[Ekeke]

Unless he has his eyes behind him, he did not see the man until it was too late. I know this is a Lindelof bashing thread, but it is ridiculous to say it is not AWB's fault, when the man was strolling right in front of him. He just stood there blinking for whatever reason. Just because his job is to stop the attacks from the sides, doesn't mean he allows players to run through centre.

Lindelof was completely at fault for his positioning, not keeping an eye on his player and for complete miscommunication when he left the ball go, assuming United player was behind him. But I put the goal majorly on AWB. Not my job is not an excuse when you are so close to an opposition player making the run.

Lindelof takes 2 looks towards AWB and the striker before the ball is played in. Try watching the incident before typing

 

[ivaldo]

Well if you have two men on him he'd probably be unable to make that run as the man in front would be blocking him off... and even if he were able to make such a run, one of the defenders could easily match it and make the block (this is something that Lindelof is actually very good at when he's marking someone).

The Bigger man taking a zonal position usually happens when they are in much closer proximity to the danger - so they can effectively challenge with that player for the ball. Maguire is doing feck all in his position which obviously doesn't help matters, but Lindelof is in such a narrow space where he can effect the play- the only thing he could really stop is a low cross (and even that could be potentially be whipped around him). The space between him and AWB is so large that De Jong could easily run between the two and have scored at the near post should the ball have gone there.

Wait. So he's in front of him and he's marking him? How would the situation be different then, in the example of a deeper cross landing on DJ's head?

Unfortunately for a defender, attackers always have the advantage with that run, because they're making it blind side and will invariably move first. That's why CB's tend to cover the near post position, even when there is more than one player in the box. They never get touch tight because it's so easy to be lost.

I agree Lindelof could be slightly deeper, but that's one of those situations where he'd be slightly too deep for a near post cross or a low cross because the other CB is out of position, and we are still open to a near post run. Ultimately, we're relying on AWB to do the job of Lindelof because Lindelof has to be further forward than he wants to be. If AWB is where he needs to be and he comfortably stops the shot, we don't talk about what a wonderful instance of covering he does, we talk about him doing his job.



Ignore the horrendous tweet, it's the video I'm posting for. Look again just how far out of position Maguire is. He needs to be four of five yards deeper. Not just from the cross, but the move before that. If Lindelof is next to DJ, then half of the box is free to attack. If Lindelof is next to DJ, then that near post cross is on all day long. The gap is just enormous.

You don't even need to play the video, just look at the first frame.

 

[The Original]

I have watched that over and over in order to give an unbiased opinion and I can't quite see how this is Lindelof's fault.

Football is a team sport and you defend as a unit. And when you defend as a unit, it is very important to keep the shape. When one player is dragged out of position, it creates space to exploit and this is worse when the displaced player is a central one, in this case, a centre back.

So when a central defender is dragged out of position, another player has to fill in. Likewise, when a fullback is dragged too far wide, another player needs to fill in, and usually, you might have your defensive midfielder doing that but in their absence, the covering CB might move over. This space between CB and FB is extremely vulnerable and must be covered.

Last night, Willaims got dragged wide, and Maguire went over to cover. The first problem is, that is where Fred should be, and that is where Fred was heading. Eventually, we had two players covering that space where only one would do.

With Maguire out of position, a very dangerous channel opens up between himself and Lindelof. To keep the shape, Lindelof must move over and cover. AWB understands what is going on, and moves in to cover Lindelof.

At this point, AWB must maintain responsibility for marking the man on him, while, Lindelof must put himself in the best position to head the ball clear if it falls anywhere between the centre of the post and the near post. He attempts to do this but fails in reading the flight of ball as he attacks it too early.

AWB meanwhile, has completely lost his man.

At the end of the day, this is 60% AWB 15% Lindelof 10% Maguire and 5% De Gea -- who is seeing it all unfold and ought to organize his defense.

 

[ivaldo]

I have watched that over and over in order to give an unbiased opinion and I can't quite see how this is Lindelof's fault.

Football is a team sport and you defend as a unit. And when you defend as a unit, it is very important to keep the shape. When one player is dragged out of position, it creates space to exploit and this is worse when the displaced player is a central one, in this case, a centre back.

So when a central play is dragged out of position, another player has to fill in. When a fullback is dragged too far wide, another player needs to fill in, and usually, you might have your defensive midfielder doing that but in their absence, the cover CB might move over. This space between CB and FB is extremely vulnerable and must be covered.

Last night, Willaims got dragged wide, and Maguire went over to cover. The first problem is, that is where Fred should be, and that is where Fred was heading. Eventually we had two players covering that space where only one would do.

With Maguire out of position, a very dangerous channel opens up between himself and Lindelolf. To keep the shape, Lindelof must move over and cover. AWB understands what is going on, and moves in to cover Lindelof.

At this point, AWB must maintain responsibility for marking the man on him, while, Lindelof must put himself in the best position to head the ball clear if it falls anywhere between the centre of the post and the near post. He attempts t do this but fails in reading the flight of ball as he attacks it too early.

AWB meanwhile, has completely lost his man.

At the end of the day, this is 60% AWB 15% Lindelof 10% Maguire and 5% De Gea -- who is seeing it all unfold and ought to organize his defense.

Give this guy a like.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

A swing and a miss. It's completely relatable; because those individual errors made my DDG and not by Allison directly effect our defensive record, and yet categorically have nothing to do with the defenders. That's why they're called individual errors.

Right, so instead of judging our team based on the context of the actual season, you want to judge it on historic seasons, playing against different teams with different players? It's as daft as those wierdos that think point tallies mean more than the finishing position. If we follow your logic, it makes the entire league shit at defending.

Classic hypocrisy in bold. Just look at your following paragraph! 'if defenses hadn't sat deep.' Well let's look at that, shall we?

Since the turn of the year, that's 32 games, we've recorded 19 clean sheets, and only 7 occasions where we conceded more than 1 goal. Now thats including the shit start we had to 2020 prior to signing Bruno. If we remove that, our stats get even better. That demonstrates a marked improvement to our defense when we began to score plenty of goals against teams. The exact opposite to what you're trying to claim.

You talk about convenient truths then call it a swing & a miss when one goes over your head.

I can’t reveal the convenient truth that based on very recent historic seasons this defence is actually statistically worse than the outlier but you want to talk about what would have happened in your mythical football fantasy where our GK doesn’t make mistakes

Continue believing we’re a few DDG mishaps from Liverpool in any shape or form. You’re going from pillar to post on a tangent.

If we follow your logic, it makes the entire league shit at defending.

Lol-what!?

We’re discussing Uniteds defence. If you want to know my opinion on other teams defences we can discuss them but don’t waffle.

Classic hypocrisy in bold. Just look at your following paragraph! 'if defenses hadn't sat deep.' Well let's look at that, shall we?

When misquoting someone on a forum, do better. ‘if defences hadn’t sat deep’, still trying to find me writing that.

Swing & a miss

 

[thomas porter]

I have watched that over and over in order to give an unbiased opinion and I can't quite see how this is Lindelof's fault.

Football is a team sport and you defend as a unit. And when you defend as a unit, it is very important to keep the shape. When one player is dragged out of position, it creates space to exploit and this is worse when the displaced player is a central one, in this case, a centre back.

So when a central defender is dragged out of position, another player has to fill in. Likewise, when a fullback is dragged too far wide, another player needs to fill in, and usually, you might have your defensive midfielder doing that but in their absence, the covering CB might move over. This space between CB and FB is extremely vulnerable and must be covered.

Last night, Willaims got dragged wide, and Maguire went over to cover. The first problem is, that is where Fred should be, and that is where Fred was heading. Eventually, we had two players covering that space where only one would do.

With Maguire out of position, a very dangerous channel opens up between himself and Lindelof. To keep the shape, Lindelof must move over and cover. AWB understands what is going on, and moves in to cover Lindelof.

At this point, AWB must maintain responsibility for marking the man on him, while, Lindelof must put himself in the best position to head the ball clear if it falls anywhere between the centre of the post and the near post. He attempts to do this but fails in reading the flight of ball as he attacks it too early.

AWB meanwhile, has completely lost his man.

At the end of the day, this is 60% AWB 15% Lindelof 10% Maguire and 5% De Gea -- who is seeing it all unfold and ought to organize his defense.

This is a great and well thought out post!

One thing I would add on this is that AWB did not communicate to Lindelof he was leaving de jong...it looked like he just assumed Lindelof would move over and cover him. It was a poor mistake but one AWB can learn from and improve upon next season in terms of better communication with his teammates.

 

[King Andow]

I have watched that over and over in order to give an unbiased opinion and I can't quite see how this is Lindelof's fault.

Football is a team sport and you defend as a unit. And when you defend as a unit, it is very important to keep the shape. When one player is dragged out of position, it creates space to exploit and this is worse when the displaced player is a central one, in this case, a centre back.

So when a central play is dragged out of position, another player has to fill in. When a fullback is dragged too far wide, another player needs to fill in, and usually, you might have your defensive midfielder doing that but in their absence, the cover CB might move over. This space between CB and FB is extremely vulnerable and must be covered.

Last night, Willaims got dragged wide, and Maguire went over to cover. The first problem is, that is where Fred should be, and that is where Fred was heading. Eventually we had two players covering that space where only one would do.

With Maguire out of position, a very dangerous channel opens up between himself and Lindelolf. To keep the shape, Lindelof must move over and cover. AWB understands what is going on, and moves in to cover Lindelof.

At this point, AWB must maintain responsibility for marking the man on him, while, Lindelof must put himself in the best position to head the ball clear if it falls anywhere between the centre of the post and the near post. He attempts t do this but fails in reading the flight of ball as he attacks it too early.

AWB meanwhile, has completely lost his man.

At the end of the day, this is 60% AWB 15% Lindelof 10% Maguire and 5% De Gea -- who is seeing it all unfold and ought to organize his defense.

The scapegoating is crazy, people are desperate to fill their agenda against him everytime. He even got bashed for not taking crap from Bruno and now not only Smalling but Blind is better than him, this place. If it was Maguire there everyone would solely blame AWB.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

AWB meanwhile, has completely lost his man.

Correct. Poor, or at least poor-ish, reading of his man's movement.

Then again, this happens - sometimes it just...happens. If it never happened, the attacking side would never score.

 

[Squeaky Bumtime]

And if AWB was positioned properly, and let's be honest he absolutely should be positioned properly seeing as he followed him into the box and stood stationary next to him; is that goal scored? If there is a near post run do we think it's fine that two players are marking one man? Or do we then use the power of hindsight and wonder why we just left a chasm at the front post? Both situations would be deemed wrong

Probably isn't a goal scored but that doesn't make Lindelof blameless imo.

 

[ivaldo]

You talk about convenient truths then call it a swing & a miss when one goes over your head.

I can’t reveal the convenient truth that based on very recent historic seasons this defence is actually statistically worse than the outlier but you want to talk about what would have happened in your mythical football fantasy where our GK doesn’t make mistakes

Continue believing we’re a few DDG mishaps from Liverpool in any shape or form. You’re going from pillar to post on a tangent.

Lol-what!?

We’re discussing Uniteds defence. If you want to know my opinion on other teams defences we can discuss them but don’t waffle.


When misquoting someone on a forum, do better. ‘if defences hadn’t sat deep’, still trying to find me writing that.

Swing & a miss

Hence why I called it a swing and a miss.

Come on. We conceded one less goal than City and three less Liverpool. That's it. The difference between us and the best defence in the league is negligible. So if we're worse than 4/5 of our previous years, but have close to the best defensive record in the league, then the league must've gotten worse at defending in general.

I know you're desperate to ignore context, but comparing ourselves to how we are currently performing in the league isn't waffle.

You don't make a comparison better by adding more variables. That's just statistical nonsense! You compare how this seasons team has done this season, compared to other teams this season, playing against the same teams, this season. Hence why finishing first with 79 points is better than finishing 2nd with 83 points.

It's called paraphrasing, but nice way to avoid commenting on you saying I shouldn't talk about whataboutisms, then immediately starting your next sentence with an whataboutism.

You've missed an entire segment from your post there bud. I take it that means you've accepted that particular theory to be wrong?

 

[E-mal]

That second goal was just AWBs fault, he is a naive defender and cost us dearly.
I keep coming back to this same issue, we got robbed because he's not great at anything.
His reading of the game reveals he wasn't brought up as a natural defender and his attacking play is pub level for someone who was once a winger.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

My take: Honestly I feel Lindelöf has been better than Maguire as a whole this year, but at their best Maguire is more commanding and assured.

Don’t know what needs to happen, but I think we can all agree that while our defensive stats were solid, our actual play at the back left something to be desired. It just always seems a bit ropey/nervy even when we keep clean sheets.

One problem might be that we want to play on the front foot as a team and press/play aggressively when losing the ball, but have a CB pairing that lacks the pace to do so without risking getting sliced through. I don’t even blame us for overpaying for Maguire either, as he clearly improved us and was probably the best option available, but he isn’t going anywhere now so it seems Vic is the odd man out if we want to improve

 

[Revan]

I don't know what he did wrong, to be fair. AWB was on their striker, and then decided to switch off. Lindelof might have used quantum tunneling and be in the right place, but that was totally in AWB.

Lindelof and De Gea are Caf's scapegoats when Maguire and AWB feck things up.

 

[anant]

Lindelof was having a good game yesterday, till the 2nd goal.

As far as whose fault it was, I do think Lindelof should have intercepted it irrespective of whether he or AWB were on LdJ,. Whenever a cross comes in, if the defender on the near post can clear it, in this case, he could, he should do the needful.

Similarly, for the 1st goal, I do think Mguire should have done better. Your job isn't to just ensure that the man you're marking doesn't get the ball, but also, there is no chance of that ball reaching opposition player on the far post. In this case, he didn't think about the second point and it was terrible defending all around

 

[Suedesi]

Because all top defenders go on apologising to entire team when they make mistakes

"Lindelof" and "top defender" should never be used in the same sentence.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Wait. So he's in front of him and he's marking him? How would the situation be different then, in the example of a deeper cross landing on DJ's head?

Unfortunately for a defender, attackers always have the advantage with that run, because they're making it blind side and will invariably move first. That's why CB's tend to cover the near post position, even when there is more than one player in the box. They never get touch tight because it's so easy to be lost.

I agree Lindelof could be slightly deeper, but that's one of those situations where he'd be slightly too deep for a near post cross or a low cross because the other CB is out of position, and we are still open to a near post run. Ultimately, we're relying on AWB to do the job of Lindelof because Lindelof has to be further forward than he wants to be. If AWB is where he needs to be and he comfortably stops the shot, we don't talk about what a wonderful instance of covering he does, we talk about him doing his job.



Ignore the horrendous tweet, it's the video I'm posting for. Look again just how far out of position Maguire is. He needs to be four of five yards deeper. Not just from the cross, but the move before that. If Lindelof is next to DJ, then half of the box is free to attack. If Lindelof is next to DJ, then that near post cross is on all day long. The gap is just enormous.

You don't even need to play the video, just look at the first frame.

If he's stood in front of De Jong then he could challenge for the header with De Jong, which would naturally make it harder for him to head the ball.

Usually there's more then just one person in the box for the attacker, hence the need to take up zones, 'cos there's a greater chance of players running in whatever direction... when there's just one man though it's a lot easier to keep tabs on him.

For me, if there's one danger point, that just needs to be your focus, if they double up on him it's highly unlikely they score. But if we insist on occupying spaces, Maguire should be roughly where Lindelof is and Lindelof should be within a yard or two of where AWB/De Jong are. There's so much space between AWB and Lindelof that it would be difficult for Lindelof to cut out any cross/combat any run De Jong makes.

It's just poor organisation/communication/positioning all round. Maguire needs to not be nowhere, and of course AWB simply cannot just let a man go free/assume he's going to be picked up 'cos that's ridiculous... and at the same time I would want my closest CB to identify what the danger is and act on it.

 

[RedDevil@84]

"Lindelof" and "top defender" should never be used in the same sentence.

I didn't and you completely missed the point.

 

[He'sRaldo]

I was more upset with his defending for the first goal. It was that typical passive Lindelof style which I thought he had improved on throughout the season. To seem him continue in the same manner was disappointing.

It seems he'll never get rid of that passiveness. It's really holding him back from fulfilling his potential.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Lindelof takes 2 looks towards AWB and the striker before the ball is played in. Try watching the incident before typing

He takes one look and the player wasn't there at that time I think and by the 2nd time the damage was done. Anyways, AWB was close to the player and had a clear view of him running into the space and still chose to stand like a statue when the player behind him was miles away.

 

[ivaldo]

If he's stood in front of De Jong then he could challenge for the header with De Jong, which would naturally make it harder for him to head the ball.

Usually there's more then just one person in the box for the attacker, hence the need to take up zones, 'cos there's a greater chance of players running in whatever direction... when there's just one man though it's a lot easier to keep tabs on him.

For me, if there's one danger point, that just needs to be your focus, if they double up on him it's highly unlikely they score. But if we insist on occupying spaces, Maguire should be roughly where Lindelof is and Lindelof should be within a yard or two of where AWB/De Jong are. There's so much space between AWB and Lindelof that it would be difficult for Lindelof to cut out any cross/combat any run De Jong makes.

It's just poor organisation/communication/positioning all round. Maguire needs to not be nowhere, and of course AWB simply cannot just let a man go free/assume he's going to be picked up 'cos that's ridiculous... and at the same time I would want my closest CB to identify what the danger is and act on it.

I can't see where you're coming from. I don't agree with it, but I see your point . As I said, I don't think Lindelof is completely blameless, but he's being compromised because of poor decision making from the other defenders.

 

[Harry190]

Hey, check out those morons talking about Lindelof.



They really don't know what they're talking about. Never set foot on a football pitch.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

You've missed an entire segment from your post there bud. I take it that means you've accepted that particular theory to be wrong?

Can’t be bothered with the waffle. What part am i missing? It’s a forum for debate & given how vociferous you get in here I doubt you’ll prove anything but let’s dance, what segment do you need reiterating?

I can bulletpoint my actual thoughts at the end of each post if that’s what you require.

 

[Suedesi]

AWB wasn't goal side at all and wasn't in line with his CBs even as they were going towards DDG goal. He sees the man and ball in front of him the entire time. The ball cannot score on its own and he was marking him the entire time. That close to goal, you're supposed to be on your man and not just passing them on to your other partner. Lindelof was in position for a low ground cross and aerial cross, but the cross was deflected and looped ahead of him and over him...he was totally beat by the ball because it was deflected right into the path of De Jong. Super fortunate deflection and all it took was a redirect towards goal. Lindelof was being active as he should. Looking behind him allowed him to know De Jong didn't do a near post run or attack the space near post which Lindelof was covering. AWB wasn't close enough and he stopped tracking his guy, lost his position never being goal side or in line with his CBs while seeing his opponent get in front of him and goal side together. Just poor from AWB. You can't really take up another position once a ball deflected like that...the guy covering the cross in the air and ground is at the mercy of the deflection of the ball. What's happening behind while the ball is being played is AWB not defending the man or at least competing with him getting position.

You can't let one guy beat you like that and nobody looks good. A deflected cross like that beat United and that's so disappointing. Just not acceptable when the margins are so small.

Yeah it was a slight deflection, but neither Lindelof nor AWB covered themselves in glory. Too passive, timid, lackadaisical all around

 

[Suedesi]

I didn't and you completely missed the point.

If I did, I'm sorry.

 

[ivaldo]

Can’t be bothered with the waffle. What part am i missing? It’s a forum for debate & given how vociferous you get in here I doubt you’ll prove anything but let’s dance, what segment do you need reiterating?

I can bulletpoint my actual thoughts at the end of each post if that’s what you require.

You know what? No thanks. It shouldn't be lost on you that I've discussed this with several people at the same time to you, none of whom thought this was 'a dance.' I should learn not to engage with the posters who want to argue instead of discuss. Keep your barbed comments to yourself next time. Have a nice evening.

 

[lex talionis]

Lindelof AND Wan-Bissaka are both culpable but a CB can never allow a ball he can easily clear to drop inside the box under the belief that someone else will deal with it.

Would any top CB ever allow such a ball to drop in for the tap in? No. You can't assume another player will deal with it.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

You know what? No thanks. It shouldn't be lost on you that I've discussed this with several people at the same time to you, none of whom thought this was 'a dance.' I should learn not to engage with the posters who want to argue instead of discuss. Keep your barbed comments to yourself next time. Have a nice evening.

PM’d.

 

[pratyush_utd]

It's Lindelof's man. He should take responsibility, same as against Chelsea where he passed the buck on to De Gea hoping he'd make the save.

Maguire has been drawn towards Williams because of which Lindelof is also little out of position. The ball is not even heading height so clearing it was difficult for Lindelof. AWB completely switches off and let his man get away.

The problem is Caf and all British journalist have already decided that Lindelof isn't good enough. So they see what they want to. This goal is on AWB and no one else. Only mistake Lindelof did was to trust that AWB will mark his man and not have a brain fart.

 

[RedDevil@84]

The problem is Caf and all British journalist have already decided that Lindelof isn't good enough. So they see what they want to. This goal is on AWB and no one else. Only mistake Lindelof did was to trust that AWB will mark his man and not have a brain fart.

Good post

 

[arnie_ni]

Ignore the tweet but in video you can see Lindelof looks back and see AWB near attacker. Only thing I will fault Lindelof here is that he didn't take matter into his own hand and trusted AWB. AWB was at fault for both goals

Pretty easy to see it was awb man all the way.

Still dont think lindelof was in the correct position to cut out the cross though.

 

[edcunited1878]

You don't understand football mate. AWB stopping to mark his man is stupid. But even if AWB was continuing to mark his man it's still De Jong who would likely get to the ball first because AWB was behind him.

Lindelof should took a step back and stayed in front of De Jong. That's a very basic thing for a defender to do. You don't hope your teammate who was running behind a striker to defend against a cross that comes from the opposite side. You should be the one doing that because you're the last thing that stand between that striker and the ball. You don't stop marking the single striker in the box until the ball is out of play. That's fecking basic mate.

And of course Bruno was mad, everyone should be it's amateurish defending tbh.

Actually I have and you're taught as a defender to be goal side of the attacker, always as much as possible. It was not a defensive recovery run by AWB.

So you're exposing space all the space in front of the goal by back pedealing or even worse turning your body and back to the ball just go get to De Jong? CFs make moves off the movement of CBs, that was a trademark of Chicharito.

You cover and rotate defensive lines. AWB is not in line with his CBs. He is not goal side of the defender. The ball and play was coming from the right side. Maguire and Lindelof shift to the right goal. AWB doesn't get goal side, doesn't mark his man which he is tracking into the box. AWB doesn't pass his man on, no way.

Lindelof was defending the cross, of which that, was deflected and took him out. Nothing he could do. That cross was very fortunate and went right to De Jong. AWB was static for too much of the play in addition to having horrible position building up before the pass, when the pass was made, and when the ball was in the air. AWB did not do anything to help his team, Lindelof, or defending.

 

[Suedesi]

Back 4 should always defend as a unit.
If the ball is on the left side, then the whole defend move left and so on.
3 of the 4 defenders moved and try to defend (with more or less success).
One decided he moved enough this game and it was time for a break...
How anyone can defend AWB is just amazing.

Welcome to RedCafe!

 

[Harry190]

Maguire has been drawn towards Williams because of which Lindelof is also little out of position. The ball is not even heading height so clearing it was difficult for Lindelof. AWB completely switches off and let his man get away.

The problem is Caf and all British journalist have already decided that Lindelof isn't good enough. So they see what they want to. This goal is on AWB and no one else. Only mistake Lindelof did was to trust that AWB will mark his man and not have a brain fart.

It is heading height....what are you talking about?

 

[Squeaky Bumtime]

Pretty easy to see it was awb man all the way.

Still dont think lindelof was in the correct position to cut out the cross though.

It shouldn't have been AWBs man to begin with but yeah he switched off when he saw Lindelof won't deal with the attacker, strange and irresponsible.

 

[edcunited1878]

It is heading height....what are you talking about?

If it was heading height, then why didn't De Jong head it? Because it wasn't headed height. The ball deflects over and ahead of Lindelof and lands right where De Jong ran to, straight in front of AWB to DDG's 6 yard box line.

 

[arnie_ni]

It shouldn't have been AWBs man to begin with but yeah he switched off when he saw Lindelof won't deal with the attacker, strange and irresponsible.

See, i get that, but because maguire was in absolute no mans land, i think lindeloff slid over to defend the near post because awb was then in there covering for him.

Maguire was that badly out of position, awb had to play as if he was the 2nd cb there.

Maguire should have been were lindelof was, lindelof then marks the man, and awb covers the winger coming in the back post (not that he was there).

He has to be aware to whats going on and that everyone had to slide one over to cover Maguire.

I think maguire felt he needed to get close to williams incase the guy past him and there was no midfield cover.

 

[arnie_ni]

Back 4 should always defend as a unit.
If the ball is on the left side, then the whole defend move left and so on.
3 of the 4 defenders moved and try to defend (with more or less success).
One decided he moved enough this game and it was time for a break...
How anyone can defend AWB is just amazing.

See, i get that, but because maguire was in absolute no mans land, i think lindeloff slid over to defend the near post because awb was then in there covering for him.

Maguire was that badly out of position, awb had to play as if he was the 2nd cb there.

Maguire should have been were lindelof was, lindelof then marks the man, and awb covers the winger coming in the back post (not that he was there).

He has to be aware to whats going on and that everyone had to slide one over to cover Maguire.

I think maguire felt he needed to get close to williams incase the guy past him and there was no midfield cover.

Can't believe not everyone can see this.

You slide left and right as a unit always marking near post back. If there's an extra man it better be the guy at the back post left unmarked.

Maguire was out off positon, lindelof slides over, but still didnt pick up a great position himself, awb just stopped, he tracked him all the way from outside the box to virtually the 6 yard box.

Why stop there?

 

[Harry190]

If it was heading height, then why didn't De Jong head it? Because it wasn't headed height. The ball deflects over and ahead of Lindelof and lands right where De Jong ran to, straight in front of AWB to DDG's 6 yard box line.

If it's not heading height, how does he score with his foot? Wtf.

 

[SATA]

Are Barca and Ronald Koeman still interested in him? Hopefully they put a bid in to so call revitalise their defence

 

[Sandikan]

It was a strange piece of defending by all the back 4.

We out numberered them 4 to 2, Williams was with their man crossing it, meaning he had to pick out 1 guy v 3.

Lindelof took a couple of looks at their sole attacker, and decided not to bother moving even remotely across, whereas Wan Bissaka was next to him, but oddly decided not to go goal side or even move when he saw the ball coming to him free in front of goal.

Just a real bizarre combo.

Oddly, it was in a game where I started thinking, Lindelof isn't too bad really.
But it's those big moments, doing the actual defending he will make many an error over the season.

I'm shocked he's 6ft 2. He probably heads at 5ft 9 ability.