Maguire and Lindelof Partnership

Maguire has been great

Lindelof has a lot to learn. Among our most upgradable positions

The things he lacks aren't really things he can learn though.

You can't learn to be faster, stronger and dominant in the air.
 
In what way? What are people after :lol: Funny its only Utd fans I see bashing him.

The price was laughable, but it was the price we had to pay, and he's been great so far.

I feel like the goal last night was almost a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, they were all expecting the other to deal with it, and then they never did.

Really?
He's been solid, and the difference in the passing out from the back is like chalk and cheese from last season.
I agree that he's been solid and maybe its my fault for not watching enough of him at Leicester but I was sort of expecting more, maybe. There's been a few
situations already this season that have been similar to last night Chelsea goal(Plus the header he missed to give us the lead at Newcastle still hurts). I thought this guy was somewhere near Rio level(Which maybe he will be one day).

Thats not to say he hasn't massively improve us because he has but out of the new signing I've been more impressed with James and Wan-Bissaka.
 
Agree. I think that looks the best bet long term.

With Maguire's lack of mobility, he needs a good athlete next to him.
And LIndelof seems too weak. Tuanzebe for me has huge potential and I hope he’s back soon. On top, he seems to have great passion for the shirt too
 
How highly do you lot rate Tuanzebe? He looks decent, do you think he's at the level of Tomori etc? Is he quicker than Lindelof and Maguire?

I think Lindelof is okay but makes too many mistakes and would work better as a squad player.
 
Smalling obviously wanted to play more than he was going to here. Nothing but respect for that decision, even though I’d personally ship out Rojo or Jones before him.

Hopefully after a season at Roma and playing most weeks Smalling will come back an even better defender (pure defending is his main strength) and then we can sell Jones, Bailly and Rojo and go with a group of Maguire, Tuanzebe, Lindelof and Smalling going forward.

How highly do you lot rate Tuanzebe? He looks decent, do you think he's at the level of Tomori etc? Is he quicker than Lindelof and Maguire?

I think Lindelof is okay but makes too many mistakes and would work better as a squad player.

I rate Tuanzebe very highly and I’ve not seen him have a bad game, he’s far quicker than any of our other centre backs and is a proper athlete. He’s still young so learning and needs to be led through a game but that’s where Maguire excels and I think long term Tuanzebe/Maguire is a perfect combination.
 
I agree that he's been solid and maybe its my fault for not watching enough of him at Leicester but I was sort of expecting more, maybe. There's been a few
situations already this season that have been similar to last night Chelsea goal(Plus the header he missed to give us the lead at Newcastle still hurts). I thought this guy was somewhere near Rio level(Which maybe he will be one day).
Other than VVD (unfortunately) there aren't any defenders in the world close to Rio level. Maguire has never been one of the best defensively, which is why many of us thought there was a strong likelihood that Smalling would end up back in the starting 11 as he would have, in theory at least, been the best partner for covering Maguire's weaknesses (and vice versa). Obviously that would have resulted in a slight downgrade in ball-playing ability, but it's not like Lindelof is particularly great at that himself.

The hope now is that Tuanzebe can come in and be the best of both worlds as I don't see Maguire/Lindelof working long-term. Tuanzebe brings the pace that Maguire and Lindelof certainly don't have, he has an overall physicality far superior than Lindelof (although he is somewhat weak in the air himself), and as he gets consistency I would expect him to bring better ball-playing ability than Lindelof.
 
The things he lacks aren't really things he can learn though.

You can't learn to be faster, stronger and dominant in the air.

Haha, at his age he probably won't be able to develop his speed but of course he can be stronger and more dominant in the air. Why wouldn't you be able to develop that?
 
How highly do you lot rate Tuanzebe? He looks decent, do you think he's at the level of Tomori etc? Is he quicker than Lindelof and Maguire?

I think Lindelof is okay but makes too many mistakes and would work better as a squad player.

Think/Hope he can be a good player but I have seen too little from him. He has only played 2 PL matches this season, one was bad and one was fine. There were parts where you can see he has good features. His weaknesses seem to be positioning, awareness and in the air. Most of that will improve with matches.
This injury he is having is a bit worrying and it comes bad for him personally. He got the third CB spot without having to play for it, as we could read in Smalling’s interview, but now Rojo is decent and there is some competition for the CB spots. That’s good on some ways, but as 23 years old Tuanzebe can’t afford sitting too much in the bench. Rashford already has 100 PL games for example.
 
Hopefully after a season at Roma and playing most weeks Smalling will come back an even better defender (pure defending is his main strength) and then we can sell Jones, Bailly and Rojo and go with a group of Maguire, Tuanzebe, Lindelof and Smalling going forward.



I rate Tuanzebe very highly and I’ve not seen him have a bad game, he’s far quicker than any of our other centre backs and is a proper athlete. He’s still young so learning and needs to be led through a game but that’s where Maguire excels and I think long term Tuanzebe/Maguire is a perfect combination.
Yeah, I even forgot about Bailly, but him too. I have high hopes for Axel as well.
 
Haha, at his age he probably won't be able to develop his speed but of course he can be stronger and more dominant in the air. Why wouldn't you be able to develop that?

I'd put aerial ability up there with pace as being a natural thing you're either blessed with or not. You can probably only train it to the level you can train your speed.
 
Tuanzebe will get his chance as soon as he recovers. I feel sorry for the lad though, the expectations on him is set skyhigh. Some people on here is hoping so much they actually start believing he is supergood without actually being tested at all.

If he is as good as alot on here believes, he’ll place Lindelof on the bench within weeks. I trust that Ole will play him when he thinks he’s ready for it.
 
Not so much about this partnership but has anyone noticed the problem of having both Lindelof and AWB on the same side (right)? They're both absolutely terrible in the air, and, imo, it's a major weak spot.
 
Not so much about this partnership but has anyone noticed the problem of having both Lindelof and AWB on the same side (right)? They're both absolutely terrible in the air, and, imo, it's a major weak spot.
I don't think AWB is to bad in the air as he is normally facing wingers. But how Lindelöf keeps his place is beyond. He gets stretched all over and leaves his space all the time. This CB partnership will never win anything.
 
Not so much about this partnership but has anyone noticed the problem of having both Lindelof and AWB on the same side (right)? They're both absolutely terrible in the air, and, imo, it's a major weak spot.
Was thinking about that side of defence mid half but more so about the fact they’re horrendous in possession. Ball goes to Victor who can’t get rid quick enough so gives it to AWB who has such a narrow window to play the ball forward so plays a panicky pass wherever he can.
 
I don't think AWB is to bad in the air as he is normally facing wingers. But how Lindelöf keeps his place is beyond. He gets stretched all over and leaves his space all the time. This CB partnership will never win anything.
Maybe I'm wrong about it being a weakness of AWB's but, from what I've seen from him here so far, he's really struggled everytime he's had to defend a ball in the air.
 
Was thinking about that side of defence mid half but more so about the fact they’re horrendous in possession. Ball goes to Victor who can’t get rid quick enough so gives it to AWB who has such a narrow window to play the ball forward so plays a panicky pass wherever he can.
Our whole right side is pretty dead, tbf. I do wonder where this perception of Lindelof being a good ball playing defender came from because - since he's been here - he definitely hasn't been good with the ball at his feet!
 
Was optimistic about this but they're terrible pairing. Maguire looks like he was overrated unfortunately and Lindelof is still fecking it up.
 
Lindelof can't blame anyone else but himself if his Utd career is cut short. He's been quite unreliable.

Wtf was he doing on that King goal.
 
Lindelof is the weak link. Too standoffish and quite hesitant/lack of bravery under a high ball.
 
Agree. I think that looks the best bet long term.

With Maguire's lack of mobility, he needs a good athlete next to him.


80 million and it is worthless unless we have a good quick player beside him to cover for him .

Absolute waste of money
 
Our whole right side is pretty dead, tbf. I do wonder where this perception of Lindelof being a good ball playing defender came from because - since he's been here - he definitely hasn't been good with the ball at his feet!
Wasn’t he nicknamed ‘The Iceman’ or something before coming to us :lol:

Was optimistic about this but they're terrible pairing. Maguire looks like he was overrated unfortunately and Lindelof is still fecking it up.
This Maguire deal gets worse & worse by the week; I honestly don’t see who thought it was £80mil worry of good business.

His mobility is his only standout weakness but it’s such a glaring one that when it’s exposed he has no margin for error.

You need someone mobile alongside a defender like Lindelof so you can babysit his mistakes; Rio had to do it when Fergie would throw a randomer in alongside him.
 
Lindelof has his flaws unfortunately.

Maguire started well but he's been terrible of late. He's bringing nothing to the table other than taking 5 minutes to play simple passes
 
This is the time throughout a season where Smalling would come in to cement his place as first choice. Sadly, he is not here.
 
This is the time throughout a season where Smalling would come in to cement his place as first choice. Sadly, he is not here.

Then, a few weeks later, people would rightly criticize Samlling for his flaws and the cycle continues.
 
Lindelof has his flaws unfortunately.

Maguire started well but he's been terrible of late. He's bringing nothing to the table other than taking 5 minutes to play simple passes
All comes down to our terrible movement.

Now that we're showing some urgency and players are moving, asking for the ball, Maguire's playing like prime Carrick.
 
There is no chemistry. 4 individuels plus GK and nobody knows what the other is doing, who they mark and what to do once there is some danger
 
Then, a few weeks later, people would rightly criticize Samlling for his flaws and the cycle continues.
While our defence still continued be solid enough to hold out and win a few games to keep consistency, just our attackers couldn't score so he got blamed for his ball-playing skills.
 
Yeah this partnership ain't gonna work, they're both far too similar to one another in a bad way, neither have any pace whatsoever and are so easy to run away from. Needs a pacey CB next to one of them
 
The worst match together for all four at the back. No cooperation what so ever.
 
I remember saying that having both of them at the back & playing a high line is a recipe for disaster since they're both so slow.
Any team who wants to ping a ball in behind will have a good chance at creating chances, simply because we have no pace at the back.

Unfortunately Tuanzebe is injured, but he'll displace Lindelof before the end of the season - at least I hope so anyway.
 
Tuanzebe might need another season or two to adjust PL. It makes loaning out Smalling look a stupid decision as season goes on.
 
They both look static at times and neither has good anticipation skill
 
I remember saying that having both of them at the back & playing a high line is a recipe for disaster since they're both so slow.
Any team who wants to ping a ball in behind will have a good chance at creating chances, simply because we have no pace at the back.

Unfortunately Tuanzebe is injured, but he'll displace Lindelof before the end of the season - at least I hope so anyway.

I said when we signed Maguire his partner should be Tuanzebe or Bailly, my opinion hasn’t changed.