*The 2016 Match Thread* Manchester United v Swansea City 02/01/16

Originally Posted by Horst_ Bucholst

My first game at old trafford since jan 1991 yesterday i enjoyed it ( i was pissed btw )got tickets for next week too

So you've missed the greatest 25 years in the clubs history is be ill as £#%&!. 😂😂😂 have you been inside

Blinds played practically every minute this season great player best passer in the team by a mile massively underrated

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Looks to me like Blind is playing either carrying a knock or just fatigue. Subbed a few times recently.

We have too many players lacking pace in the team. Any one of them with some genuine speed around them would look miles better.

Originally Posted by utd99

We have too many players lacking pace in the team. Any one of them with some genuine speed around them would look miles better.

Yeah, although an immobile player like Blind is always going to be most vulnerable one-v-one in the wide areas.

I think Blind is potentially a great squad player whose position on the field could be determined by the circumstances of the match. You want his quality from LB at times, but maybe not if the opposition have a rapid right winger. He'll move around a lot you expect.

Blind's like that old geeza walking his dog in the park who joins in a game with a bunch of YOOF. They treat him with disdain only to be left quivering as the old man owns the show with superior technique and intelligence.

Id imagine he's equally as quick as say Paul Scholes

Blind's distribution from deep positions is fantastic. He and Carrick are basically the only two players in the squad who are capable of consistently playing the ball through the lines. Needs to be put in the right situations to maximise his qualities and minimise his weaknesses.

https://vimeo.com/150266793

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

Blind's distribution from deep positions is fantastic. He and Carrick are basically the only two players in the squad who are capable of consistently playing the ball through the lines. Needs to be put in the right situations to maximise his qualities and minimise his weaknesses.

https://vimeo.com/150266793

i think we miss him in midfield.

Originally Posted by silv

i think we miss him in midfield.

In midfield he generally gets pressed a lot more quickly when he receives the ball, and then often has to lay the ball off short because he doesn't have the agility and acceleration to easily slip away from his marker, whereas in defence he has a bit more time and space and nearly always receives the ball facing forwards with an excellent view of the pitch. Enables him to be a lot more penetrative with his passes.

Play him as sweeper

Originally Posted by Buck

Blind's like that old geeza walking his dog in the park who joins in a game with a bunch of YOOF. They treat him with disdain only to be left quivering as the old man owns the show with superior technique and intelligence.

No. Go to bed Buck

Prefer to see Blind back in centre mid tbh. Some of the passes and through balls he played last year, from there, were excellent. Great vision

Originally Posted by puressence

Blinds played practically every minute this season great player best passer in the team by a mile massively underrated

Originally Posted by Stickman

How many are better then?

Originally Posted by Ethers

How many are better then?

When you put it like that....

id say Mata, Carrick and the Schmidfield.

I must be seeing things but I feel hes often quite sloppy with his passing and ive seen him give it away in key areas many a time.

Originally Posted by Stickman

When you put it like that....

id say Mata, Carrick and the Schmidfield.

I must be seeing things but I feel hes often quite sloppy with his passing and ive seen him give it away in key areas many a time.

He's defo good for a LB and CB, occasionally picks out a beauty pass. Though definitely not a great holding midfielder. Takes a lot of talent and consistency.

The problem with Blind is he is clearly a lovely player with the ball, but he does have a few deficiencies which mean he's a risk in any role you put him in. Will be a valuable squad player for us but I'd like to think that we'd get to a point where he isn't considered an automatic starter as we have better players in all the roles he plays pretty soon.

before we signed him, he basically indicated he would settle for us, but would prefer Barcelona.

Blind, who has been heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford to reunite with fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal, said it would be difficult to turn down a move to either Manchester United or Barcelona but would prefer playing in Spain.

While talking to goal.com the Ajax man said: "La Liga would suit my style of play.

"Perhaps England as well, but that's a very physical competition and that's not my biggest strength.

"I have made steps forward physically, but fighting out personal duels is not my thing. I am not like Jan Vertonghen, who is very powerful."

discuss..

Originally Posted by dunk

The problem with Blind is he is clearly a lovely player with the ball, but he does have a few deficiencies which mean he's a risk in any role you put him in. Will be a valuable squad player for us but I'd like to think that we'd get to a point where he isn't considered an automatic starter as we have better players in all the roles he plays pretty soon.

Pretty much how I see it.

Originally Posted by itisme_panaflex

before we signed him, he basically indicated he would settle for us, but would prefer Barcelona.


discuss..

Wish I'd posted this at the start of the season Said he would struggle physically.... shit fight ensued. -32 rep points lolz

To Blind's enormous credit he's not been caught out anywhere near as much as he probably should be in regards to those physical battles.

However, that does also come back to the volumes of possession (often hugely pointless retention for retentions sake) we strive for, it's precisely to avoid exposing the soft middle of the defence. & the adage of being unable to defend when we attack (thus exposing him) rings truer every week.

Quite how Van Gaal hasn't £#%&!ed any of the huge volumes of cash on a quality centre back yet is another annoyance (more at Woodward than Van Gaal I think). I'm sure we'd all much prefer a Hummels or a.n.other worldie there but just someone who's able to play every week & doesn't need a side to desperately pass it around sideways boring us to £#%&!ing death would be a decent start also.

Rojo, Jones, Darmian & Blind have all filled in there, none anywhere capable enough to nail it alongside Smalling & create a capable partnership long term that would be comparable to any of the genuinely good teams in Europe. Or even any of the just good ones.

Chasing £#%&!ing Sergio Ramos all over the gaff like some kind of mongy kid at a soccer school trying to get his autograph was embarrassing as £#%&!. I wonder when they will ever learn?