I suggest you watch the video in full. He's excellent under pressure. Victor has been the ever present CB in one of the lowest conceding defences since Ole came in, pretty much the same number as Van Dijk's Liverpool defence, to the best of my knowledge? Not saying he's better than Van Dijk, but he's a great footballer and defender.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 40
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Status
I did watch it in full, and I have watched all the games from before as well (except for the international games in there) and I'm always locked in to see how our defenders are doing. No doubt he has been doing well recently. He has pretty much made me a fan of him, but I refuse to overrate him this early and instead aim to have a bit of perspective on it.
I think we're pretty much in agreement that he could still improve. I just think he's also already a very good CB.
I would also want him to try more. If he misses five but the sixth create a good chance, it is worth the missed ones. And all the time the ball goes back to DDG who is hitting random long balls, I would prefer Lindelof to hit them.
Wolves 2:1 Man Utd
Two worryingly soft performances in a row for him, even with that revoked red, looked vulnerable in one v one's again. Little loss of confidence or maybe fatigue/carrying a knock?
Lucky to getbyellow
He was fine I thought and it was never a red card.
His lack of pace was badly exposed tonight but I still feel he has money in the bank for two weak performances.
Second week in a row being schooled around by half solid attackers. He made Jimenez look like prime Ibra tonight, destroyed.
Did less than Smalling on the ball today, yet he is supposed to be the ice man. His ball-playing abilities seem to be overhyped. Once he lacks a bit in confidence his defensive levels drop substantially and his passing too. Terrible tonight, has it all to prove.
He looked really knackered running back for their second goal.
Needed Romero to save his ass, with weak marking from corner too.
Brainfart..
Brainfart..
Struggled
Should we start to be concerned yet? He had a couple of scares but their 2nd goal was awful letting him get the shot in without any pressure on the ball.
Just not physical enough. Two massively poor attempts to block the two shots they scored against.
Had an alright night, not the worst performer tonight.
Looks knackered, like a lot of our players. Could probably do with a rest.
Had a bit of a tough time. Struggled to deal with the long balls and hold up play of Jimenez. Loved his aggression, though. He was pissed off from the tackle by Jota.
He was either too complacent or thought the angle's too tight with the goal. Stood so far away looking half-arsed about Jota. Strange.
Shocking defending on the first goal, not much better on the second. Also lost his marker on the corner that gave them a free header. His passive "hands on the back" style of defending almost makes me appreciate Phil Jones.
Started off pretty well but got rattled and then seemed like he was running in quicksand.
He’s been covering similar situation in this way before. Cover for a pass and most part of the goal, leaving the first post for the goalie. Right or wrong? Maybe only works with DDG.
Was alright, wasn't very sharp tonight alongside the rest of the team. He and Smalling both got jittery around the time of the goals.
Not a lot to be done for either goal.
Not a lot to be done for either goal.
I rate him, not sure if he's gonna be world class, but today was really poor, let Jimenez turn, shoot and score, it was supossed that he knew jimenez bc they were teammates in benfica but at times was getting bullied, also could be better in the second goal,
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Form has dipped.
Uhm. No. Smalling in those positions would have blocked both the shots, so no goals. He does that all the time, and weirdly enough rarely do you see people give him any credit for blocking shots like that. Ironically you don't think Lindelof could have done anything about those, so I guess shots in and around the box just isn't a important thing to stop then, for a defender. It was not jittery from Lindelof, it was poor. He did well to get himself into the position to block both shots, then he just fell asleep, or pussied out.
Neither did Chris Baresi Smalling block the shot. He wasn’t even around.
He’s got better and has now joined our other 4 cbs at the club to be another mediocre cb. We could have signed Sanchez that same year. Wtf are our scouting team watching (we even played Ajax that year!).
He would have if he was. Unfortunately it is not possible to be two places at once
Neither did Ferdinand, but like with Smalling it wasnt his shot to block. Lindelof was the one confronting the player both times
He doesn’t have the wow factor to be our starting XI CB. He’s done well this season but we need more than just wow, and today I thought Smalling made better passes than him. Lindelof was just making a safe passes today, I thought he was supposed to be the ball playing?
Exactly what I’m saying. Lindelof was around after Shaw fell on his arse, Smalling wasn’t. Because Lindelof realized what could happen and ran from box to box while Smalling strotted home. That left Lindelof defending against more than one attacker and he chose to cover all ways of passing and most of the goal. Find it very hard to 1. Blame the only one who ran all the way home to defend for the goal and 2. Use this as an example of how fantastic Smalling is, when he didn’t even try to run back.
wat
That is what he does every game. Receive the ball, take a nice touch, advance some meters with the ball, and pass sideways to Smalling or Shaw. Rinse and repeat.
I think it is a confidence thing more than anything. He can still become a really good defender of course, and I do think he has the mentality for it, but I agree he does have it all to prove still. @A-man Don't take offence of it or personal, he made a few mistakes but he'll be back on form soon. He will probably get opportunities in the team still with Ole and he has to prove to everyone he has what it takes. He still have to put in a performance against Messi in a few weeks, perfect opportunity to redeem himself.
If you look at the isolated picture than that's true, but the broader picture presents a different view to me. With smalling playing we never decide to play out from the back as strategy itself and second thing is the movement of Rashford Is poor these few games and martial most of the time his movement remains poor as well. Pogba doesn't work much off the ball too its difficult to find a forward pass in that instance.
Its just a weird place to celebrate the greatness of Smalling, when key for a defender really is to be around. And this is maybe a difference between them. Smalling is very dominant and therefore useful as a reactive player, and did not sniff the danger until it was too late. Anyway, the two of them plus Shaw struggled in different ways, yet the defenders were the least poor outfield players today imo.I think it is a confidence thing more than anything. He can still become a really good defender of course, and I do think he has the mentality for it, but I agree he does have it all to prove still. @A-man Don't take offence of it or personal, he made a few mistakes but he'll be back on form soon. He will probably get opportunities in the team still with Ole and he has to prove to everyone he has what it takes. He still have to put in a performance against Messi in a few weeks, perfect opportunity to redeem himself.
I completely agree with your first line, in fact I think you can level that accusation at virtually everyone of our centre backs since Vidic/Rio retired. Lindelofs first season was awful, I think generally he has been average this season and done pretty well since Ole has taken over, but pretty well has been far too well recieved by many.
He is decent in most areas, but doesnt actually excel in any and seems weak in others too, SMalling is still our best centre back
My criticism of Lindelof is fair as he should have blocked the shot. I expect that. I also praise Smalling for blocking shots. That was my point. However, your critique of Smalling not being around to do something is made up only because you got upset I critiqued Lindelof. Don't tell me you would be expecting Lindelof to leave his position and pop up out of nowhere to block a shot Smalling should have blocked.
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