[kundalini]

They're really not. The criticisms levelled at Blackett are exactly the same ones that have been levelled at him throughout his time in the U21s, at Birmingham, and now in our first team. You either 'get' defending or you don't, and he doesn't.

Nobody has major problems with McNair because he actually demonstrates the ability to position himself properly. Nobody is expecting anything Baresi-like from him either, simply the basics.

Seems to me that some of the contributors who didn't rate Blackett in the U21s, rush to post criticism of every error he makes in the 1st team while forgiving McNair for making the exact same mistakes. Caught out by ball over the top - happened to both several times this season. Failed to keep close enough to player they were marking who scores - Blackett guilty, McNair too (City). Against Arsenal Blackett gave the ball away 11 times. McNair 10. Presents big chance to opposition through mix up with defensive partner - Blackett/Rojo (QPR), McNair/Blind (Palace). McNair's marking of Welbeck was poor throughout. Carrick and McNair were asleep for Giroud's goal.

I have no idea whether Blackett or McNair will make say 100 appearances for United. I would imagine both will need to improve a lot to have any chance in the medium to longer term. But right now, they are doing amazingly well, unless of course you judge them against Rio and Vidic at their peak.

 

[Loublaze]

He was just as good/bad as McNair. Both made a few errors but Blackett actually made more vital clearances late in the second half. McNair's challenge on Wilshere could've earned him a red on another day to be perfectly honest, and some of his errors invited pressure. Wilshere's one on one came from a McNair error

 

[LR7]

Some very poor decision making today which put DDG under pressure at times. I'd rather Smalling-McNair in a back 4 in the next game.

 

[Loublaze]

He doesn't really know how to position himself and that's been evident since youth level, to be honest. A spade's a spade; he just isn't very good. I think he'll go on to have a very solid Championship career in time.

Thats laughable. If he goes anywhere else it'll be in the PL

 

[Devil may care]

Some very poor decision making today which put DDG under pressure at times. I'd rather Smalling-McNair in a back 4 in the next game.

Me too but LvG's obsession over one left footer and one right footer in defense means we'll likely be playing the 3-5-2 system until Rojo and Shaw are both fit.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

Me too but LvG's obsession over one left footer and one right footer in defense means we'll likely be playing the 3-5-2 system until Rojo and Shaw are both fit.

At home against Hull though, I think he will probably go to a back four and make do with Blackett at LB.

 

[Devil may care]

At home against Hull though, I think he will probably go to a back four and make do with Blackett at LB.

That would mean playing at right footer at LCB, I hope you're right but given LvG's choices so far I don't see it happening.

 

[Mickson]

He was just as good/bad as McNair. Both made a few errors but Blackett actually made more vital clearances late in the second half. McNair's challenge on Wilshere could've earned him a red on another day to be perfectly honest, and some of his errors invited pressure. Wilshere's one on one came from a McNair error

Really? Bad kick from DDG what was I saw.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

That would mean playing at right footer at LCB, I hope you're right but given LvG's choices so far I don't see it happening.

Yeh but that's what I'm thinking, Hull at home, surely he can do away with that idea. There would have to come a time where he would have to otherwise he would be moving Di Maria, Mata or RVP to the backline.

 

[khoazany]

People just can't give it a rest.You guys are not the only one who watched him in the U21s but you need to remember about the freaking circumstance that he has been thrown in (big game away, the whole team was woeful in the first 25 min not only him, our midfield can't control the game so he has to hoof it in some occasions although he should have done better) and he actually wasn't that bad under that circumstance.Typical redcafe when you hate a player, you abuse them to death.

He might not make it but luckily you are not the one who decide it otherwise he would have been thrown straightly to League Two.This is only his 6-7th appearances in the PL and he has been good in more than half of them.Yet people forgive their lovechild Mata when he has been poor in most of them.

 

[MDFC Manager]

I don't think he's a premier league top 10 defender. Basically he isn't all that good at defending.

 

[foolsgold]

A lot of the doubt can be tied back to the red card at Leicester. He became the public face of a nightmare collapse.

For me he looked shaky first 20 minutes against Arsenal but grew into the game and was in general fine, made some good interventions and clearances.

It's far too early to judge him.

 

[In Rainbows]

People just can't give it a rest.You guys are not the only one who watched him in the U21s but you need to remember about the freaking circumstance that he has been thrown in (big game away, the whole team was woeful in the first 25 min not only him, our midfield can't control the game so he has to hoof it in some occasions although he should have done better) and he actually wasn't that bad under that circumstance.Typical redcafe when you hate a player, you abuse them to death.

He might not make it but luckily you are not the one who decide it otherwise he would have been thrown straightly to League Two.This is only his 6-7th appearances in the PL and he has been good in more than half of them.Yet people forgive their lovechild Mata when he has been poor in most of them.

I've seen faults in all of his matches when it comes to defending, even his distribution aside from the first match. I agree with JB. His positioning is poor, and he's indecisive during confrontations. I could understand being optimistic of his chances here if he had done well for the youth teams, but that isn't the case. If Wilson or Januzaj struggle, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because they have shown great talent at all levels. Just because he's young doesn't mean you can't say anything negative about him, just as long as it's not personal or treating him like Nani/Fellaini.

 

[WR10]

McNair and Blackett don't have the obvious talent and potential that Shaw has in bucket loads, but they can still be molded into top, top defenders. We should be proud of our academy once again.

 

[khoazany]

I've seen faults in all of his matches when it comes to defending, even his distribution aside from the first match. I agree with JB. His positioning is poor, and he's indecisive during confrontations. I could understand being optimistic of his chances here if he had done well for the youth teams, but that isn't the case. If Wilson or Januzaj struggle, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because they have shown great talent at all levels. Just because he's young doesn't mean you can't say anything negative about him, just as long as it's not personal or treating him like Nani/Fellaini.

His weaknesses are as clear as day but I disagree that he can't improve on that.If you read other comments some even compared his performance with Wootton's performance against Chelsea few years ago which is just ridiculous.If we keep carry on judging players based on their youth teams performance then Eikrem or Petrucci should be in the first team.It's good to know how they did in their youth career but players do improve or stagnant and even by a huge margin.For me Blackett has improved a lot this season and patience is still needed for him before us redcafe experts decided whether he's a Championship player or not.

 

[Eugenius]

Both McNair and Blackett are expected to make errors, but Blackett consistently had no fecking clue what to do or where to be and kept shitting himself on the ball and hoofing it or dallying. McNair has more composure and tactical awareness despite not actually being a CB. It's no coincidence we got ravaged down our left hand side today and also 4 of the goals came from the same side against Leicester.

 

[Kant-ona]

A lot of clearances, he is good with the head, but from time to time he looks a bit slow on the ball. Maybe this dullness is more a question of slow decision-making than a lack of technical skills, however, you could see in the match against Arsenal that this slowness invites the opponent players: They liked to put pressure on him.

But it was only his sixth game in the premier league, right? Independently from the question what he showed during his youth career, it’s pretty impossible to judge a young player after a handful matches. More important, I am just happy that we have him. We are in a bizarre situation considering our injuries and he is doing his bit to help the team to get through this phase in the season.

 

[Freak]

Looked nervous. Poor distribution and very languid in his play.

 

[Minimalist]

I think he's doing his best with all things considered. However he does look nervous on the ball, lingers with his passes and get's caught out a fair few times. McNair looks like a rock in comparison.

His marking and tackling is usually good enough though. Not bad for a young lad anyway.

 

[PvsNP]

He clearly wasn't ready for an away game against Arsenal. Poor first half, but improved later on. Might be because of the formation change in the 2nd half.

I think he'll be a decent squad player once he's fully developed.

 

[marlowe78]

Some of his decisions made my head spin (including the ball he played across goal with Arsenal players stalking) but most of this was in a 3-man backline (including two players from Youth Academy) with no midfield support from Blind and very little from Carrick. So all things considered, he handled things pretty well and got better in the later parts of the game.

 

[Loublaze]

Both McNair and Blackett are expected to make errors, but Blackett consistently had no fecking clue what to do or where to be and kept shitting himself on the ball and hoofing it or dallying. McNair has more composure and tactical awareness despite not actually being a CB. It's no coincidence we got ravaged down our left hand side today and also 4 of the goals came from the same side against Leicester.

From what I saw McNair struggled with the pace of the Arsenal players. I remember one instance where Welbeck went past him down the left way too easily. He could've forced him outside.

 

[The_Midfielder]

The reason our defence is loooking bad is because we are unable to move the ball out of the back.. we either tend to hoof it away.. or make the simple pass bad.. thus causing more chaos on the backline.. Blind was seriously missed yesterday.. all the simple things he does.. of receiving the ball from the defence and moving it out..

 

[Kag]

Thats laughable. If he goes anywhere else it'll be in the PL

Not really. Well see, but I think I'll be right in the end. He isn't very good at defending and certainly doesn't appear as good as a solid lower Premier League-placed defender like Shawcross.

 

[FromTheBench]

Excellent defending by Smalling here ofcourse.

But re Blackett i think this GIF shows one example of his biggest problem for me. First his positioning is odd and then he doesn't seem to have awareness of Welbeck besides him and is late at reacting runners of a straight ball. He should be blocking the lines when pushing up or tracking the runner besides him.

If it happens once or on odd occasions it's fine but it happens too often to him. He always seems fraction late to react and that makes a big difference.

 

[NinjaFletch]

In Garth Crooks team of the week, despite being comfortably the worst of our three CBs out there.

 

[united_99]

In Garth Crooks team of the week, despite being comfortably the worst of our three CBs out there.

His selected teams have always been laughable, it's like he just picks 9 star players of some teams irrespective of their last performance, and then to mix it up a bit picks a couple of random players for absolutely no reason.

 

[khoazany]

Not really. Well see, but I think I'll be right in the end. He isn't very good at defending and certainly doesn't appear as good as a solid lower Premier League-placed defender like Shawcross.

There are not too many better CBs in the league than Shawcross so that comparison is a bit funny.

 

[charleysurf]

There are not too many better CBs in the league than Shawcross so that comparison is a bit funny.

Wouldn't mind Shawcross back at all. His injury record is fantastic. But I guess the hipsters will never accept a Stoke player.

 

[Kag]

There are not too many better CBs in the league than Shawcross so that comparison is a bit funny.

He's been at Stoke for years now, a perennial lower league side. The comparison makes sense because Shawcross was convincingly better at defending than Blackett at the same age. The very fact you consider him one of the best about, I do disagree for what it's worth, backs up my initial point. There is no guarantee that Blackett will play Premier League football, and the suggestion he'll go on to play Championship football shouldn't really be seen as a massive insult. It's tough maintaining a place in a Premier League back four. Shawcross has managed that to his credit. I don't think Blackett will.

 

[iBoss]

Thats laughable. If he goes anywhere else it'll be in the PL

Keane is better and he can't get into the Burnley side.

 

[carlosp]

Excellent defending by Smalling here ofcourse.

But re Blackett i think this GIF shows one example of his biggest problem for me. First his positioning is odd and then he doesn't seem to have awareness of Welbeck besides him and is late at reacting runners of a straight ball. He should be blocking the lines when pushing up or tracking the runner besides him.

If it happens once or on odd occasions it's fine but it happens too often to him. He always seems fraction late to react and that makes a big difference.

I have no issue with that. Blackett was trying to hold Welbeck to a high line. Smalling wasn't covering anyone and so he was just slightly further back so when Welbeck made his run, intelligent little run I must say as he dug himself into Blackett's back then ran, Smalling had him covered.

 

[Amir]

Wouldn't mind Shawcross back at all. His injury record is fantastic. But I guess the hipsters will never accept a Stoke player.

We'll take care of that.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He's been at Stoke for years now, a perennial lower league side. The comparison makes sense because Shawcross was convincingly better at defending than Blackett at the same age. The very fact you consider him one of the best about, I do disagree for what it's worth, backs up my initial point. There is no guarantee that Blackett will play Premier League football, and the suggestion he'll go on to play Championship football shouldn't really be seen as a massive insult. It's tough maintaining a place in a Premier League back four. Shawcross has managed that to his credit. I don't think Blackett will.

2013-2014 - 9th
2012-2013 - 13th
2011-12 - 14th
2010-11 - 13th
2009-10 - 11th
2008-09 - 12th

Average position 12th... so that would be a perennial midtable side (unless you treat the league as two seperate halves, which would be a bit odd)

I'm feeling pedantic.

 

[coolredwine]

I have absolutely no idea what he was trying to do at the end. Passed the ball, went down, realized the guy who he had passed to had nowhere to go, so got up again to receive the ball.

 

[Loublaze]

Not really. Well see, but I think I'll be right in the end. He isn't very good at defending and certainly doesn't appear as good as a solid lower Premier League-placed defender like Shawcross.

Geez, can a 20 year old who hasn't even played 10 competitive games yet get a little breathing space?

Shawcross is good but he only made 2 apps for the senior team in the league cup and he was loaned out to Royal Antwerp at Blacketts age never to return. Did you think he'd turn out to be a solid lower premier league placed player?

Keane is better and he can't get into the Burnley side.

He's not, and maybe Burnley's current starting pair have good chemistry and the manager doesn't need to break them up. I guess Blackett is only in the United team because he's left footed right? Keane is older and on loan, Thorpe is older and nowhere near the first team. Keane had his chance to impress LVG in preseason and he simply didn't. Blackett on the other hand rose to the occasion. If he wasn't good enough he wouldn't have started 5 of our first PL games, no matter how bad our injury crisis is/was.

 

[iBoss]

Geez, can a 20 year old who hasn't even played 10 competitive games yet get a little breathing space?

Shawcross only made 2 apps for the senior team in the league cup and he was loaned out to Royal Antwerp at Blacketts age never to return. Did you think he'd turn out to be a solid lower premier league placed player?




He's not, and maybe Burnley's current starting pair have good chemistry and the manager doesn't need to break them up. I guess Blackett is only in the United team because he's left footed right? Keane is older and on loan, Thorpe is older and nowhere near the first team. Keane had his chance to impress LVG in preseason and he simply didn't. Blackett on the other hand rose to the occasion. If he wasn't good enough he wouldn't have started 5 of our first PL games, no matter how bad our injury crisis is/was.

Blackett gets games because he is left footed. Even Vermijl got a game at RCB because he's right footed. There's a reason why we went with a 3 back. Blacket isn't good enough to play a two centre back system. We had no other left footers so we changed the system instead.

 

[Loublaze]

Blackett gets games because he is left footed.

Haha. I knew you'd say that. Oh well

 

[iBoss]

Haha. I knew you'd say that. Oh well

Well it's true. That's why he got called up for pre season despite being a LB.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Blackett gets games because he is left footed. Even Vermijl got a game at RCB because he's right footed. There's a reason why we went with a 3 back. Blacket isn't good enough to play a two centre back system. We had no other left footers so we changed the system instead.

Didn't Vermijl play LCB? Keane RCB and Evans CB? Vermijl is comfortable on his left and has experience playing LCB and LB for the reserves though so that is why he'd play there despite being right footed.

I agree on Blackett getting played because he is left footed.