence. Doesn't matter if it's possession or counter attacking.

Am I just completely oblivious to other important aspects, or should Blind actually be the one the others should compete to partner?

Agree with this completely. Blind should be one of the first names on the team sheet in my opinion.

Smalling did start off fantastically last season. But has had a not so great 2016.

 

[fellaini's barber]

His passing out from the back is very crucial for me.He's almost perfect at it. He has weaknesses in defence but his cutting passes from the back have started more attacks than some of our midfielders. Last season I fully believe we would have spent whole halves of games passing the ball amongst our defenders without him. He seemed to be the only person capable of playing a forward pass. Would love to see him in midfield at some point though

 

[Handré1990]

@LouisDanGaal: Like I said, I rate Smalling highly. It's just that Blind seems to compliment whoever gets chucked in to play besides him, and that, for me, can't be a coincident. Smalling even praised his calming influence last year when he was getting all the praise.

However, it might be that I didn't get my point across well enough. It's not just that he's good on the ball, he has come up against some of the larger, stronger and faster players in the league and kept them very quiet (Lukaku in both games comes to mind). It's like he's learned to master the position in his own unique style. Long term I think a player like that, beside a physical specimen ala Bailly/Smalling, is going to give us so much more long term with regards to the team as a whole. If he keeps timing his tackles to perfection and make great decisions as to when to press and when to fall back, it more than makes up for these supposedly lacking physical qualities.

Like you say, it's all about getting the best out of Daley! All this talk of the need for a deep lying playmaker in midfield seems like a misnomer for me, as long as Daley plays. There isn't one way to do it right, and here, Mourinho again deserves credit for seeing it. I, as many, were sure Daley would struggle under the new regime. If he keeps it up throughout the season, I think it's fair to say, he's just that good!

Doesn't hurt that he seems like such a hard working and likeable character as well.

Edit: Good point about Fellaini btw! Do you think, say, Schneiderlin can do a similar job?

 

[sunama]

He was the player who played more games than most players in our team last season.
And it looks like the same is happening this season.
...under 2 different managers.

I realise that some people like tall, strong people, but from I am seeing with my eyes and seeing who managers are picking to be in their first team, Blind seems to be consistently one our best players.
Bailey and Blind are our first choice pairing. Smalling will have to wait until one of our first choice CBs get injured.

...oh and I rate Blind very highly. I actually think he is better as a DM...but he is fine as a CB.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

Said it more times than I can remember.

Blind is as good, if not better than Mascherano as a centre half.

Some would say that's setting the bar low but he's played for a fabulous Barcelona side for years. Most thought Pep was mad.

Love the guy. Yes he has limitations but so does every other defender and player on the planet. He'll get it wrong one time or another but he's Mr consistency and is a great centre half.

 

[Sunny Jim]

One thing for sure. He is learning. I remember him making loads of positional mistakes, ignoring the off side line and that. He ironed these out. Sure he will be bullied of the ball now and then but i like him more and more. Last season i was not a fan of him.

 

[Wedge]

One thing for sure. He is learning. I remember him making loads of positional mistakes, ignoring the off side line and that. He ironed these out. Sure he will be bullied of the ball now and then but i like him more and more. Last season i was not a fan of him.

With the tank that is Bailly next to him, I don't expect an awful lot of bullying Blind off the ball.

 

[Footyislife]

Forgetting completely about the run last season where blind put lukaku in his pocket followed by aguero the next week? People overrate physicality and height so much on here.

Yeah that's why i remember Fellaini helping him double mark the bigger players and somehow still concede goals. Without Smalling, Blind would be torn apart, and without Blind, Smalling would gift the ball to our opponents a lot. They are a decent pair that complement each other. Doesn't make Blind a good defender, just a poor man's Mascherano that plays well until he faces the top attackers.

Pfft! Everyone who knows anything about football knows what a vertical run is! @Footyislife said so!

I mean Jose has said that his football style is vertical, leave the football matters to those who know best huh @ivaldo .

 

[ivaldo]

Yeah that's why i remember Fellaini helping him double mark the bigger players and somehow still concede goals. Without Smalling, Blind would be torn apart, and without Blind, Smalling would gift the ball to our opponents a lot. They are a decent pair that complement each other. Doesn't make Blind a good defender, just a poor man's Mascherano that plays well until he faces the top attackers.



I mean Jose has said that his football style is vertical, leave the football matters to those who know best huh @ivaldo .

Why do you insist on tagging me in a post you've already quoted me in?

Weren't you telling us just a few pages back that we were all misreading what you were writing and that you thought Blind was a good defender?

You're right, maybe you should leave football matters to people who know what they are talking about. Don't bother replying again unless you're actually going to provide evidence of all these chances Blind gave away against Southampton, bit pathetic now how you keep ignoring the crux of this little confab.

 

[LouisDanGaal]

@LouisDanGaal: Like I said, I rate Smalling highly. It's just that Blind seems to compliment whoever gets chucked in to play besides him, and that, for me, can't be a coincident. Smalling even praised his calming influence last year when he was getting all the praise.

However, it might be that I didn't get my point across well enough. It's not just that he's good on the ball, he has come up against some of the larger, stronger and faster players in the league and kept them very quiet (Lukaku in both games comes to mind). It's like he's learned to master the position in his own unique style. Long term I think a player like that, beside a physical specimen ala Bailly/Smalling, is going to give us so much more long term with regards to the team as a whole. If he keeps timing his tackles to perfection and make great decisions as to when to press and when to fall back, it more than makes up for these supposedly lacking physical qualities.

Like you say, it's all about getting the best out of Daley! All this talk of the need for a deep lying playmaker in midfield seems like a misnomer for me, as long as Daley plays. There isn't one way to do it right, and here, Mourinho again deserves credit for seeing it. I, as many, were sure Daley would struggle under the new regime. If he keeps it up throughout the season, I think it's fair to say, he's just that good!

Doesn't hurt that he seems like such a hard working and likeable character as well.

Edit: Good point about Fellaini btw! Do you think, say, Schneiderlin can do a similar job?

I really don't know with regards to schneidi, I rated him very highly in his last year at Southampton, I thought he actually had a better season than Matic who was soaking up all the praise. It will be interesting to see how we line up at the derby, City are a small team so maybe we don't need a huge physical presence it might be best to someone a bit more tenacious and able to play fast decisive balls, for that reason I actually think Herrera will start that game, moving forward I think schneiderlin may get back in to the team, at his best he is better than Herrera or Fellaini.

 

[LouisDanGaal]

Yeah that's why i remember Fellaini helping him double mark the bigger players and somehow still concede goals. Without Smalling, Blind would be torn apart, and without Blind, Smalling would gift the ball to our opponents a lot. They are a decent pair that complement each other. Doesn't make Blind a good defender, just a poor man's Mascherano that plays well until he faces the top attackers.



I mean Jose has said that his football style is vertical, leave the football matters to those who know best huh @ivaldo .

Care to give an example of a top attacker who has tore blind a new one or?

 

[ivaldo]

Care to give an example of a top attacker who has tore blind a new one or?

I've been trying to get examples out of him for over a a week, good luck.

 

[Burrow]

Very enjoyable to be happy with all 3 of our CBs

 

[Handré1990]

Yeah that's why i remember Fellaini helping him double mark the bigger players and somehow still concede goals. Without Smalling, Blind would be torn apart, and without Blind, Smalling would gift the ball to our opponents a lot. They are a decent pair that complement each other. Doesn't make Blind a good defender, just a poor man's Mascherano that plays well until he faces the top attackers.



I mean Jose has said that his football style is vertical, leave the football matters to those who know best huh @ivaldo .

Seriously? Do you rate Lukaku, Aguero or Kane?

Edit: @LouisDanGaal: Cheers! I was thinking the same with regards to Herrera vs City. I must confess I didn't really pay attention to Schneidi when at Soton, but I remember him having a very good game vs us the season before.

There was an amazing exclusive interview with him and several of his former youth coaches in the Scandinavian fan magazine the summer we bought him, and I had high hopes. So far I've not seen much of the player from that one game whilst at United. However, seeing Valencia this season, I have every bit of hope that he'll come good under Mourinho. His passing, for example, have been borderline great to crap, so there is certainly ability there. Blind, on the other hand was an underwhelming signing at the time for me, who I've grown to love. He might even be my favourite player at the moment.

Anyway, I digress! Like someone said in a post above, great to have 3 good CBs!

 

[Footyislife]

Care to give an example of a top attacker who has tore blind a new one or?

Would be too much work to go watch last season's games again. I'm sure there are tons of videos already posted in this thread showing examples from last year. We haven't played anyone good yet so I can't really give you examples this year where he has made mistakes. Our solid defensive team shape under Mourinho has so far helped mask the physical weaknesses Blind has in his game.

Just my intuition honestly, that he won't be able to hold up against the best if he gets isolated 1v1 due to our zonal marking. People jump on the hype train too quickly. Someone even called him better than Mascherano. Such disrespect.

 

[LouisDanGaal]

Would be too much work to go watch last season's games again. I'm sure there are tons of videos already posted in this thread showing examples from last year. We haven't played anyone good yet so I can't really give you examples this year where he has made mistakes. Our solid defensive team shape under Mourinho has so far helped mask the physical weaknesses Blind has in his game.

Just my intuition honestly, that he won't be able to hold up against the best if he gets isolated 1v1 due to our zonal marking. People jump on the hype train too quickly. Someone even called him better than Mascherano. Such disrespect.

I understand why you'd think like that because he's relatively short and slow but he played a full season at centre back and didn't get bossed by a single forward. Of course he made mistakes, as does every single player in world football, but its not really the point, he has been playing centre back at a high level for over a year now and he has proven himself to be our best defender, its time to stop questioning him.

 

[SoCross]

I'd forgotten those goals!

 

[podurban2]

Would be too much work to go watch last season's games again. I'm sure there are tons of videos already posted in this thread showing examples from last year. We haven't played anyone good yet so I can't really give you examples this year where he has made mistakes. Our solid defensive team shape under Mourinho has so far helped mask the physical weaknesses Blind has in his game.

Just my intuition honestly, that he won't be able to hold up against the best if he gets isolated 1v1 due to our zonal marking. People jump on the hype train too quickly. Someone even called him better than Mascherano. Such disrespect.

Actually no, no one has posted a single video showing examples of Blind's flaws from last year.

 

[prath92]

Yeah that's why i remember Fellaini helping him double mark the bigger players and somehow still concede goals. Without Smalling, Blind would be torn apart, and without Blind, Smalling would gift the ball to our opponents a lot. They are a decent pair that complement each other. Doesn't make Blind a good defender, just a poor man's Mascherano that plays well until he faces the top attackers.



I mean Jose has said that his football style is vertical, leave the football matters to those who know best huh @ivaldo .

Blind had poor games last season but that's expected. As someone else said, if he played excellently in all 56 games he would probably be the best defender ever in the history of the league.

We could buy a prime vidic and even he would have the same number of bad games.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Bailly and Smalling is still our best CB combination.

 

[podurban2]

Bailly and Smalling is still our best CB combination.

They haven't even played a game together and you make this claim?

 

[MDFC Manager]

Any combination not involving Blind is automatically not the best defensive combination at the club.

 

[Terminator]

Blind is consistently very good, he has 8 to 9 good games out of 10. His reading of the game and positional awareness at CB have improved significantly in the last 12 months. Credit to LVG for turning him into a CB. Players like Blind make defending a joy to watch.

 

[Cheesy]

Blind is consistently very good, he has 8 to 9 good games out of 10. His reading of the game and positional awareness at CB have improved significantly in the last 12 months. Credit to LVG for turning him into a CB. Players like Blind make defending a joy to watch.

I'd argue his reading of the game and positional awareness have improved since Mourinho came in.

He did well to step into centre-back last season, but often looked a little bit out of his depth at times. He made some silly mistakes and played more like a midfielder than a defender in his position. He actually started last season very well, but arguably declined as it went on since we were at our most defensively solid in the early stages of the season.

Since Mourinho's come in though he's been excellent at the back and has shown some massive improvement.

 

[ivaldo]

Would be too much work to go watch last season's games again. I'm sure there are tons of videos already posted in this thread showing examples from last year. We haven't played anyone good yet so I can't really give you examples this year where he has made mistakes. Our solid defensive team shape under Mourinho has so far helped mask the physical weaknesses Blind has in his game.

Just my intuition honestly, that he won't be able to hold up against the best if he gets isolated 1v1 due to our zonal marking. People jump on the hype train too quickly. Someone even called him better than Mascherano. Such disrespect.

So yet again you preach your baseless nonsense and refuse to offer up any kind of evidence whatsoever to back up your claim. Shock. Horror.

 

[rollingstoned1]

The footballing equivalent of a Swiss Knife and a rich man's O'Shea, could go on to be potentially one of our best signings this decade. I still feel that he must be groomed to replace Carrick eventually, he didn't tear it up when he played as a deep lying midfielder but he has immense amounts of footballing IQ to excel there.

 

[Ainu]

Bailly and Smalling is still our best CB combination.

Considering they haven't even played together and seeing as Blind has been one of our most consistent performers over the last year or so, no, it isn't. Blind's discipline, anticipation and composure on the ball is the perfect complement to Bailly's aggressive defending.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

I was harsh on him when the news came out that Mourinho would sell him, but i really like Daley.

Amazing on the ball and intelligent when defending.

Bargain no matter what.

 

[Terminator]

I'd argue his reading of the game and positional awareness have improved since Mourinho came in.

He did well to step into centre-back last season, but often looked a little bit out of his depth at times. He made some silly mistakes and played more like a midfielder than a defender in his position. He actually started last season very well, but arguably declined as it went on since we were at our most defensively solid in the early stages of the season.

Since Mourinho's come in though he's been excellent at the back and has shown some massive improvement.

I remember him being a bit timid and unsure of dealing with physical strikers in the first couple of months. But he improved as time went on and he became better at reading the game and intercepting/pushing forward at the right times. Especially in the second half of the season when he bossed players like Aguero and Lukaku and did not give them a whiff the whole game.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

 

[LouisDanGaal]

Bailly and Smalling is still our best CB combination.

They haven't played together so they are actually our worst cb combination. I also feel they are pretty similar as players, so wouldn't compliment each other too well. You don't see many cb combinations which is just two beasts any more working so well.