[Gazza]

He’s essentially a Henning Berg regen. He will be a squad option or sold in a few years time.

 

[elmo]

He's barely better than Blind in the air.

We should have kept Blind and signed Macguire earlier to pair them up instead of watching Lindelof close his eyes Everytime a ball is coming towards his head.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Squad player level. He's probably a little more physical and better in the air than Blind but either worse or on par at the rest of the aspects. The bloke just doesn't have that authority at dominating opponents - preferring to stand and off and wait for mistakes.

It's a shame Tuanzebe has spent most of the season injured. Hopefully he can make the step up once be returns.

 

[PaulRich]

I just don't see that finished product in him at all. He's decent on his day but not that rock solid option we need to rely on.

 

[zenith]

He's decent CB without being anything great. Agenda driven posts often make him seem like some kind of clown defender but that's hardly the case.

He really needs to work on being better with his head but is quite acceptable otherwise.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He's decent CB without being anything great. Agenda driven posts often make him seem like some kind of clown defender but that's hardly the case.

He really needs to work on being better with his head but is quite acceptable otherwise.

He's not a clown. But his actual defending is mediocre. Since he's decent on the ball - in how he moves with the ball (quite good) as opposed to his passing (which is very inconsistent) - it elevates him to a good squad player material. The problem is that he's first choice right now so we need more from him if it's there in the tank.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Squad player level, we need better but we have to prioritise other positions first. Hopefully Baily can stay fit and improve, or Axel can step up and be injury free as well. Need a player who can cover Maguire's weakness, which Lindelof does not.

Don't hate him or anything, just does not fill me with confidence.

 

[Bondi77]

I'd take both Dunk and Boly over Lindelof.

And Coady.

 

[A-man]

Squad player level, we need better but we have to prioritise other positions first. Hopefully Baily can stay fit and improve, or Axel can step up and be injury free as well. Need a player who can cover Maguire's weakness, which Lindelof does not.

Don't hate him or anything, just does not fill me with confidence.

The reason Ole chose to start Lindelof and Maguire is probably because he think there is potential but also because of the results. Since the Watford game in December the whole defence have been free from all those costly mistakes we saw before. These are the goals conceded in the last matches when Lindelof and Maguire have been played together:


Watford 0
Brugge 1
Wolves 0
Man City 0
Tranmere 0
Liverpool 2
Wolves 0
Norwich 0
Wolves 0
Arsenal 2
Burnley 0
Newcastle 1

6 goals conceded in last 12 matches and 8 clean sheets. Some are cup matches which have a bit different character but overall it is not strange that Ole plays Lindelof and Maguire when you consider the result lately.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

He started off absolutely terrible with that Sunday League pass to Ole on the sidelines, then followed that one up with that shit pass that led to the Maguire/Matic mix-up. After that he was mostly ok/good, but I imagine that start coloured some people's views on him in this game. But for someone who is supposed to be renowned for his ball-playing skills then we hardly see anything of that. Most of the times his offensive contribution is a long-range pass normally ending up in the opposition goalkeeper's hands far from any United player.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

One thing that no one seems to be asking about the Watford disallowed goal... apart from his rubbish attempt to head the ball, why exactly is he jumping so closely behind Fernandes in the first place? There are literally no Watford players anywhere near that area, so what is he trying to achieve by jumping into it exactly?

 

[simmee]

How long will the people who's never played football express their opinion about that header? I'm guessing until, at least, Friday. Looking forward to it.

 

[Ekeke]

He’s essentially a Henning Berg regen. He will be a squad option or sold in a few years time.

Berg was a pretty good defender who won a premier league titles. I dont think hes anything like Lindelof

 

[automaticflare]

One thing that no one seems to be asking about the Watford disallowed goal... apart from his rubbish attempt to head the ball, why exactly is he jumping so closely behind Fernandes in the first place? There are literally no Watford players anywhere near that area, so what is he trying to achieve by jumping into it exactly?

This all over

I watched the replay 25 times now to see if I could see him call for the ball. He can clearly see the flight and direction and if we are setting up zonal men should know where there are on the pitch.

He never called from what I saw for it which meant Bruno had to try head it unnecessarily taking it off lindelofs head.

He has no leadership qualities Imo and this is another example that could have cost us. He needs to command that situation and he consistently doesn’t. I don’t rate him at all.

I think we should be looking for a new CB in summer to partner maguire. I love Bailly and his attributes but he is too injury prone and not sure Tuanzebe has what it takes from what I have seen.

 

[2 man midfield]

Solid back up, but I’ve never trusted him to nail down a spot as first choice. Give Bailly a chance, and if he isn’t able to either then look for a CB in the summer.

 

[izec]

One thing that no one seems to be asking about the Watford disallowed goal... apart from his rubbish attempt to head the ball, why exactly is he jumping so closely behind Fernandes in the first place? There are literally no Watford players anywhere near that area, so what is he trying to achieve by jumping into it exactly?

We are zonal marking in the 5 yard box. Which means Lindelöf and Bruno were there for clearing the header at the front post, irrespective of Watford players. The issue is Lindelöf not communicating with Bruno and his technique of heading (to close his eyes before heading), which means he can't react and see what's going on. He was coming towards the ball i guess, which means if Bruno touches it and he lowers his head + closed eyes, there is no way he gets to the ball. It is just another thing we have to work on on the training ground, basic mistakes like that at corners are killing us time and time again.

I feel we have a general way of dealing with corners without really going into details and drilling it into the players. It doesn't look well prepared and studied out at all, just a general framework and the players have to make it up themselves between them during games, which they fail to do so. Same goes for the attacking patterns.

 

[Mike Smalling]

I'm just never quite comfortable when he is in the line-up. It is not as urgent as other positions in the team, but we really should seek to ugrade on Lindelof. I would love to see more of Bailly, but let's face it, he is not likely to play an entire season without picking up an injury.

 

[A-man]

We are talking nitpicking when the worst his haters can come up with after another clean sheet is that he “maybe didn’t call for the ball” or that he went for the same header as a team mate.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

We are talking nitpicking when the worst his haters can come up with after another clean sheet is that he “maybe didn’t call for the ball” or that he went for the same header as a team mate.

It's not nitpicking though, it's talking about why we are so crap at defending set-pieces... it happens time and time again. These stupid individual mistakes from various players that seem to constantly cost us, and we're seemingly not doing anything about it.

Seriously, you can't look at our set play defending and think "Yep, all fine there"... ?!

Also, we were pretty fortunate to come away with a clean-sheet yesterday.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Given what he actually brings to the table, we've basically sold Blind and spent double on his like-for-like replacement. Lindelöf is slightly better in the air, Blind is much better on the ball, so really we've actually downgraded. It's another bizarre transfer - I have no issue with Lindelöf being here, but he should be a squad player only.

 

[TheReligion]

Given what he actually brings to the table, we've basically sold Blind and spent double on his like-for-like replacement. Lindelöf is slightly better in the air, Blind is much better on the ball, so really we've actually downgraded. It's another bizarre transfer - I have no issue with Lindelöf being here, but he should be a squad player only.

Yeah you're not wrong really. Blind possibly a bit slower but if anything he looked just as solid as Lindelof did during a long spell at the back with Smalling.

I really liked Blind.

 

[Based Adnan]

It's not nitpicking though, it's talking about why we are so crap at defending set-pieces... it happens time and time again. These stupid individual mistakes from various players that seem to constantly cost us, and we're seemingly not doing anything about it.

Seriously, you can't look at our set play defending and think "Yep, all fine there"... ?!

Also, we were pretty fortunate to come away with a clean-sheet yesterday.

It is nitpicking when Lindelof didn't make a mistake for the disallowed goal though. He jumped for the header and his teammate got a nick in front of him which took it off his head. What do you want him to do?

 

[Annihilate Now!]

It is nitpicking when Lindelof didn't make a mistake for the disallowed goal though. He jumped for the header and his teammate got a nick in front of him which took it off his head. What do you want him to do?

Not jump so you're right behind another one of your own team mates? Thus making it pretty much impossible for you to actually head the ball? I mean seriously, what is the actual point of that? Or maybe don't jump and tuck your head in so far that you're basically resembling a turtle?

Honestly, anyone looking at that and think Lindelof was perfectly fine is being very, very generous.

 

[romufc]

It is nitpicking when Lindelof didn't make a mistake for the disallowed goal though. He jumped for the header and his teammate got a nick in front of him which took it off his head. What do you want him to do?

If he was involved in the mix up between Matic instead of Maguire, you would see 10000 messages on here about him.

We kept a clean sheet and everyone is moaning.

 

[Based Adnan]

Not jump so you're right behind another one of your own team mates? Thus making it pretty much impossible for you to actually head the ball? I mean seriously, what is the actual point of that? Or maybe don't jump and tuck your head in so far that you're basically resembling a turtle?

Honestly, anyone looking at that and think Lindelof was perfectly fine is being very, very generous.

You see this is the definition of nitpicking because for all we know he called for it and until there is evidence to the contrary, it's safe to assume a Premier League defender is calling for the ball. He was in a better position to deal with it than Fernandes.

 

[A-man]

It's not nitpicking though, it's talking about why we are so crap at defending set-pieces... it happens time and time again. These stupid individual mistakes from various players that seem to constantly cost us, and we're seemingly not doing anything about it.

Seriously, you can't look at our set play defending and think "Yep, all fine there"... ?!

Also, we were pretty fortunate to come away with a clean-sheet yesterday.

I’m not saying defending setpieces are fine because that has been a weakness. But I don’t think Lindelof is to blame for this chance. He is trying to clear the ball but Bruno heads it. Could have been better communication between them, but we see two players going for the same ball quite often at setpieces. I am more worried about the free runs big players get at corners. Most conceded corner goals have been in the face of Maguire, our strongest player in the air. He has had no chance when the opponents were given free runs. At the disallowed goal it was the same, I think it was Dawson who got a an easy run. That is the main concern imo.

You always need a bit of luck to get a clean sheet. We saw that yesterday and even more against Chelsea. But now Lindelof /Maguire have 8 clean sheets in their last 11 matches and it is not only luck, it is also good defending.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

You see this is the definition of nitpicking because for all we know he called for it and until there is evidence to the contrary, it's safe to assume a Premier League defender is calling for the ball. He was in a better position to deal with it than Fernandes.

So it's nitpicking to judge a piece of play looking at it - using the evidence that is there for all to see, but its fine to completely assume something - that we have no idea about - happened? We're just to assume Lindelof, whilst seemingly not moving his mouth and ducking his head, is definitely calling for the ball?

Fact is if he had stayed in his zone and jumped vertically instead of getting right into Bruno's arse, he would have had a simple headed clearance.

 

[Teffe]

These things happens. Haters can twist any situation to fit their agenda. Why isnt De Gea to blame?? He couldve shouted and cought the ball aswell. Why doesnt anyone blame him instead?

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I’m not saying defending setpieces are fine because that has been a weakness. But I don’t think Lindelof is to blame for this chance. He is trying to clear the ball but Bruno heads it. Could have been better communication between them, but we see two players going for the same ball quite often at setpieces. I am more worried about the free runs big players get at corners. Most conceded corner goals have been in the face of Maguire, our strongest player in the air. He has had no chance when the opponents were given free runs. At the disallowed goal it was the same, I think it was Dawson who got a an easy run. That is the main concern imo.

You always need a bit of luck to get a clean sheet. We saw that yesterday and even more against Chelsea. But now Lindelof /Maguire have 8 clean sheets in their last 11 matches and it is not only luck, it is also good defending.

Lindelof isn't wholly to blame for the chance, but people in this thread are saying he did nothing wrong and that was a perfect challenge for the ball, which clearly isn't the case.

Anyway, out of those 11 matches it's fair to say we were slightly lucky to keep a clean sheet yesterday, very lucky against Chelsea and basically used voodoo magic against City.

In another world we could easily be saying in our last 11 games we've kept clean sheets against Tranmere, Wolves and Norwich.

Our defence has been better of late in open play thanks largely to Maguire (though he wasn't very good yesterday) but we are still crap at defending set pieces, and in general to say "oh look, 8 cleans sheets out of 11, our defence is solid" is a bit short sighted in my opinion.

 

[Based Adnan]

So it's nitpicking to judge a piece of play looking at it - using the evidence that is there for all to see, but its fine to completely assume something - that we have no idea about - happened? We're just to assume Lindelof, whilst seemingly not moving his mouth and ducking his head, is definitely calling for the ball?

Fact is if he had stayed in his zone and jumped vertically instead of getting right into Bruno's arse, he would have had a simple headed clearance.

If a Sunday league defender is attacking the ball then it's safe to assume he's called for it, let alone a Premier League defender.

What evidence is there to see exactly? All of you people saying Lindelof didn't call for the ball can't provide evidence for this. The only evidence I can see is Lindelof going to head the ball away and it being taken off him by Bruno. If you want to believe that the ball being taken off his head by Fernandes is Lindelof's fault then that's on you but don't be surprised when people say it's nitpicking.

 

[A-man]

Lindelof isn't wholly to blame for the chance, but people in this thread are saying he did nothing wrong and that was a perfect challenge for the ball, which clearly isn't the case.

Anyway, out of those 11 matches it's fair to say we were slightly lucky to keep a clean sheet yesterday, very lucky against Chelsea and basically used voodoo magic against City.

In another world we could easily be saying in our last 11 games we've kept clean sheets against Tranmere, Wolves and Norwich.

Our defence has been better of late in open play thanks largely to Maguire (though he wasn't very good yesterday) but we are still crap at defending set pieces, and in general to say "oh look, 8 cleans sheets out of 11, our defence is solid" is a bit short sighted in my opinion.

I would say the biggest reason why the defence have got so many clean sheets lately is that they have managed to stay away from costly mistakes. Just as you need some luck for a clean sheet, mistakes and poor luck can cost a clean sheet. Last time against Watford, we conceded two stupid goals from individual mistakes.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

If a Sunday league defender is attacking the ball then it's safe to assume he's called for it, let alone a Premier League defender.

What evidence is there to see exactly? All of you people saying Lindelof didn't call for the ball can't provide evidence for this. The only evidence I can see is Lindelof going to head the ball away and it being taken off him by Bruno. If you want to believe that the ball being taken off his head by Fernandes is Lindelof's fault then that's on you but don't be surprised when people say it's nitpicking.

I mean the evidence of his jump not being very good, and him being way too close to Fernandes. You can see that in the replay.

Only he knows if he called for it - it sure as hell doesn't look like he does on the replay, but you can't say for certain he did, much like I can't say that he didn't.

54 seconds below, higher quality on YouTube but its region locked






Regardless of calling or not, he literally doesn't need to jump like that or in that direction to clear the ball.

 

[Based Adnan]

I mean the evidence of his jump not being very good, and him being way too close to Fernandes. You can see that in the replay.

Only he knows if he called for it - it sure as hell doesn't look like he does on the replay, but you can't say for certain he did, much like I can't say that he didn't.

54 seconds below, higher quality on YouTube but its region locked

Regardless of calling or not, he literally doesn't need to jump like that or in that direction to clear the ball.

A defender isn't calling for the ball a second before he jumps. I can't say for certain that he did but the likelihood of a premier league defender in this situation calling for the ball is a lot higher than him not calling for it. If you (and the others that said the same) want to accuse Lindelof for not calling for the ball then the onus is on you to show he didn't. If he didn't then fair enough it's on him but there's nothing to show he didn't.

If the ball doesn't get taken off him then he clears the ball. If you want to critique his jump or whatever then that's fine but the fact remains this would be a non issue if it wasn't taken off him. I'd also much rather a defender be proactive and attack the ball than just stand in his area on the off chance his teammate doesn't get solid contact on the clearance.

 

[Adam-Utd]

If he was involved in the mix up between Matic instead of Maguire, you would see 10000 messages on here about him.

We kept a clean sheet and everyone is moaning.

Funnily enough, he was the reason for that whole mess in the first place. Our ball playing CB failed to pass to a team mate and instead smashed it straight at a Watford player.

He and Matic are the clear weak links in this team.

 

[Adam-Utd]

How long will the people who's never played football express their opinion about that header? I'm guessing until, at least, Friday. Looking forward to it.

Stop the video at 57 seconds, then tell me if you really think he had no chance at clearing that. He literally tucks his head into his neck like a turtle ffs. If he stayed up straight it would have flicked on and out for a throw in.

 

[ghagua]

Lindelof is easily the worst regular starter center-half I have seen having been a fan for over 40 years. Yes, we did have Prunier, but that was just a one off game. This guy is a regular starter in our team and is a huge weak point in the defense. He has the ability to pass the ball sideways, but that's about it. When it actually comes down to defending under pressure he falls apart. I would take any other center-half at the club over this guy.

 

[LJJT]

His heading is his biggest weakness and for a CB that’s pretty critical. He’s scared of heading the ball and misjudges balls in flight regularly. I like the lad and all his other general play is good but you can’t have such a huge weakness at top level as a CB.

 

[A-man]

Stop the video at 57 seconds, then tell me if you really think he had no chance at clearing that. He literally tucks his head into his neck like a turtle ffs. If he stayed up straight it would have flicked on and out for a throw in.

The tucking you refer to is him trying to head the ball just before it changed direction.
One thing is clear, no other player would ever get the stick for missing that header. And Lindelof would have been killed if he had headed it like. Bruno did.

 

[Adam-Utd]

The tucking you refer to is him trying to head the ball just before it changed direction.
One thing is clear, no other player would ever get the stick for missing that header. And Lindelof would have been killed if he had headed it like. Bruno did.

He's got his eyes closed, he's ducked at least 1 foot down which is why he's under it and he's looking at the floor by the time the ball reached him.

It was a pathetic attempt at clearly a corner. If anybody did that I would blame them 100%. There is no agenda here with Lindelof, but he keeps making obvious errors.

 

[Kapil Srivastav]

Just a thought.. would smalling and Maguire form a better partnership..