Maguire and Lindelof Partnership

AFC NimbleThumb said:
Lindelof will mess up soon enough & Axel will hopefully displace.

Victor is the archetypal front runner.

He looks like a Rolls Royce when the games in front of him but he’ll soon turn his back on a cross or lose his head when a player turns him.

Maguire on the other hand looked :drool: First game & all but looked very good.
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Agreed 100%. Although Lindelof had a decent game, there were times when he looked shaky. I personally don't have confidence in him winning a 1 on 1 duel let alone an aerial battle.

His best attributes are his ability to pass/build from the back, but even there I thought Maguire did better with more penetrating passes.
 
Hope Maguire will have calming effect on Lindelof and he will learn. He does look shaky though for now.
 
No idea how Lindelöf has suddenly become the supposed weak link. The weakest spot in our back 4 is now left back, and by a very large distance. Maguire, Lindelöf, Wan Bissaka is solid.
 
Excellent start! The chances Chelsea created were largely because of the midfield and fullbacks. Thought Maguire in particular had a near perfect debut.

Lindelof-Maguire vs. Smalling-Jones really is night and day, when it comes to playing out from the back.
 
el3mel said:
I can't believe we finally have a staple back 4 who are all solid and in their place.

No wingers inverted into full backs. No CBs who are allergic to the ball in their feet.

Goodbye Smalling, Jones, Valencia and Young era.
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AWB is a winger turned fullback :P
 
Don't get it.
Chelsea created so many chances. If this centre back pairing was so good why did Chelsea keep creating chances then?
 
I thought they were both very good watching the game live but having seen MOTD2's package I can't praise them enough. Strong headers, key tackles and interceptions and calmness on the ball we haven't had at the back since Rio. We can't get too carried away as it's only been one game, and we must acknowledge we were lucky not to have conceded in the first half, but there are so many good signs that we've finally cracked a huge problem back there.
 
A potential great partnership. With Maguire's strength you'd expect him to be really physical but because he has great composure and reading of the game his physical side isn't used as much (unless it's a set-piece), whereas Smalling grapples because he hasn't got the abilities of Maguire and has to use his strength to compensate. We would have given away a lot of penalties with Smalling so Maguire is a relief.

For me, Lindelof is technically better. He can get out of those tricky spots at the back and in time will only get better. He needs to work on his aerial presence (but that's why we bought Maguire) and his judgement when a ball is being delivered into the box but his all round game play is solid.

They both compliment each other very well in a team where playing out from the back is important. But we will see if this holds up half way through the season.
 
An absolutely incredible partnership in the making, Maguire just looked like Rolls Royce yesterday, worth every penny.
 
If we can sort the MF in front of them, we won't be conceding too many.

Nice to see two CB's so comfortable on the ball.
 
VanGaalEra said:
If we can sort the MF in front of them, we won't be conceding too many.

Nice to see two CB's so comfortable on the ball.
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McTomminay looks like he could grow into that role. He's learning but he was more effective than Matic would have been yesterday. Maguire and Lindelof look like a class act though, their playing out from the back was brilliant.
 
12OunceEpilogue said:
I thought they were both very good watching the game live but having seen MOTD2's package I can't praise them enough. Strong headers, key tackles and interceptions and calmness on the ball we haven't had at the back since Rio. We can't get too carried away as it's only been one game, and we must acknowledge we were lucky not to have conceded in the first half, but there are so many good signs that we've finally cracked a huge problem back there.
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I saw the first half again, and had the same experience. They played very well together, and almost all of what Chelsea created, came because of hopefully teething problems in central midfield and on the sides.
 
Grande said:
I saw the first half again, and had the same experience. They played very well together, and almost all of what Chelsea created, came because of hopefully teething problems in central midfield and on the sides.
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Shaw is the weak link down that left side. Generally, when playing against teams with a good midfield, it makes sense to pack the middle of the pitch and allow them to cross the ball into the box, knowing that your CB's can handle those with ease. With Maguire and Lindelof I didn't once feel like they were in trouble when the ball came into the box.
 
hocane said:
Don't get it.
Chelsea created so many chances. If this centre back pairing was so good why did Chelsea keep creating chances then?
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The chances came from shots on the flanks or outside the of the box. Areas generally covered by a DM or full-backs. Centrally, it was a very steady performance.

Although we're sure to come up with better forwards, the defending will also improve. This was the first competitive match with completely new back-four playing together. I'm sure they'll get better as a group as they play more games.
 
Sultan said:
The chances came from shots on the flanks or outside the of the box. Areas generally covered by a DM or full-backs. Centrally, it was a very steady performance.

Although, we're sure to come up with better forwards. The defending will also improve. This was the first competitive match with completely new back-four playing together. I'm sure they'll get better as a group as they play more games.
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To be fair also, most of Chelsea's shots were long distance and speculative to see if they could catch De Gea out like last season when he was throwing them in the back of his own net. The two that hit the post were hit and hope's, there was only really Barkley's shot that was worrying.
 
Grande said:
I saw the first half again, and had the same experience. They played very well together, and almost all of what Chelsea created, came because of hopefully teething problems in central midfield and on the sides.
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Yeah, the first half was a rough watch yesterday. I praised AWB in the match thread and thought Maguire and Lindelof looked good but when you're in the moment with the ball bouncing off the woodwork and across the box it's hard to give defenders too much credit. Watching the highlights, or better still complete footage as you did, you can confirm in your mind that what went badly wasn't the fault of individual defenders such as AWB and the CBs and start to appreciate the great performances they produced in trying circumstances. Also in the second half they were arguably even better in that they carried the ball more and got us on the front foot for counter-attacking opportunities.
 
hocane said:
Don't get it.
Chelsea created so many chances. If this centre back pairing was so good why did Chelsea keep creating chances then?
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Midfield and LB falling asleep, any questions that were asked of the CB pairing, they answered brilliantly!
 
Lindelof was little bit unstable at moments especially in the first half but overall the performance of our back two was satisfying to watch given the previous seasons.I also look forward Maguire and Tuanzebe partnership think it would work.
 
Lindelof is 1 of the few players who came out of last season with any credit and is improving all the time after a really shaky start. I think he'll only grow and get better alongside Maguire. It's a partnership i'm really looking forward to seeing develop this season. They complemented each other well against Chelsea and that understanding will only improve as the season moves onwards.
 
I think they will form a very good partnership. just need more cover in front of them now.
 
Still have my doubts about Lindelöf as a CB but this was very promising indeed. Looks like this could develop into something.
 
TRUERED89 said:
Midfield and LB falling asleep, any questions that were asked of the CB pairing, they answered brilliantly!
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Indeed. Bar Abraham's shot that hit the post which came via a lucky break of the ball all of Chelsea's openings (Emerson's 2 shots, Mounts opening where he passed it behind Abraham) all came through getting in behind the FB's (which could be due to the lack of protection they themselves were getting from Rashford and whomever was out on the right)
 
arthurka said:
Still have my doubts about Lindelöf as a CB but this was very promising indeed. Looks like this could develop into something.
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The problem is he hasn't had a consistent partner, and when he did it was either Bailly, Smalling or Jones, all of whom are crap.
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
I know you're just being obtuse Nick but AWB hasn't played a single professional first team game as a winger. He's as much a "winger turned full back" as Ashley Cole or Patrice Evra.
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It was more of a joke than anything. I'm fully aware of the context, just being a bit of a prick with regards to the wording.
 
Shark said:
The problem is he hasn't had a consistent partner, and when he did it was either Bailly, Smalling or Jones, all of whom are crap.
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That could be it who knows, but he looked much better and much more assured in his actions.
I know it´s just one game but it looked very promising indeed.
 
Surprised to see a lot of somewhat-negative comments towards Lindelof, who I thought had a great game (particularly second half) alongside the mountain that is 5LABHEAD. I'm a big Shaw fan but he is clearly the weakest link in our backline now unfortunately and I wouldn't be all that surprised to see us target a new LB (Chilwell anyone?) in the future - albeit we clearly (midfield, RW) have bigger fish to fry at first.
 
People here still under-valuing Lindelof. is it because Jose bought him? For me, he was out player of the year last season and he will get better and better with a "general" next to him
 
neilv93 said:
Surprised to see a lot of somewhat-negative comments towards Lindelof, who I thought had a great game (particularly second half) alongside the mountain that is 5LABHEAD. I'm a big Shaw fan but he is clearly the weakest link in our backline now unfortunately and I wouldn't be all that surprised to see us target a new LB (Chilwell anyone?) in the future - albeit we clearly (midfield, RW) have bigger fish to fry at first.
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Shaw had an alright game yesterday but he will come good again. Anyway we have Dalot for cover before Young, I hope.
 
Good performance and very positive from our poiny of view but Chelsea are a team in transition and we'll have much harder tests, but positive signs.
 
Regulus Arcturus Black said:
The has to be a wind up @hocane right?

What chances did Chelsea create?
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In fairness they had 3 very good chances. Tammy Abhraham post, Emerson post and the shot Barkley had stopped by DDG, ironically Lindelof was squaring to Barkley at the time showing him on his left foot.
 
I thought they were excellent together. They've had less than a week together but they looked like the best partnership since Rio and Vidic.

I don't understand the negativity at all. Lindelof didn't put a foot wrong and was like for like with Maguire for tackles and headed clearances for much of the game. They were brilliant together and seem to compliment each other so well. We need them to have 40-50 games together it will do our team the world of good.

To think, our back-up defence (Young - Tuanzebe - Smalling - Dalot) now is pretty much on par with our strongest defence last season!

Excellent stride forward
 
I think they looked good considering how little time they have spent together. I especially liked the calmness with the ball that we now could see at the back. The only concern I have is that they both allowed some crosses along the ground to get in to the penalty box. This happened 2-3 times in first half. In modern football, where the FBs participate so much in going forward, the CBs need to take more responsibly to stop crosses, not just head or kick away the ball inside the box.
 
Two composed, classy, ball playing CB's playing together in a United back 4. I'd forgotten what that looked like until yesterday! Really impressed with Maguire had a real Rolls Royce type performance.
 
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