[limerickcitykid]

That's my abiding memory of Blind. The problem for Blind is for when he comes up against a player who is as clever and "cute" with the ball as he is as he is but --also- possesses power or speed - like for instance Zlatan or Suarez.

Is that really a problem though? You put any defender up against Suarez and there is a very good chance he is going to make a fool of them at some point.

 

[sunama]

What a player he is turning out to be over the last 18 months. Players such as him who does not possess any exceptional physical attributes, but excel on account of their smarts, are part of why I enjoy football so much.

Indeed.
It doesn't surprise me that Barca were considering buying him. He'd fit in perfectly, in that team.

 

[Devil may care]

He has to be in the team for me, but when everyone is fit it will mean someone from Shaw, Mata or Herrera will be dropped.

 

[OldTrevil]

He will probably be on left tomorrow, he should play there when its relatively easy games and moved to midfield for tougher games. We need him on the pitch for sure.

 

[ivaldo]

Is that really a problem though? You put any defender up against Suarez and there is a very good chance he is going to make a fool of them at some point.

Pretty much this, but as soon as a makes a mistake we get the 'I told you so'. He literally has to be perfect to satisfy his detractors.

 

[Pexbo]

"We have a lot of height in the team, which is a danger, and I was very happy with my crosses. The players were there to head the ball in and it’s a great feeling to be involved in three of the four goals like that. I think we can score a lot more goals from set-pieces."

Just make sure you keep taking them Daley.

 

[Sammyjunn]

He has to start, wheter that means Shaw or Smalling/Bailly on the bench, they're better defenders but we just need Blind in the team.

 

[sunama]

If we want to play ultra defensively (for example if we were playing Barcelona), then I'd prefer to have a specialist defender, instead of Blind.
But if we want to attack, Blind adds an extra dimension that no other player brings. The concept of creating attacks, from defense, while completely bypassing the midfield (of both teams).
Personally, I like attack (I hate playing ultra defensively), so I will always prefer Blind to play, just so that our attack factor is higher.

 

[Loublaze]

He was at fault for their goal with his stupid clearance that went out under no pressure whatsoever

 

[NinjaZombie]

I like Blind for his ability on the ball, but the amount of times his crosses hit the first man today drove me crazy.

 

[The United]

He was at fault for their goal with his stupid clearance that went out under no pressure whatsoever

lol...

 

[Minimalist]

He was at fault for their goal with his stupid clearance that went out under no pressure whatsoever

If you're on drugs and blame every player with any involvement or action prior to the goal then yeah, it was Blind's fault.

Think it was Zlatan's fault too to be fair, he kicked off the second half I think.

 

[arthurka]

He was at fault for their goal with his stupid clearance that went out under no pressure whatsoever

They got a free throw we should have done better.. Midfielders did close down and follow their man into the box (not for the first time). And DDG should have done better. Blaming Blind is a bit far fetch he had a stellar game.

 

[The United]

If you're on drugs and blame every player with any involvement or action prior to the goal then yeah, it was Blind's fault.

In fact he went all the way deep to single him out for conceding a throw in. He could have hoofed all the way up and the ball could have come back and had the exactly same effect.

 

[blitz133w]

He was at fault for their goal with his stupid clearance that went out under no pressure whatsoever

Yeah but it was a horror show in phases. There were at least three mistakes leading up to the goal. Was it smalling who got megged again right before De Gea spilled an easy shot? Valencia could also have done better with the last ditch tackle but his was the least of all mistakes.

He keeps shutting the critics up every week. He's an excellent player worthy of playing for any team in the world. Am sure Barca would love to have him.

 

[Devil may care]

He had a decent game bar being involved in that clusterfeck that cost us the goal.

 

[The United]

Yeah but it was a horror show in phases. There were at least three mistakes leading up to the goal. Was it smalling who got megged again right before De Gea spilled an easy shot? Valencia could also have done better with the last ditch tackle but his was the least of all mistakes.

He keeps shutting the critics up every week. He's an excellent player worthy of playing for any team in the world. Am sure Barca would love to have him.

I think it was pogba who didn't tighten up his man who got the ball easily from that throw in then more shit happened.

If people can see the bigger picture, they will see we have had a problem with defending. One dm trying to defend everything is not enough. Even prime keane would struggle.

 

[bosnian_red]

Played well today. Not sure how someone can blame him for slightly miskicking a clearance that went out for a throw in (which is still fine really) instead of down the field. Brings so much more composure and control when he plays compared to whoever we would play in his positions (Smalling or Shaw). Will be tough for Shaw to get back in the side consistently as Blind has so much more to his game offensively, but Shaw is still young and has huge potential so I'm not too worried about him.

 

[Raees]

His crossing was worse than Valencias.

 

[Loublaze]

If you're on drugs and blame every player with any involvement or action prior to the goal then yeah, it was Blind's fault.

Think it was Zlatan's fault too to be fair, he kicked off the second half I think.

Foolish response tbf. Look at the video again. He hastily cleared that ball when he could've easily controlled it and made better use of it. No one was around him. Its surprising because he's an intelligent player with great awareness of things around him. If he applied what he does on a regular basis we'd have won the game.

 

[bosnian_red]

He was at fault only if the standard for every single second of every game is absolute perfection... The only perrson who can be blamed for this is De Gea, because frankly, he fecked up catching a weak shot. Blind had a mishit clearance, that happens a million times a season. It's not a big deal, you just readjust your positions and deal with it usually.

 

[ivaldo]

It's incredible the lengths some people go to to criticise just because they were idiotic enough to write I'm off early on in his career.

 

[Loublaze]

It's incredible the lengths some people go to to criticise just because they were idiotic enough to write I'm off early on in his career.

Im criticizing him today and i've never written him off before.

 

[ivaldo]

Im criticizing him today and i've never written him off before.

Then you have an incredibly odd process of determining where guilt lay for a goal.

 

[TwoSheds]

It was poor because, as I remember it, he didn't even need to make the clearance, he could have just shielded it out of play.

 

[sunama]

For me, DDG was responsible for the goal. I expect any decent GK to hold onto the initial shot.
For a top of line the GK, that save should've been routine.

 

[Loublaze]

Then you have an incredibly odd process of determining where guilt lay for a goal.

It was him and De Gea, but im blaming him for doing something so out of character from him that sparked off the calamitous chain of events that lead to their goal

 

[Loublaze]

It was poor because, as I remember it, he didn't even need to make the clearance, he could have just shielded it out of play.

Exactly. He made a hurried clearance, the type defenders make when they're being hounded down by opposition players. No one was close to him, and as you say he could have just watched it go out of play as the ball came off a mishit cross from a Stoke player if I remember correctly. Definitely came off a Stoke player. Blind is usually very calm in those moments

 

[dogwithabone]

Crossing lets him down badly. He does a lot of good stuff up until that point.

 

[Giggs86]

Has he been spending some time with Valencia? How many crosses did he botch today?

 

[ivaldo]

It was him and De Gea, but im blaming him for doing something so out of character from him that sparked off the calamitous chain of events that lead to their goal

There were so many incidents following the botched clearance; Pogba not getting tight enough, Herrera getting nutmegged, Smalling turning his back on the shot, DDGs blunder and Valencia and Bailly both going across to block the same shot, it seems incredibly harsh to lay the blame on Blind. Ultimately he gave away a throw in.

 

[Minimalist]

Foolish response tbf. Look at the video again. He hastily cleared that ball when he could've easily controlled it and made better use of it. No one was around him. Its surprising because he's an intelligent player with great awareness of things around him. If he applied what he does on a regular basis we'd have won the game.

I would rather you didn't drag me down to your level. Your logic is just flat out wrong. A bad clearance wasn't the reason we conceded the goal today.

 

[ShakeUnBake]

Loublaze is holding onto a bad argument with increasingly strong words. Sometimes you just get trapped and you're not in a mood to concede, and this happens. It sucks.

On average, the mistake Blind made would have little consequences. While it is bothersome to concede a throw-in you didn't have to concede, it is a small mistake.

To not blame him the 49 out of 50 times when it doesn't lead to a goal against but you do the one time out of fifty it does is results-oriented thinking, plain and simple.

 

[Devil may care]

Good defensively tonight but I was a bit disapointed with his distribution.

 

[prath92]

Almost had his gerrard moment today.

 

[Rossa]

Almost had his gerrard moment today.

Looked like Bambi on ice, giving the ball away three or four times within a minute. Mostly solid though and coped well with Mane today.

 

[Acole9]

He did well apart from a couple of moments where he slipped on to his ass.

 

[Kraftwerker]

Really annoying that he didn't try a few more crosses from deeper positions.

 

[Silverman]

Really rate Blind but I prefer Shaw at LB. More attacking.

 

[Giant Midget]

Really rate Blind but I prefer Shaw at LB. More attacking.

Think that was mostly tactical. Even when he pressed forward, it was only when Young was there to cover for any feckups. We played very conservatively today.