I miss him 
Daley Blind | Ajax Performances
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
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Ajax's best defender tonight, snuffed out everything
No better then Chris Smalling or Phil Jones, glad we got rid
sike
sike
So do II miss him
How many headers did he win tonight? Another great match by him. Another clean sheet.
Just such an intelligent football player. I bet Smalling misses his old partner...
Just oozes class. So calm. Complements de ligt really well. Great game.
Almost like understanding the game is more important than pace and strength. cheers Jose.
Have you seen our starting CBs?
I got called out for this the last couple of weeks but the bloke is an amazing player and I still can't understand why we sold him.
He’s a very good player.
Van Gaal's time was up. But it seems clear now that the next person we hired should've been someone who would build on his work rather than tear it all apart and send us back to square 1.
Mourinho for me is the most damaging manager we've had in the post Ferguson era.
Thats not what success looks like with the amount of money he spent. That was the minimum
He’s definitely better than Jones, and he’s a million times better than Rojo. He can also pass a ball unlike any of our clowns.
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5, joint most for Ajax with Veltman
Llorente did win 11 headers. But Blind dealt with more than De Ligt who only made 2
Blind could probably keep up with Aubameyang as well.
Daley Blind has played more passes into the final third (102) than any other player left in the Champions League.
4 tackles.
4 interceptions.
8 clearances.
5 headers.
1 foul committed.
0 dispossessed.
0 bad touches.
84% passing accuracy.
Fantastic performance.
Van Gaal didn't get much right as our manager but converting Blind into a centre back was a really impressive move. Hard to believe we sold him but have tied Jones down until 2023. He's miles ahead of anyone in our squad as a left sided CB.
4 interceptions.
8 clearances.
5 headers.
1 foul committed.
0 dispossessed.
0 bad touches.
84% passing accuracy.
Fantastic performance.
Van Gaal didn't get much right as our manager but converting Blind into a centre back was a really impressive move. Hard to believe we sold him but have tied Jones down until 2023. He's miles ahead of anyone in our squad as a left sided CB.
Technical ability and football brain beats physicality and height.
"Physically weak" they said. He's certainly compensating it very well with his football IQ and passing.
Ideally would have hired Pep after Van Gaal.
The board didn't plan for anything though.
Giggs 100% was the planned successor to Van Gaal. But Van Gaal's 2nd season went awry and then Jose became available.
And Woodward being Woodward just went with it.
Got to laugh at how narrow minded some people are on here. When Blind played for us, the majority on here seemed to constantly be digging him but now appreciate his talent after watching him tonight!
There were plenty of people recognizing Blinds uses and wanting him to stay. Quite naturally when he comes out and proves we shouldn't have gotten rid of him those people are going to be more vocal.
Crazy how underrated he still is. Should've been one of our last players sold, but we prioritised instant success over developing our football, and strength and power over intelligence and technical quality.
Why did Ed have to go with José
Why did Ed have to go with José
A big reason why Blind left us and went back to Ajax and not to a club like AS Roma is because he didn't like being a squad player at this age and point in his career. He's an undisputed starter now at his hometown club, possibly the first guy on the team sheet given his experience as well.
It's also interesting how people fail to see how the PL is literally the least ideal league in the world for him to play in. He's got many qualities but over the course of a PL season he's just not an ideal option given the physical violence that goes on. Even a purist like Pep Guardiola himself wouldn't use Blind in every match. He rotates his CB's based on the opposition.
https://www.skysports.com/football/...-is-rotating-his-manchester-city-centre-backs
"Maybe in another game there will be another one. For example, sometimes I play Nico and Vincent because they are both amazing at winning duels. Defensively, winning duels, both are perfect. In some games, I need that. In other games I need more of the build-up and, I don't know, I need more special details."
It's also interesting how people fail to see how the PL is literally the least ideal league in the world for him to play in. He's got many qualities but over the course of a PL season he's just not an ideal option given the physical violence that goes on. Even a purist like Pep Guardiola himself wouldn't use Blind in every match. He rotates his CB's based on the opposition.
https://www.skysports.com/football/...-is-rotating-his-manchester-city-centre-backs
"Maybe in another game there will be another one. For example, sometimes I play Nico and Vincent because they are both amazing at winning duels. Defensively, winning duels, both are perfect. In some games, I need that. In other games I need more of the build-up and, I don't know, I need more special details."
He never actually struggled playing CB for us though, in fact in his time with Smalling that was our best defensive record we had.
Jose replaced him because he wanted somebody bigger and quicker. Unfortunately for us they're much dummer also.
It just showed me to Jose was not interested in building up play, he just wanted giants to make a wall.
But yet he bought Lindeolf, this is how you know he was losing it.
There's still an argument that he's not quite the player we need starting for us in the PL. However as with the Herrera debate, in which some are saying he's fine to leave because he isn't tip-top class, I struggle to see how we're in the position to let good players go, as none of our squad members are hitting the heights.
He was fine yesterday, it was bittersweet seeing him play well for another team and it was downright bitter seeing how Ajax have thrived and we've diminished since the 2017 EL final.
He was fine yesterday, it was bittersweet seeing him play well for another team and it was downright bitter seeing how Ajax have thrived and we've diminished since the 2017 EL final.
Any chance he might be coming back to Man Utd??? (should have never left, thanks Mou).
We gave Jones and Rojo new contracts but sold Blind. My brain is getting fried whenever I think about it.
We’d be wanting to throw £50m at him if he had never played for us while putting in these performances. Criminal to let him go before Jones & Rojo. Did Jose only use him at CB that once in the Europa final? You’d think that performance alone would have encouraged him to do it more.
I worry Herrera will go to PSG and show us what we’re missing next season aswell.
I worry Herrera will go to PSG and show us what we’re missing next season aswell.
I thought Spurs were pretty awful in the final third, didn’t think he was particularly great last night.
Going by what’s written here you would think we sold a prime Ferdinand, not a player whose only suitors were Ajax.
Going by what’s written here you would think we sold a prime Ferdinand, not a player whose only suitors were Ajax.
Didn't see anything special from him last night. Had better protection in front than he got at Utd and was actually a part of the weakest part of the Ajax team. If this is an example of fan revisionism, what kind of response are we going to see when Lingard does great at Newcastle, Rojo shines at Getafe, Smalling looks rock solid at Everton etc? Blind had his strengths but he was also ponderous and error prone.
I'm still curious as to what Jose was trying to build the team towards. We had the biggest team in the league but barely scored from set pieces. So I guess we werent doing much work on those in training. He wanted to counter attack with big boys who are slow? I guess that explains why we barely ever counter attacked and instead had really slow buildup play, which isnt counter attacking.
He is better than lindelof
Only the champions league semi finalists and probable finalists.
I think its clear Blind wanted to return to his home club
And a CL semi finalist of last season were interested(Roma).
He was better than De Ligt who is hyped up as the best young CB in the world.
CB isnt really about looking special. Its about dealing with whats thrown at you and not making individual mistakes. On top of that Blind played a couple of nice passes into midfield and a pass or two in behind Spurs backline.
I genuinely don't think we did... any training? What did we work on in all that time.
The only thing I think we worked on was defensive shape / 2 banks of 4 with 1 man up top.
He relied on the players to go and score a goal by themselves, then his work would take over.
Unfortunately for us we often found ourselves down 1-0 and then the plan was screwed.
I really hope in the future we move towards the Ajax/Barca model, it's just much more effective and enjoyable.
Selling Blind and buying Lindelöf was a downgrade. I mean selling Blind is fine if you upgrade on him or buy a CB specimen, but we didnt.