Selling Daley Blind

pocco said:
Anybody see his defending for the NI goal yesterday? That's why we got rid of him. He's lauded as a great technical player but I think he's very overrated in that regard too.
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To be fair; to blame Blind for yesterday's goal against N. I is a a view of football purely on the last error - and even then it wasn't the last error.

Watch the YouTube video of the goal :

1. De ligt scuffed the clearence

2. Blind did a half decent scuffed clearance understandably from a scuffed clearence itself but then manages to head the ball and get a good positioning on the attacker.

3. Blind actively goes for an interception & then trips (not gets pushed down by some strong man or how it maybe viewed by some)

4. The attacker crosses and De ligt not only misses the header completely but also has his hand waving about like Maradona trying to give them a penalty.

De ligt was at fault for that goal. Blind tripped on making an active interception after having to recover from de light's mistakes.

Anyway - Blind & Smalling were the best partnership at United post SAF.

Maguire, Smalling & Blind should be in our collection of 4 CB's that every team have - yet we have Rojo, Bailly, Jones & Lindelof who is less physically strong and not good with aerial football than Blind himself.

Maguire, Blind & Smalling & potentially Lindelof/Tuenzebe - should be the current collection of CB's we have. The reason we don't is what's wrong with United; managers are given too much power instead of a DOF who can see such simple simple aspects of football instead of a manager like Jose or Ole or LVG who gets rid of who they want just to buy who they want.
 
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Blind, Depay, Rafael, Nani - all players that were off-loaded way too early
 
lysglimt said:
Blind, Depay, Rafael, Nani - all players that were off-loaded way too early
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It still boils my p*** that the highlighted 3 were let go.

Blind isn't the quality we should really be looking for; it just goes to show how bad we are in the fact that he would improve us massively. Refuse to forgive him and Smalling for the 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
He wouldn’t make most of their matchday squads, maybe as a 4th option CB in the full squad but that’s about that.
If he was a great player he would’ve had bigger suitors than Ajax and Roma.
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Better than semi finalists of the champions league? Doubt it. Thats a big upgrade on a team who cant get into the competition though
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
It still boils my p*** that the highlighted 3 were let go.

Blind isn't the quality we should really be looking for; it just goes to show how bad we are in the fact that he would improve us massively. Refuse to forgive him and Smalling for the 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.
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Rafael did nothing after he left us to regret selling him too. I liked him, but I think his time here was up when he left.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
It still boils my p*** that the highlighted 3 were let go.

Blind isn't the quality we should really be looking for; it just goes to show how bad we are in the fact that he would improve us massively. Refuse to forgive him and Smalling for the 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.
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Depay was dreadful here.
Whereas Rafael and Nani at the time infuriated everyone in their last year or 2, by being injury prone and super inconsistent.
Neither looked mad at the time, so you have to stop watching their best seasons on video. Like most players, it came under Fergie's genius management.
 
Average player. He wouldn't make any difference to us if he was here.
 
Ekeke said:
Obviously not true given he was one of Ajax's better players on their route to the champions league semi final
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Next you'll say Henderson was a key player for Liverpool or Cleverley was vital for our PL wins.
 
Josep Dowling said:
I just had to point this one out. He was deemed not good enough by us. Arguably his only flaw was his pace but he had a good football brain. He’s now the experience head in a team who have dominated Real Madrid and Juventus and got to the semi final of the Champions League.

It comes down to decision making of the club’s board and prior managers. How has Young and Jones been given contract extensions for next season. Smalling is still here as well. Can’t sell Darmian and Rojo because their on too much money. Valencia is going. That’s just the defence.

4 of our back 5 tonight played against Basel in 2011. Courtesy of United Religion on Twitter. Embarrassing statistic.
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Always felt he was one of our more intelligent and technical players. Also as well as his versatility, I thought he’d be a good CDM, in the mould of Rodri at City, or Basquet at Barca. The best CDM’s don’t have to make crunching tackles because they read the game so well and then have great short and long range passing.
 
Blind is by no means fantastic, but he'd walk into this team in 3 different positions.
 
Ekeke said:
No I wont.
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That is the logic you seemed to suggest though - he played in a team that reached a semi-final CL so he must be a good player that will make a difference here. Its strange logic. Blind is average. That means he will have good performances and bad performances. Where in the United team would he make a difference? He isn't better than Maguire and I don't think he is better than Tuanzebe. He obviously isn't a great LB and he was terrible as a DM here.
 
0le said:
That is the logic you seemed to suggest though - he played in a team that reached a semi-final CL so he must be a good player that will make a difference here. Its strange logic. Blind is average. That means he will have good performances and bad performances. Where in the United team would he make a difference? He isn't better than Maguire and I don't think he is better than Tuanzebe. He obviously isn't a great LB and he was terrible as a DM here.
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No, I suggested he was one of their better players because he played very well in a number of games in their run. It makes perfect sense
 
Ekeke said:
No, I suggested he was one of their better players because he played very well in a number of games in their run. It makes perfect sense
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Can you explain then where he would make the difference at United? You also clearly don't understand what average means.
 
Ekeke said:
Chelsea signed Drinkwater

When did Leicester get to the champions league semi finals?
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They sure did, has he ever started a game for them?

Well coached side, running on high confidence, with zero pressure or expectations and a couple of brilliant players, that is true for both Ajax in 2019 and Leicester in 2016.

Leicester winning the PL was infinitely a bigger and world shattering achievement than Ajax making the SF of CL in my eyes, but to each their own.

Not sure what this has got anything to do with anything related to Blind, my point was that you can achieve great things with average players if you have a couple of great ones, but that doesn’t mean that every one who plays for that team is anything special.
 
0le said:
Can you explain then where he would make the difference at United? You also clearly don't understand what average means.
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You clearly dont understand that your opinion of someone being average has no weight.

He'd be an improvement over Lindelof at CB. A far better passer and played better defensively in the champions league than Lindelof has for us
 
Ekeke said:
You clearly dont understand that your opinion of someone being average has no weight.

He'd be an improvement over Lindelof at CB. A far better passer and played better defensively in the champions league than Lindelof has for us
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1) We aren't in the CL and won't be in the CL next season either. CL performances aren't always an indication of how well a player will do in England. The case in point is Fred.

2) Lindelof seems to be our third choice defender recently. My first comment said "He wouldn't make any difference to us if he was here.". So sure, you can replace Lindelof with Blind. To me, that is a like for like replacement. Replacing one average player with another. You are welcome to disagree.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
It still boils my p*** that the highlighted 3 were let go.

Blind isn't the quality we should really be looking for; it just goes to show how bad we are in the fact that he would improve us massively. Refuse to forgive him and Smalling for the 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.
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Rubbish. All 3 did feck all after leaving to prove we sold too early.
3 very frustrating players while at the club too - Depay at the top of the list.
 
0le said:
1) We aren't in the CL and won't be in the CL next season either. CL performances aren't always an indication of how well a player will do in England. The case in point is Fred.

2) Lindelof seems to be our third choice defender recently. My first comment said "He wouldn't make any difference to us if he was here.". So sure, you can replace Lindelof with Blind. To me, that is a like for like replacement. Replacing one average player with another. You are welcome to disagree.
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In my opinion he'd be an upgrade at CB on Lindelof, and also give a left footed option to our CBs. He'd also be an upgrade on Matic and Fred in CM. And we dont have cover for Shaw at leftback so he'd be better than Rojo and Young there too. So to me he'd be very useful
 
Red00012 said:
Rubbish. All 3 did feck all after leaving to prove we sold too early.
3 very frustrating players while at the club too - Depay at the top of the list.
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Depay did improved after leaving tbf, though I don't think he's a PL winger anyway. Rafael and Nani, yeah, their time here was up when they left.

The problem wasn't selling them. It's that LVG replaced these with even worse players. If we replaced them well no one would have been crying over them leaving. It's kinda like what we did last summer.
 
I remember a lot on here were of the opinion he weren’t good enough, too weak, too slow.. now the caf clamours for his return :rolleyes:
 
0le said:
1) We aren't in the CL and won't be in the CL next season either. CL performances aren't always an indication of how well a player will do in England. The case in point is Fred.

2) Lindelof seems to be our third choice defender recently. My first comment said "He wouldn't make any difference to us if he was here.". So sure, you can replace Lindelof with Blind. To me, that is a like for like replacement. Replacing one average player with another. You are welcome to disagree.
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Not true. Tuanzebe has been given minutes in cup games and at left back, he only got a PL start at CB against Newcastle because Lindelof was injured. Maguire and Lindelof are still the chosen ones.
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
They sure did, has he ever started a game for them?

Well coached side, running on high confidence, with zero pressure or expectations and a couple of brilliant players, that is true for both Ajax in 2019 and Leicester in 2016.

Leicester winning the PL was infinitely a bigger and world shattering achievement than Ajax making the SF of CL in my eyes, but to each their own.

Not sure what this has got anything to do with anything related to Blind, my point was that you can achieve great things with average players if you have a couple of great ones, but that doesn’t mean that every one who plays for that team is anything special.
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That's without a question imo. For the teams who aren't favorite for titles, you can get to advanced stages of CL through luck or by overachieving in one or 2 games in KO stages. However it's near impossible to luck your way to a league title of 38 matches without a ridiculous level of consistency which is impossible for a team who usually finishes bottom half of even fight for relegation (as they did before and after this season immediately). I don't think we are going to see a similar case withing the next 20-30 years or so, however I'm sure we are going to see a team making a similar run in CL as Ajax, Spurs or Monaco before them. We see these a lot.

CL is definitely more prestigious, mind you, but yeah Leicester's achievement is the probably the biggest achievement we have seen in the last 10 years or so imo.
 
Ekeke said:
Better than semi finalists of the champions league? Doubt it. Thats a big upgrade on a team who cant get into the competition though
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That’s a pretty silly way to reduce a discussion.

He’s obviously not a ‘bad’ player but with that argument we should sign every player to have reached a Champions League Semi Final.

He’s not my type of CB, LB or DM but it’s a game of opinions.
el3mel said:
Rafael did nothing after he left us to regret selling him too. I liked him, but I think his time here was up when he left.
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Having spent years watching ‘Turn Back Tony’ playing at RB, I cant help but feel Rafael could have mustered a better return.

I agree though, he didn’t excel when he left & playing alongside a Rio could raise a lot of RBs games.
Sandikan said:
Depay was dreadful here.
Whereas Rafael and Nani at the time infuriated everyone in their last year or 2, by being injury prone and super inconsistent.
Neither looked mad at the time, so you have to stop watching their best seasons on video. Like most players, it came under Fergie's genius management.
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re: Nani & Rafael - I’ve always regretted their sales, my attention span is too short to stay entertained by YouTube highlights. Still think there were players there but Moyes, LVG didn’t fancy them so ‘the end’. It happens.

Depay - Over-lauded when he first came & failed to live up to the hype. There’s a player there though & again they’ve had to leave us to realise it. His performances for us were woeful at points but we weren’t pulling up trees as a unit. Similar to Pogba he was scapegoated yet his exit hasn’t brung back the glory days.
Red00012 said:
Rubbish. All 3 did feck all after leaving to prove we sold too early.
3 very frustrating players while at the club too - Depay at the top of the list.
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Calm down dear.

Depay has gone on to prove he’s worth another chance at ‘the big time’. Yet another in the line of players to leave the club & improve their performances.

Nani on the day he left would walk into our current side & improve it immensely.

Rafael is likely sentimental but I hated Tony V with a vengeance so I’m letting myself off for that one.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
That’s a pretty silly way to reduce a discussion.

He’s obviously not a ‘bad’ player but with that argument we should sign every player to have reached a Champions League Semi Final.
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There's only a handful of our players that a neutral would pick over Ajax's players.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
That’s a pretty silly way to reduce a discussion.

He’s obviously not a ‘bad’ player but with that argument we should sign every player to have reached a Champions League Semi Final.

He’s not my type of CB, LB or DM but it’s a game of opinions.

Having spent years watching ‘Turn Back Tony’ playing at RB, I cant help but feel Rafael could have mustered a better return.

I agree though, he didn’t excel when he left & playing alongside a Rio could raise a lot of RBs games.

re: Nani & Rafael - I’ve always regretted their sales, my attention span is too short to stay entertained by YouTube highlights. Still think there were players there but Moyes, LVG didn’t fancy them so ‘the end’. It happens.

Depay - Over-lauded when he first came & failed to live up to the hype. There’s a player there though & again they’ve had to leave us to realise it. His performances for us were woeful at points but we weren’t pulling up trees as a unit. Similar to Pogba he was scapegoated yet his exit hasn’t brung back the glory days.

Calm down dear.

Depay has gone on to prove he’s worth another chance at ‘the big time’. Yet another in the line of players to leave the club & improve their performances.

Nani on the day he left would walk into our current side & improve it immensely.

Rafael is likely sentimental but I hated Tony V with a vengeance so I’m letting myself off for that one.
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Delay has scored a few goals in a rubbish league.

Emile Heskey would improve us at this moment never mind Nani in his “day”.

Hate is a strong word for a player who played 250 odd games for the club you support after suffering a horrible leg break.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
Having spent years watching ‘Turn Back Tony’ playing at RB, I cant help but feel Rafael could have mustered a better return.

I agree though, he didn’t excel when he left & playing alongside a Rio could raise a lot of RBs games.

re: Nani & Rafael - I’ve always regretted their sales, my attention span is too short to stay entertained by YouTube highlights. Still think there were players there but Moyes, LVG didn’t fancy them so ‘the end’. It happens.
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Valencia was doing pretty well in RB position up till Mourinho second season. In Mourinho's first season, he was one of our best players. He started to decline massively in the second season. Though yeah we should have got another RB after Rafael left. It doesn't change the point that his time was up when he left. He was getting injured a lot and that affected his consistency when he returns from each injury.

As I said in other post the problem wasn't selling these players but that we didn't replace them by better long term options.
 
Ekeke said:
There's only a handful of our players that a neutral would pick over Ajax's players.
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Not sure what your point is, Ajax players are better than Manchester United players? No s*** Sherlock.

I said, I don’t like Blind as a player - I’m sure in some ways that clouds my judgement but he spent a few years here & at points was a starter for disappointing United sides.

Him reaching the Semi-Finals of the UcL doesn’t change that. Lucas Moura basically single handedly got Spurs to the final, I’m still picking Neymar if I’m PSG.
Red00012 said:
Delay has scored a few goals in a rubbish league.

Emile Heskey would improve us at this moment never mind Nani in his “day”.

Hate is a strong word for a player who played 250 odd games for the club you support after suffering a horrible leg break.
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:lol:

I’m a little confused, Nani played 230 games for the club but he’s injury prone & inconsistent so bin but you’re attempting to emotionalise the word hate for a failed winger that played about 100 games too many for the club in a position he wasn’t suited.

I hated the fact he was our captain. I hated the fact he would spurn attacking opportunities by ‘turning back’. I hated the fact that when he did get far forward he forgot that he was once a winger & lost all ability to attack.

I hate Antonio Valencia the football player. I don’t know the guy so that’s as far as it goes but I couldn’t stand the guy on the pitch.

You’ve equated Emile Heskey to Nani & are acting as if Depay hasn’t positioned himself for another big move; we should let the thread get back to Blind at this point.

My opinions are all relative & I try to explain better below.
el3mel said:
Valencia was doing pretty well in RB position up till Mourinho second season. In Mourinho's first season, he was one of our best players. He started to decline massively in the second season. Though yeah we should have got another RB after Rafael left. It doesn't change the point that his time was up when he left. He was getting injured a lot and that affected his consistency when he returns from each injury.

As I said in other post the problem wasn't selling these players but that we didn't replace them by better long term options.
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I read that post & agree wholeheartedly.

These players we’re not irreplaceable; in particular at their levels of performance with us when leaving.

A lot of why I miss the 3 as I do is because they’ve all left at different times & I can’t see how we’ve improved/replaced their potential output.

If a player is underperforming you don’t replace him with a player the level of his poor form, you should be replacing them with ones that perform the way they were expected/projected to which we have not done.

Being honest, I just dislike [can’t say hate] Tony V & what he embodied whilst here but we’re no better off now he’s left either.
 
Ekeke said:
You clearly dont understand that your opinion of someone being average has no weight.

He'd be an improvement over Lindelof at CB. A far better passer and played better defensively in the champions league than Lindelof has for us
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Today he would be. Mourinho let him go because he switched to a low block and tbf to Jose; Daley could not play in such a system; especially in the PL because of the physicality of the forwards even in lesser clubs. He was gone when Mourinho came in. Damn pity though, I also think he is a better player than Victor even if pairing two left-footers with him and Maguire might be an issue.
 
Day after day the news coming out of United keeps getting worse. There's a depressing edge around the club at the moment.

But fans lamenting the fact the club sold Daley Blind is a new low!
 
POF said:
Day after day the news coming out of United keeps getting worse. There's a depressing edge around the club at the moment.

But fans lamenting the fact the club sold Daley Blind is a new low!
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It is only because what we have now is worse.
 
It was an extremely daft decision to make given the direction any big club in our position would have wanted to move towards - being comfortable on the ball and playing intelligent and technical football. At a club where fans often lament both the technical quality and the football brain of the squad, not to mention the managerial cries for a ball playing CB, we sold a CB that despite his physical limitations had all of those qualities.

I always felt he was one of the few signings of the post SAF that was undoubtedly an excellent one. We got a very good football for very little money. Just a shame that we didn't make more and better use of him.
 
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