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2019-20 Performances


View full 2019-20 profile

5.7 Season Average Rating
Appearances
47
Clean sheets
19
Goals
1
Assists
1
Yellow cards
6
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I’ve already said what I think his job is. His job should be clear to everybody. The picture isn’t great but even from that, I would question his positioning and awareness of what’s around him. He just should be doing better.

Anyway, Lindelof is obviously you’re cup of tea and that is fine but I’d like a stronger, quicker, more robust CB who isn’t a liability aerially. Like I’ve said previously, he is going to get targeted as the season goes on because he’s not got a presence and isn’t great in the air.

Not sure who’s saying there is a defensive crisis after conceding 1 goal either...probably nobody. It’s so hyperbolic on the Cafe at the moment. What I am saying is we need a stronger partner for Maguire as I’m just worried Lindelof is going to continue to be a weak link in that defence otherwise.
I agree. Besides when the ball wasn't cleared very far and it was obvious Southampton were gearing up for another cross, Lindelof should have stayed close to the CB this way he would have headed it first or made it much more difficullt
 
He's had a rubbish start to the season. A shame as he improved a lot last year and I thought that Maguire would be a good partner for him. Instead it seems to have become a situation where teams target him because they see Maguire as the good defender and Lindelof as the exploitable weak link.
 
Even with the mistakes we haven't necessarily been bad defensively this season. Predictably the reactions on here will always be heavily biased towards our recent results. If we were more clinical going forward, would the same level of outrage still be there?
No defence has been pretty good but without scoring goals it is hard to win games. People are looking for a scapegoat. If you look in Rashfords thread he is blamed for missing the penalty, not scoring, wasting opportunities and for not following Vestergaard on the goal. In DDG:s thread he is blamed for this goal plus much more. In this thread people who dislike Lindelof blame him for losing 4 points. And a lot of the arguments come automatically like some didn't even bother to watch the game. He is always blamed for being passive and to not step in but I don't see that was an issue in this game with 7 won aerial duels and 5 clearances.
 
Said it for months that he's bang average.
I've been laughed at for my opinions. How many mistakes does this guy need to do until you realize he's not good enough?

When he first joined the club I kept saying the guy needs time blah blah blah. even last season he went through patches when he did look good, but I’m starting to think that he only looked good compared to the shit around him. Now we have awb and Maguire he is getting shown up.

I have always liked him and have defended him, but I’m starting to think that actually he might not be good enough.
 
Not a good game for him, but I dont blame him for the goal itself. He was never going to beat Vestergaard in the air once we let him run up like that. Could be Ole at fault if he was enforcing a zonal defence (which would be daft).

The whole back four had issues as a team.
 
He is great with the ball on the floor, reads it well and mops it up well.

Put anything in the air though and he becomes a parody.
 
We are not bringing in a couple of midfielders in January! I keep hearing this but it’s fantasy and wishful thinking. We had a whole summer to do this and we never looked close to doing it.

The owners have tightened the reins and we are no longer spending. We are now effectively a youth team who will be lucky to get Top 10.

The glory days died with Fergie and have been buried by the Glazers. Until they are gone we are fecked.

It won't stop me hoping or following my team. If the 63 scouts do their job we have every chance of finding the right players to bring in this coming January, but they need everything set up and ready to go, so should be working NOW.
 
It's amazing some of the rationalisations for that goal. He didn't lose the header because the guy is tall - he got beaten by 5'9 Schlupp the other day and has consistently been terrible in the air since he joined. And the reason he got a run for a goal was because Lindelof wasn't tight enough in the first place or aggressive enough in challenging.

He's been here two years and these are clear flaws in his game. And we are conceding goals because of them. He's simply not good enough.
 
I agree but unfortunately, that's where the club is at right now. Years of poor recruitment has left the squad terribly short of quality in every area. They've tried to solve the defence this summer and build on a solid base for this season but they're making too many mistakes.

United have generally controlled huge chunks of the games against Wolves, Palace and Southampton. It's terrible defensive mistakes from rare opposition attacks (and one Neves screamer) that has cost them.

It is a lot of pressure but the first choice back 4 cost just under £200m. That is a huge investment.

But in those 270 min against wolves, Southampton and palace they have scored 3 goals. I dont think united were bad defensively in any of those games. Southampton managed more clear chances against liverpools defense. If united get a second yesterday no one would focus on goal conceded.
 
All he had to do was to back into Vestergaard and it would have been much more difficult for him to score. Instead he completely miscalculates the ball and lets him have a free go inside our box. Soton had two chances all game, both coming from Lindelof-errors. It was the same against Chelsea, only we got lucky they didn't score from his mistakes. Tuanzebe has to start the next game.
 
But in those 270 min against wolves, Southampton and palace they have scored 3 goals. I dont think united were bad defensively in any of those games. Southampton managed more clear chances against liverpools defense. If united get a second yesterday no one would focus on goal conceded.

4 goals. I hear what you're saying and don't disagree in general but it's the nature of the goals that cause the most concern. United are playing with Pogba in a midfield 2 so the protection in front of the defence should be a worry. But Pogba's been fine. 2 of the 4 goals they've conceded this season are for no reason other than because Lindelof is useless in the air.

The Palace one was so bad it needs no more discussion. Vestegaard is a monster but the most concerning thing is how clear the header was. You just can't make it that easy for him. He would have made no clearer a contact if Lindelof wasn't even there.

A Manchester United defender (especially a centre back) can't be beaten that easily. It showed a really worrying lack of desire.
 
He will never be a good CB, too weak in the air, becomes a liability really.
How about changing him to play in def mid role? Isn't it he started his career as a midfielder?
 
It won't stop me hoping or following my team. If the 63 scouts do their job we have every chance of finding the right players to bring in this coming January, but they need everything set up and ready to go, so should be working NOW.

Well good for you, I have been hoping and following since the 70s.

But January signings are ‘highly unlikely’ no matter how much you, I or the rest of the world hope.

What people at the club ‘should’ be doing now is one thing. Separating hope from reality has kept me sane regarding football matters for over 45 years so I see no need to resort to wishful thinking now.

We both want the best for our team, we both want our team to be the best, but I can tell you now we have a ways to go down before we start coming up again.

I said the opposite only 1 week ago but one look at our managers face on Saturday told me the guy is a bit lost and that worries me.
 
You say he passed the bucket and should control the area. Do you mean he should have followed him out and around Rashford to mark him or what do you mean? Not saying you're wrong, just don't see how he could have controlled the area in front of the goal if he did. See the photo, should Lindelof have left his position and followed him and marked him?
imgur.com/a/XBg7J49


Looking at the picture it seems I was wrong but after looking at the replay a second time I'm annoyed again :lol:.
 
He will never be a good CB, too weak in the air, becomes a liability really.
How about changing him to play in def mid role? Isn't it he started his career as a midfielder?

He aint a midfielder.... At all. Stop this nosense that CB's can play in midfield.

And regarding his performances, he's a top 10 level CB. Not better than Michael Keane or Jonny Evans for instance. But he's our 2nd best CB
 
He will never be a good CB, too weak in the air, becomes a liability really.
How about changing him to play in def mid role? Isn't it he started his career as a midfielder?

He'd be an average DM too because of how passive he is, but maybe slightly better than CB because his heading wouldnt be a focus
 
Nothing wrong with what he done. A 6ft6 defender had the run on him and beat him in the air. You put Maguire/Van Dijk/whatever CB there and it's the same outcome. Positioning wise he's fine as the balls coming in but expecting him to beat Vestegaard who has a run up from a standing jump is being unrealistic.
 
Nothing wrong with what he done. A 6ft6 defender had the run on him and beat him in the air. You put Maguire/Van Dijk/whatever CB there and it's the same outcome. Positioning wise he's fine as the balls coming in but expecting him to beat Vestegaard who has a run up from a standing jump is being unrealistic.
Yeah the cross was bob on too. About 6 inches too high for Lindelöf to physically jump high enough to get there. Maybe a taller player would’ve nudged the ball away but I don’t think he was ‘beat’ to the header and it wasn’t a case of being out strengthened.
 
He'd be an average DM too because of how passive he is, but maybe slightly better than CB because his heading wouldnt be a focus
What do you mean how passive he is? As in he wouldn’t take risks?

I’d be happy seeing him play in DM just to sure up the midfield, protect the defense and allow Pogba to get forward without having Matic anywhere near the pitch. We should’ve bought a DM but this is the situation we’re in.
 
Lindeløf lost two duels, but he hasn´t done any mistakes. Being small is not a mistake.

Lindeløf should play in Spain. A chock move in January. Lindeløf to Barcelona and Koulibaly to United. I´d take that.
 
I liked his general play, like how he took the option to take on the defender and pass the ball to AWB instead of going for safe pass, which started the build up play for the goal but him losing headers has been a issue for long time now. It happens for CBs but it happens too often for Lindelof.

In a league where CBs are expected to win many headers, he is looking bad fit now. Wonder what criteria did we use to sign him when heading is one of the strongest area for a CB especially in PL.
 
Amazing how he's managed to build up a strong reputation after starring in probably our worst ever season from a defensive POV. Smalling and Jones led our defence in 17/18, carrying an awful Lindelof and playing 2536 and 1975 EPL minutes along the way. We conceded just 28 goals, keeping 18 cleansheets, and had one of the best defensive records in Europe, but the concensus was that Smalling and Jones were not good enough, perhaps, rightly so. One year later, Lindelof improves from awful to average, playing 2602 minutes, leading the defence in terms of minutes and conceding 54! goals along the way, and the consensus was that he's good enough and we should find him a partner and make him an automatic stater! Astonishing. He's benefitted simply from staying fit and not being Phil Jones or Chris Smalling. He is completely average, passive and incredibly reactive. He doesn't make too many distinct errors because he reacts late or simply shirks and avoids responsibility, but you're going to concede loads with seemingly no one to blame. He doesn't even have the deceit of looking flawless anymore.

Agree 100%. This is also how I see it.
 
I liked his general play, like how he took the option to take on the defender and pass the ball to AWB instead of going for safe pass, which started the build up play for the goal but him losing headers has been a issue for long time now. It happens for CBs but it happens too often for Lindelof.

In a league where CBs are expected to win many headers, he is looking bad fit now. Wonder what criteria did we use to sign him when heading is one of the strongest area for a CB especially in PL.

Regarding this season though,

Palace fair enough but it's probably harsh for anyone to point to the Vestegaard situation. A centre back who had a run on him, probably a 50/50 chance on making that one even for a good aerial defender.
 
Regarding this season though,

Palace fair enough but it's probably harsh for anyone to point to the Vestegaard situation. A centre back who had a run on him, probably a 50/50 chance on making that one even for a good aerial defender.

It is a classic case of finding a scapegoat when we concede. It is Lindelof in defence, McT in Mid and Lingard upfront.
 
Regarding this season though,

Palace fair enough but it's probably harsh for anyone to point to the Vestegaard situation. A centre back who had a run on him, probably a 50/50 chance on making that one even for a good aerial defender.

You answered it, it would have been a 50/50 for good aerial defender, but Lindelof is not very good at heading the ball and physicality is big weakness. Should have made it lot more tougher, thought it was easy for Southampton defender to score.
 
Regarding this season though,

Palace fair enough but it's probably harsh for anyone to point to the Vestegaard situation. A centre back who had a run on him, probably a 50/50 chance on making that one even for a good aerial defender.

He doesnt need to win the header. He needs to effect the player winning the header so that its hard for him to get an effort on target. Whether thats blocking, putting him off balance or jumping with him and putting him off. All ways to defend the situation without winning the header
 
It is a classic case of finding a scapegoat when we concede. It is Lindelof in defence, McT in Mid and Lingard upfront.

It can be a coaching thing too. We concede way too many chances from corners.

They must have been working on set pieces in training, we are one of the worst teams when it comes to attacking or defending them.

I agree you cannot do anything with Lindelof or DDG making mistakes, but you can surely improve the strikers finishing.

Did you also tried to find a scapegoat when you blamed Lindelof and De Gea?

It's not like everyone is searching for players just to blame them for the sake of it. Lingard has been poor, it's not finding a scapegoat, it's pointing out poor player in the first 11.
 
Did you also tried to find a scapegoat when you blamed Lindelof and De Gea?

It's not like everyone is searching for players just to blame them for the sake of it. Lingard has been poor, it's not finding a scapegoat, it's pointing out poor player in the first 11.

I think you will see there is a difference between calling out a mistake and finding a scapegoat.

I was clearly saying you cannot do anything about individual mistakes whereas you can work on finishing.

Show me on my posts where I criticised Lindelof for the goal against Southampton?

Yeah, Lukaku wasn't missing sitters. We would have been on 12 points if we had Lukaku and Sanchez.

Based on the bold part, you think having Lukaku and Sanchez we would have had 12 points? based on what?

Lukaku doesnt waste sitters? Rashford is above Lukaku by 1 missed chance, but in my post I have said we need to work on finishing.

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/big_chance_missed

On which performance for Manutd has Sanchez performed well in his 18 months?
 
I think you will see there is a difference between calling out a mistake and finding a scapegoat.

I was clearly saying you cannot do anything about individual mistakes whereas you can work on finishing.

Show me on my posts where I criticised Lindelof for the goal against Southampton?

So you said Lindelof and De Gea made mistakes, I said Lindelof made mistake. So why has this turned into finding a scapegoat? Just because someone says defender was at fault for the goal doesn't mean we are trying to find a scapegoat. It's called analysis and rating the performance.


Based on the bold part, you think having Lukaku and Sanchez we would have had 12 points? based on what?

Lukaku doesnt waste sitters? Rashford is above Lukaku by 1 missed chance, but in my post I have said we need to work on finishing.

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/big_chance_missed

On which performance for Manutd has Sanchez performed well in his 18 months?

:lol: Not sure whether to laugh or cry. It was obvious sarcastic post.
 
So you said Lindelof and De Gea made mistakes, I said Lindelof made mistake. So why has this turned into finding a scapegoat? Just because someone says defender was at fault for the goal doesn't mean we are trying to find a scapegoat. It's called analysis and rating the performance.

It was a general note on this thread where Lindelof made 1 mistake and the second you wouldn't call a glaring mistake and calls for Smalling to come back?

Where most fans could not bare to have smalling in the first team.
 
It was a general note on this thread where Lindelof made 1 mistake and the second you wouldn't call a glaring mistake and calls for Smalling to come back?

Where most fans could not bare to have smalling in the first team.

Tbh it wasn't just 1 mistake. I like him, defended him a lot but I don't think he is defensively stronger. Smalling fans take it to next level because of their obvious agenda but there is bit of truth in what many said.

Hopefully he will improve or gets benched by either Tuanzebe or new CB.
 
Nothing wrong with what he done. A 6ft6 defender had the run on him and beat him in the air. You put Maguire/Van Dijk/whatever CB there and it's the same outcome. Positioning wise he's fine as the balls coming in but expecting him to beat Vestegaard who has a run up from a standing jump is being unrealistic.

No one is expecting him to beat him in the air. What they're expecting from him is to make it difficult for him. If it were down to height Crouch would have been the EPL record goal scorer, but he wasn't as defenders knew how to position themselves with him. When there's 2 opposing players on the edge of your 6 yard area, you'd expect the centre halfs to have them covered from a floated in cross. Look at the goal Maguire had his man covered.
I did expect Lindelof to beat schlupp the other week, as he's 4/5 inches taller than him, but no. There's a common fault in his game. I've no idea if it can be coached out of him, but it's certainly an area he's struggling.
 
Tbh it wasn't just 1 mistake. I like him, defended him a lot but I don't think he is defensively stronger. Smalling fans take it to next level because of their obvious agenda but there is bit of truth in what many said.

Hopefully he will improve or gets benched by either Tuanzebe or new CB.

I don't Lindelof is the greatest, I like him alot because he seems to want to play for the club, but I dont think it is a case where we need to spend money on a CB because other areas of the team we are deficient in.

The fear I have with Tuanzebe is that he is similar to Lindelof in the air.

These mistakes are highlighted even more because we are struggling, it is frustrating.
 
I don't Lindelof is the greatest, I like him alot because he seems to want to play for the club, but I dont think it is a case where we need to spend money on a CB because other areas of the team we are deficient in.

The fear I have with Tuanzebe is that he is similar to Lindelof in the air.

These mistakes are highlighted even more because we are struggling, it is frustrating.

Yeah there are other areas which needs addressing but conceding soft goals will set us back big time. Scoring against us should be very challenging, at the moment we are going well and then undoing all the good work with silly mistakes.

Yeah, I'm not saying Tuanzebe is the answer but we have already watched other players who failed to step up. Ole rates Tuanzebe highly, so maybe he will form a very good partnership with Maguire. He is very strong physically and can't think of many attackers who will beat him with raw pace.

For now, Maguire and Lindelof are first choice players but if we can't keep clean sheets and stop these silly mistakes then won't be surprised to see Lindelof getting dropped for few games. And then it will be on Tuanzebe to retain his position.
 
Yeah there are other areas which needs addressing but conceding soft goals will set us back big time. Scoring against us should be very challenging, at the moment we are going well and then undoing all the good work with silly mistakes.

Yeah, I'm not saying Tuanzebe is the answer but we have already watched other players who failed to step up. Ole rates Tuanzebe highly, so maybe he will form a very good partnership with Maguire. He is very strong physically and can't think of many attackers who will beat him with raw pace.

For now, Maguire and Lindelof are first choice players but if we can't keep clean sheets and stop these silly mistakes then won't be surprised to see Lindelof getting dropped for few games. And then it will be on Tuanzebe to retain his position.


At the moment, Lindelof and Maguire are first choice. Ole is quite loyal to some of the players which I dont get at times. Perreira and Lingard being 2 I have noticed.

So the only way I see Tuanzebe get in is if he has brilliant performances in the Europa games and forces his way into the first team.
 
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