How exactly was he a 'tremendous' player? That is over the top praise, if ever I have heard it.
He was a liability wherever he played and only ever looked competent against poorer opposition. The measure of a player is how he performs against high quality opposition, and he was less than competent.
He played in a variety of positions, to a 'not good enough' (defensive midfield), 'even worse' (centre back) and 'terrible' (left back) standard. The fact that some Manchester United fans heap praise upon such a player only demonstrates the drastic drop in standards.
How exactly was he a 'tremendous' player? That is over the top praise, if ever I have heard it.
He was a liability wherever he played and only ever looked competent against poorer opposition. The measure of a player is how he performs against high quality opposition, and he was less than competent.
He played in a variety of positions, to a 'not good enough' (defensive midfield), 'even worse' (centre back) and 'terrible' (left back) standard. The fact that some Manchester United fans heap praise upon such a player only demonstrates the drastic drop in standards.
Maybe, but at the same time what are you trying to imply? Blind possibly being United's CB means what? United could have him and Maguire now? United don't really miss Blind, who I too would have loved if he stayed.
He is a great pro, talented but in no way a match winner. Blind is probably a similar comparison to John O'Shea but a little bit more agile, higher football IQ and better passer. Great players and important players to have in your squad.
Interesting to see how active this thread suddenly is!
He's been by far our man of the match for like the last 4 or 5 league games. Albeit against fairly poor opposition, and struggling a bit with personal battles on long balls vs Groningen's big striker Benschop
Maybe, but at the same time what are you trying to imply? Blind possibly being United's CB means what? United could have him and Maguire now? United don't really miss Blind, who I too would have loved if he stayed.
He is a great pro, talented but in no way a match winner. Blind is probably a similar comparison to John O'Shea but a little bit more agile, higher football IQ and better passer. Great players and important players to have in your squad.
How exactly was he a 'tremendous' player? That is over the top praise, if ever I have heard it.
He was a liability wherever he played and only ever looked competent against poorer opposition. The measure of a player is how he performs against high quality opposition, and he was less than competent.
He played in a variety of positions, to a 'not good enough' (defensive midfield), 'even worse' (centre back) and 'terrible' (left back) standard. The fact that some Manchester United fans heap praise upon such a player only demonstrates the drastic drop in standards.
He was very good when Holland beat Germany too. Yes his lack of height and his lack of pace created problems for him when he plays against tall strikers. But any short CB would face the same problem.
Blind is a much better player than O'Shea and he would have been better than Matic too in midfield.
Blind even playing as a CB can create opportunities for strikers.
He was very good when Holland beat Germany too. Yes his lack of height and his lack of pace created problems for him when he plays against tall strikers. But any short CB would face the same problem.
Blind is a much better player than O'Shea and he would have been better than Matic too in midfield.
Blind even playing as a CB can create opportunities for strikers.
Matic was a top top defensive mid in his peak. That hasn't been the case the past couple of years. Blind at his peak, which I guess could be now or a few years ago was never, never better than Matic in midfield.
Matic was a top top defensive mid in his peak. That hasn't been the case the past couple of years. Blind at his peak, which I guess could be now or a few years ago was never, never better than Matic in midfield.
Yeah people have short memories Matic at his peak when Chelsea bought him back was a monster. He even looked brilliant for us for 6 months then started to decline. Was a world class DM in his peak
Why cry over a player who doesnt have a position on the field? too short and week to be a CB, to slow for left back and not good enough on the ball for midfield. He's mediocrity anywhere he plays and due to that and the new midfield at Ajax they are in trouble in the CL defensively.
Why cry over a player who doesnt have a position on the field? too short and week to be a CB, to slow for left back and not good enough on the ball for midfield. He's mediocrity anywhere he plays and due to that and the new midfield at Ajax they are in trouble in the CL defensively.
Why cry over a player who doesnt have a position on the field? too short and week to be a CB, to slow for left back and not good enough on the ball for midfield. He's mediocrity anywhere he plays and due to that and the new midfield at Ajax they are in trouble in the CL defensively.
Beats me, people are getting crazy over an Ex player who is doing well in the Dutch league and praising his versatility, I’ve seen better games from Phil Jones in midfield than I’ve seen from Blind in a United shirt, and I’ve seen better games from Rojo at LB, honestly, what’s the point of being versatile when you’re utterly mediocre in two of those positions.
By going through this thread you would think he is the second coming of Paolo Maldini, we have enough slow players and there’s nothing worse than a soft CB.
Best of luck to him but I’m not missing him one bit.
Correct me if I'm wrong in any of these things:
Played as our CB when we had 2nd fewest goals against in the league
Is a better CM option than Fred
Is a better LB option than Ashley f*cking Young
Featured heavily in a team that made it to the CL semi-final last season
And we sold him for peanuts.
Guy wasn't perfect, but he's better than literally all of our fit central midfielders and left backs. Can also deliver a decent set piece with his left, has actual footballing intelligence and is rarely injured.
Correct me if I'm wrong in any of these things:
Played as our CB when we had 2nd fewest goals against in the league
Is a better CM option than Fred
Is a better LB option than Ashley f*cking Young
Featured heavily in a team that made it to the CL semi-final last season
And we sold him for peanuts.
Guy wasn't perfect, but he's better than literally all of our fit central midfielders and left backs. Can also deliver a decent set piece with his left, has actual footballing intelligence and is rarely injured.
It really isnt difficult to be better than what we have atm. We're relegation fodder ffs. Doesnt mean we should harbour mediocrity here either. Or do you want Lukaku back or wish he was here?
It really isnt difficult to be better than what we have atm. We're relegation fodder ffs. Doesnt mean we should harbour mediocrity here either. Or do you want Lukaku back or wish he was here?
Correct me if I'm wrong in any of these things:
Played as our CB when we had 2nd fewest goals against in the league
Is a better CM option than Fred
Is a better LB option than Ashley f*cking Young
Featured heavily in a team that made it to the CL semi-final last season
And we sold him for peanuts.
Guy wasn't perfect, but he's better than literally all of our fit central midfielders and left backs. Can also deliver a decent set piece with his left, has actual footballing intelligence and is rarely injured.
Unfortunately, people who didn't see Blind's ability to be a good player for United aren't suddenly going to see this when he is playing for a different club in a different country.
He was reliable & also played football in a way that no one in our squad actually does which is an underlying understanding of pressure before it actually happens.
No one is crying out about Blind as if he was better than Vidic or Rio - it's just that he was a very good player & personally I had an attraction to watching the way he played and the way he out read his opposition nearly most of the time. This actually lead him to being able to pull out an 8 out of 10 performance at CB 85% of the time whilst also making Smallings game more fluid aswell as our teams overall.
I think alot of the fans who talk about him liked that & that's why we still talk about him today.
The Europa League Final is how you define Blind in my opinion. Jose hadn't picked him at all properly throughout the season & the man just came in and was my favourite player on the pitch - the way that the defence was instantly settled in a way that feels nothing but calm.
Blind brings a tempo, a class and a calming nature to the defence. In an attacking manner he brings a settled passing aspect from deep midfield when he goes on a roam from LCB. It's sad that some people still can't see it because it's heavily enjoyable to watch.
We have spent alot on the CB's over the last 5 years - alot of them look 'reactive defenders' and suddenly lost when trying to counter an attacking opposition. You will see Jones, Bailly, Lindelof, Rojo having to chase after the ball & the player before potentially failing or tripping over both.
in comparison; Blind was a proactive defender - a player who has the ability to get the ball and intercept before it reached anyone who could do something dangerous with the ball. That was a very underrated ability he had.
Would have loved to see this with Smalling covering 2 ball playing defenders putting immense attacking pressure centrally:
Maguire - Smalling - Blind
Think strikers would have struggled against those 3 whilst benefitting ours because that's quite an attacking back 3.
This thread apparently isn't very popular when he's shite, but he once again showe his limitations against Belarus yesterday. For all the bring him back people, I implore you to watch Holland's last two games.
It's a shame he left while the likes of Darmian and Rojo hung around but that's the issue, decent players like Blind have potential suitors when they're deemed surplus to requirements while no-one is up for matching big wages for our dreck. I'd certainly have preferred Blind to stay but that's not to say I'm pining for him.
Why cry over a player who doesnt have a position on the field? too short and week to be a CB, to slow for left back and not good enough on the ball for midfield. He's mediocrity anywhere he plays and due to that and the new midfield at Ajax they are in trouble in the CL defensively.
They reached a semi final with him at CB just a season gone (as well as their first title in 4 seasons). We won the Europa with him there two seasons before that.
They reached a semi final with him at CB just a season gone (as well as their first title in 4 seasons). We won the Europa with him there two seasons before that.
United came up in his press conference prior to Ajax's game against Chelsea tonight:
“Of course I'm not happy to see Man Utd and how they're performing at the moment,” the 29-year-old told a press conference on Tuesday. “I'm still a fan of United and it's not nice to see.
“Regarding Chelsea, they are doing well, they have a good philosophy under a manager who wants to play out from the back. They play different attacking football with a lot of youngsters and that's nice to see.
“From that perspective, it's good. But if you're talking about United then I'm not happy about that, of course.”
Same how we don't a collection of CB's that include Blind, Smalling, Lindelof, Maguire & Tuenzebe is confusing. They have been the best CB's at the club not matter if they needed to be improved upon eventually.
He just mentioned in an interview that this was his first red card in his career if this is true, it would be insane for his age and the position he plays (defenders more likely to get red cards than other positions)
Saw it happen during the Valencia game, he seemed to faint at some point in the second half and I thought he had something serious, but somehow he continued to play on after that. His post match interview sounded really weird and he had this look in his eyes as if he was spaced out. Really hope for him it's nothing serious.
Blind won't be joining the Ajax team during the winter break in Qatar, he's staying in Amsterdam to work on his recovery. Let's hope it's all under control now and it won't affect his career too much in the future.
Hope he gets well ASAP. I had a weird preference for Blind in our squad. Thought he was the most likeable player out of the transfers we made since Ferguson left.
