Exactly, and people want to drop him for someone like Smalling who can't even control a ball.
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Exactly, and people want to drop him for someone like Smalling who can't even control a ball.
Yeah if you don't even have the tactical sense to press players like him or Carrick, they'll pick you apart all day long with that kind of time and space on the ball.
This guys passing and technique is beautiful. Prime Carrick-esque.
Fast becoming one of my favourite players.
Danish commentators who have watched pre-warmup at Old Trafford say he's the master of pig in the middle with his sublime passing and vision even in small spaces.
Yep he is going from strength to strength. You can only remember a few of the games when he was sub-par (with the rest of the team usually). Excellent passer, reads the game like no other. You would imagine he would be an absolute beast playing CB for Barcelona. Luckily he loves it here at United and I hope he plays for our club for a long time.
Not surprising in the slightest, he sees the picture exceptionally quickly.
As for the claim that two players who haven't played together being our best combo, why bother even entertaining an answer?
The last part is spot on for me as well, they are too similar. I think it's to do with what you're going for. Manchester United should always aim to control most games, I believe it's crucial for a top team. Pointless possession like last year doesn't work without "killers" up top. We have that now, and control starts from the back. Blind, as everyone with eyes can see, contributes so much to this control. While, say, Hull probably will have more luck with two beasts. I quite like to watch United without the CBs clearing the ball everytime it comes close to our box, it's not fitting for a team of our standing.
Edit: Sorry if it feels like I'm stalking you
I just enjoy your style and reading your opinion!As for the claim that two players who haven't played together being our best combo, why bother even entertaining an answer?
The last part is spot on for me as well, they are too similar. I think it's to do with what you're going for. Manchester United should always aim to control most games, I believe it's crucial for a top team. Pointless possession like last year doesn't work without "killers" up top. We have that now, and control starts from the back. Blind, as everyone with eyes can see, contributes so much to this control. While, say, Hull probably will have more luck with two beasts. I quite like to watch United without the CBs clearing the ball everytime it comes close to our box, it's not fitting for a team of our standing.
Edit: Sorry if it feels like I'm stalking you
Ha! Don't worry, I hadn't even noticed, a couple of hours ago I said something not negative about Rooney so I am in about 12 different debates with people who want to tell me he is awful, its nice to get an alert from someone not calling me a weapon.
Yep at the top end you have to be able to play the ball out from the back or to be able to instigate counter attacks from there and there aren't many centre backs who can spot a ball as fast as our daley.
Ha, ha! Good!
He has actually made football more enjoyable for me. Defending was just a boring necessity before (I always played as a striker/AM). @Terminator took the words right out of my mouth, he makes defending a joy to watch.Ha, ha! Good!
Definitely, beautiful to see someone so composed with such a good pass and reading of the game as blind, a couple of times per game I make some sound, I don't even know what is is, kind of like a yelp of appreciation and I have more for him than any of our other players.
Since he has come he has played most games. With every season he has improved. In his first season he started off very solidly at CDM. After Leicester happened he moved to LB where he made that position his own and bossed even the fastest wingers in the league, people said he would have his lack of pace exploited but it didn't happen. People said moving him to CB would be a bad idea for the same reason (me included). Time and time again he's had his doubters (although not without reason) but he's proved us all wrong.
I feel that he is like the Carrick of this current team. We will only miss his presence, his passing, his play dictating until it's not there. A very good, solid buy. One of our most intelligent players on the pitch.
I feel that he is like the Carrick of this current team. We will only miss his presence, his passing, his play dictating until it's not there. A very good, solid buy. One of our most intelligent players on the pitch.
It's the same for me, but in a weird way it's precisely because he turned my opinion of him completely around. He was the signing that went under the radar for me. Maybe something along the line of "Dutch player bought because of our Dutch manager".
The ones who say his defending is limited are also, in my humble opinion, totally wrong. When he went head to head with Lukaku last season, my oh my, it was pure pleasure. Lukaku tried to get past him with all of his arsenal, but in the end, the only thing he could do was win aerial duels that went to our players every single time. It will be etched in my memory forever. Mind, I was very worried that Lukaku would get his number, boy was I wrong..
Edit: @MosDef: Agree with all of that, but also, I remember thinking at the time "is Blind playing alone in midfield?" He got absolutely no support at times, that was definitely down to LvG, and we got overrun at times, I think that might also have coloured peoples opinion of him as a CM/CDM.
I think it's only fair Basti leaves his medal in Daley Blind's locker when he fecks off to America in January.
One of my favorite players and has been for a while.
This is so good.
He's been very good at CB but still think he'd be immense as a CDM.
Thats a masterclass in defensive passing!
Absolutely absurd that there was talk of selling this lad in the summer, as though he should be considered along with the likes of Marcos Rojo.
I hope he is here for the next ten years. Proper unsung hero, and the most intelligent player we have.
I hope he is here for the next ten years. Proper unsung hero, and the most intelligent player we have.
People who wanted him gone this summer were talking out of their ass and were generally clueless regarding Blind's impact as a player.
Blind's superb reading of the game and his passing out from the back is completely invaluable; he can take an entire midfield out of play with one direct pass through the lines. He's such a smart footballer.
amazing how people cant remember shit, I got to like Blind a lot and I think he's done really well past year but Smalling had even better season and should definitely be our no1 centerback and captain instead of rooney... on the other hand let Bailly and Blind play as long as they do well, dont change things when it work.. but imagine situation when Lingard does well and you have say Suarez on the bench because he was serving his ban and then he waits for his chance... well it's too early and we stick with rooney and Micky on the bench as well, Blind is a great passing CB but we will need our beast Smalling at some point..
Blind was better than Smalling in the second half of the season, with Smalling better in the first.
Smalling had many blunders that could have cost us big time in crucial games in that second half, including in both the Cup semi and final.
what the actual feck, just because he was not so dominant in the second part of the season as in the first doesn't mean he was bad, he was still very good and definitely didn't have more mistakes per game on average than Blind but Blind is currently on form so people completely forgot his abysmal marking and overall dubious defending that season, he's great on the ball so he is naturally likeable player when things going well which is now. The same applies for Bailly. Smalling will be a collosus of a defender for Mourinho...
I am in the wrong thread anyway.. eat me
Fantastic watch, you can gradually see his distribution improving in terms of tempo, accuracy and distance. Such an elegant player.
But I never said that.
So your whole rant is wasted exercise.
Edit: Not into cannibalism unfortunately.
well the point is there, ppl just like to exaggerate.. but Smalling was better defender than Blind even in the second half of the season, the number of times he bailed him and our awful fullbacks... he doesnt get enough credit for that while Blind nonchalantly stick to his position and passed the ball from the back which is also important but he was and is not even half as good in the air as Mike and never possessed the speed and strength to cover the whole backline, letting alone the whole tackling area of defending, both players are good interceptors...
so again Blind looked better in his second half of the season than in HIS first and Smalling in his first than in HIS second but was still comfortably better defender than Blind.. they both created a nice center back pairing which is important..
Did you just use Suarez and Lingard as an analogy to explain the Blind and Smalling situation
Good Christ.
Outside of Rooney I'd say he's the most likely captain we have. Ahead of Smalling in that regard.
I'm with those who want him back in midfield. I'm hoping his stint at CB has given him a greater defensive awareness that he can bring to the middle of the pitch.
I'm with those who want him back in midfield. I'm hoping his stint at CB has given him a greater defensive awareness that he can bring to the middle of the pitch.
It's a shame he was put at LB for the Netherlands last night. Would have been nice to see him as a CDM.
I always think these things are impossible to call. In reality we actually know so little about what our player's professional personalities and relationships with other squad members are like.
I like to use hyperboles because it is so hard for some to see the point so for me its a good analogyDid you just use Suarez and Lingard as an analogy to explain the Blind and Smalling situation
Good Christ.
This. Word for word. When stories were linking him away and saying that Mourinho didn't want him I remember thinking "we can't be that stupid".
Most intelligent player we have indeed, and one of the top ones in the league in that regard as well. I love my Daley
Really is one of the best passers of a ball playing CB these days
True. It is based on a very shallow impression of what the players are like. Unless there's a blatantly obvious captain type like Robson or Keane.
Still, he comes across as mature, intelligent, competitive, he's a regular and he does the business.
I think Smalling is the better defender, but the thing is Blind's passing from the back and ability to keep possession is probably more important to the way Mourinho likes to play.Every time we in the ball in our area should be a chance to attack, Smalling, as a good as a defender as he is, doesn't have Blind's passing vision, he tends to hoof more often than not. And the chemistry I see developing between him and Bailly shoudn't be tampered with unless we're forced to
No arguing in here smalling fans, this is a happy thread.
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