Also true.
Sky Sources : Blind and Mata set to leave this summer.
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Agreed about Blind.
Mata's our 3rd highest earner after Rooney and De Gea. If he's not starting, we shouldn't keep him. It sets the wrong precedence, when someone like Shaw is going to be starting 50 games for us on half the wage. Secondly, it's just not sustainable.
Rojo is shit and Jones can't stay fit for 5 minutes, plus let's face it he's not very good. Take them two out of your list and it looks very different.
We conceded the lowest goals and scored so less partly because of the setup compromising in one area for the other as well though.
And we had to put Fellaini, Rojo and likes in for aerial ability on defending set pieces.
We lost 4th at West Ham for the reason i mentioned too. Put Vidic instead of Blind there and likely we go to the CL.
If the quotes attributed to Blind about Van Gaal's sacking are anywhere near true, there's no way he can stay here.
His positioning, timing of tackles, ball distribution and composure far outweigh the arial point. He's not inept at headers, he just loses out to the taller beasts of the game. That said, he should be playing in midfield and for cover purposes he's valuable at the very least for CB.
Yes. He had a bad game (as did 8 other players in that example). Vidic got owned by players too, in multiple games. That didn't stop him from being world class. There are countless games this season where Blind has exceeded expectations at the CB positions, and its not even his primary role ffs.
Also the bit in bold is a massive exaggeration, he is small but not inept in the air. Yes, he'd lose out to Carroll etc. but so would 75% of the CBs in the league.
Blind is too slow to be a full back, but he's not mertesacker slow. "Left footedness" seriously under-sells his skills. As said before, his timing of challenges, smart positioning and general composure is very good. He's shown that countless times when under pressure. I don't want pure meatheads at CB, and I'm worried that's what Mourinho prefers. My mind boggles when he's willing to let go of Blind but wants Stones, who often doesn't time challenges well and is chronically out of position.
A midfielder masquerading as a centre back, albeit a terrible experiment, be great to see a proper defender there next year
Ofcourse they are true.
Mourinho won't really want to play Blind at CB though. He didn't wanna use even David Luiz there.
And yeah Rojo is shit and should be sold, but Mourinho will definitely prefer Jones there when fit and possibly even Fosu Mensah(Tuanzebe?). Also we'll most likely bring in another CB atleast.
They're not that bad?
Anyway I don't see Fellaini's name in this report so I refuse to believe it.
Surprised to see Blind there, it could be loyalty to Van Gaal and/or not wanting to return to a utility role. (Or not rated.) Mata I think can be more effective in the right system but there is not much room for error for Mourinho here, I have no problems with him moving along.
In which case you'd have to question his future commitment to the club after being so vociferously critical.
considering how thin our squad is, wouldn't hurt to keep blind as a cover.
Just a word of warning.
This season I bought/received United shirts with Blind and De Gea on the back. The last two shirts that I bought/received before that were Berbatov and Solskjaer, and they both left the club the following summer.
What have I done?
This season I bought/received United shirts with Blind and De Gea on the back. The last two shirts that I bought/received before that were Berbatov and Solskjaer, and they both left the club the following summer.
What have I done?
It doesn't have to be sustainable though. Mourinho doesn't rate Mata enough so at some point he is going to be sold. The only question is whether to do it now or, say, next summer. Given we are apparently in great condition financially, why not keep him on those wages for one more season? It's not like it would be a long term situation.
After all, were the likes of Giggs and Scholes not on pretty decent contracts when they were in and out of the first eleven towards the end of their careers? Or Falcao? Having that kind of money on your bench is a luxury but if it's one we can afford....
Can stomach losing blind , especially if it means varane coming in .
Mata on the other hand - just seems like one of the nicest guys in football. Still has match winning ability and I believe with a team built around him he's a world class player. Any team that gives him a free role and creates space for him will reap the rewards , with a little bit of time on the ball he's a sensational footballer
Mata on the other hand - just seems like one of the nicest guys in football. Still has match winning ability and I believe with a team built around him he's a world class player. Any team that gives him a free role and creates space for him will reap the rewards , with a little bit of time on the ball he's a sensational footballer
Rooney had 4 MotM performances, Martial 3 and Blind 3. Noone else had more than 2. One of those with 2 was Mata. Carrick, unsurprisingly, had none.
Blind was our 4th best overall, Mata our 12th, Carrick our 21st.
Yet Carrick is offerred an extension and Blind and Mata shown the door.
Madness! (If true).
Blind was our 4th best overall, Mata our 12th, Carrick our 21st.
Yet Carrick is offerred an extension and Blind and Mata shown the door.
Madness! (If true).
Also, we would be selling our two least outfield injury prone players (based on this season) ... which again, seems a bit silly.
But then like I say, I highly doubt Jose has decided anything yet, other then who he wants to bring in (maybe).
But then like I say, I highly doubt Jose has decided anything yet, other then who he wants to bring in (maybe).
Mata - fine. Disappointed about Blind. If it's true I hope it's because he wanted to be a started and Mou understandably will not guarantee that rather than being deemed surplus to requirements altogether.
What's Lingard done besides waiting patiently for his opportunity and work his socks off for a team lacking quality going forward?
OP: I really don't mind if this is true. We'll probably go with 2 actual center backs, Blind is too slow for full back and there'll hopefully be strong competition for the midfield places. He's been one of our most consistent players this season and he's done well as a reverted center back, but what can you say, should he stay when he doesn't fit into Jose's plans?
He can be starting games elsewhere.
Would be sad to see either player leave but then again I always hate losing players.
Jones and Rojo are shit and CBJ and TFM are very inexperienced, I don't think we have adequate cover there, especially without Blind.
Just took one rumour for people to turn on Blind. Where would be have been last season without him? For all his lack of physical attributes which is just overstated, he still managed to deputise at CB to form one of the best defences in the league. Meanwhile, we're overjoyed at the contract extension of Carrick, whose legs are partially gone and until another rumour comes out we might be potentially keeping Jones, Rojo, Fellaini? The horror!
It is safe to say that Mata doesn't cut it on the RAM/RW/RM position, so i guess his future is really dependent on how we are going to be setup under Jose. If he has plans to sit Rooney deeper (i.e CDM) then that is one less person to worry about 'in the hole', but we then need to look at who else can play there and whether Mata is a better choice (or happy to be rotated from a bench start).
Based on who we have in the ranks already, the likes of Jesse/Herrera/Memphis (I'm sure there are others) could in theory all sit in there and on a technical ability level, I would still have Mata over the 3 - however they do make up their game in other areas such as speed & if Jose wants that 'injection of pace' up top then i only really see one option for Mata > Out the door.
As for Blind i think he is a brilliantly composed player on the ball, granted he lacks pace - but he reads the game at many steps ahead of the opposition so his positioning makes up for speed. Again, the Jose setup will be a factor in if he sees a place for him and whether he could sit up in CDM (if a CB is brought in) , however we all know Jose likes a 'big man' in the middle and Daley may not cut the mustard.
Interesting times ahead for all involved, maybe a good Euro's will help the future of others ( Memphis is already annoying the Dutch squad with his lack of effort so he could easily be gone if it continues, Jose will tear him a new one if he acts up!)
Based on who we have in the ranks already, the likes of Jesse/Herrera/Memphis (I'm sure there are others) could in theory all sit in there and on a technical ability level, I would still have Mata over the 3 - however they do make up their game in other areas such as speed & if Jose wants that 'injection of pace' up top then i only really see one option for Mata > Out the door.
As for Blind i think he is a brilliantly composed player on the ball, granted he lacks pace - but he reads the game at many steps ahead of the opposition so his positioning makes up for speed. Again, the Jose setup will be a factor in if he sees a place for him and whether he could sit up in CDM (if a CB is brought in) , however we all know Jose likes a 'big man' in the middle and Daley may not cut the mustard.
Interesting times ahead for all involved, maybe a good Euro's will help the future of others ( Memphis is already annoying the Dutch squad with his lack of effort so he could easily be gone if it continues, Jose will tear him a new one if he acts up!)
Unlike many I actually like Rojo. I think he could be a very useful left sided centre back and I'm hoping Mourinho is going to give him that position. From centre back he's got a similar passing range to Blind but is quicker and stronger. If Blind can do it at centre back then why couldn't Rojo? I'm not a fan of Rojo at left back as he loses the ball sometimes when under pressure but at centre back he showed he was decent in his early days at Utd when given time on the ball.
There still won't be any scenario that Jose Mourinho will even consider Daley Blind as an option at CB and he shouldn't be an option in CM because he's been dreadful there. He would most realistically be a back up to Shaw, and we just gave CBJ a new contract. Hopefully Mourinho sees him as Shaw's natural back up.
What's the point of keeping him for another summer? His value drops because if Mourinho doesn't rate him, he won't play him. He's another year down on his contract, and we've lost what £9m in wage on him for another year.
Falcao was bought as a superstar, and we got rid of him off quickly at the end of his season here because we obviously couldn't keep that wage on the bench. Same with RVP at the end of last season.
Giggs and Scholes were veterans and Manchester United legends. Nobody was going to challenge their status, wage or worth at the club. And they were also never getting paid one of the top salaries at the club. I don't think I've read anywhere that their salaries were above £60-80k, which is what the likes of Park and Brown were earning too.
I'd find it weird if we offer injury prone Carrick a new deal and let Blind go who is 10 years his junior, consistently fit and can cover three positions. I'd also keep Mata over Rooney as well, he's younger and Rooney was anonymous for half of last season.
Could really see Blind in that Barcelona team alongside Pique, he's the sort of ball player that they love and he'd be physically fine playing in Spain.
In actual reality he's good at none of these things. His positioning is anything but smart.
He played in midfield last season and shown up to be inept and useless. His constant habit of going wherever the feck he wants tells me doesn't have a clue what he's doing half the time.
I'm not entirely sure it's not sustainable. Besides, its not like we have a ton of highly paid squad players on the bench either. He's going to start in excess of 25 games even as a squad player I'd think.
Doesn't it depend on how Mourinho wants to play? When we sold Van Nistlerooy 10 years ago it was widely assumed it would have an adverse affect on the team. Instead, Sir Alex changed the system to increase the attacking influence of Rooney and Ronaldo and we won the title.
Mata is probably the most technically gifted player at United, and its questionable whether anyone else in our squad can play two touch football as cutely as he can. However, for Mata to be genuinely effective you need to build your attack around him. I don't see Mourinho doing that. He wants pace and power in the line behind his main striker. Mata doesn't offer that.
Don't think it's a question of commitment to the club. He's just not been politically correct enough to say these things in private instead of the media.
Because Blind is far better footballer then Rojo is.
Rojo isn't strong (He gets bullied off the ball incredibly easily, and is weak in the air especially) at all... his passing is woeful, his positional play is non-existant, his work-rate is poor, he's terrible in the air, he's tackling is reckless at best and he's one of the least intelligent defenders I've ever seen play for Untied... frankly, I don't have a single clue what his strengths are as a footballer.
Blind is hardly any great shakes himself, but he's a better CB, LB and defender then Rojo.
Blind is our modern day Phil Neville. Selling him would be another mistake
If you guys think purely on substitution terms (not starting eleven), Rojo makes more sense than Blind because of his pace and directness to drive at tired defences.
Blind would be best subbed on to control the game from midfield under pressure late on, but we have Carrick and Schweinsteiger already subbing each other for that role.
I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a third option for a ball playing midfielder, even though I think it's excessive.
Blind would be best subbed on to control the game from midfield under pressure late on, but we have Carrick and Schweinsteiger already subbing each other for that role.
I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a third option for a ball playing midfielder, even though I think it's excessive.
The only players I would actively want gone are Fellaini and Rojo as I don't think either are good enough. Mata and Blind are definitely good enough to be squad players anyway. I wouldn't be fussed if they went, but I also wouldn't like to be in a position like last year when we sold players and basically didn't replace them. If either / both are sold, then they need to be replaced.
If I could pick between the two, I would rather keep Mata. Sure, Blind is a decent player but very overrated on here. Yes, our defensive record from last season looks good but there are plenty of factors for that, not just the CB's. It's not like we are talking about a prime Rio / Vidic partnership here. DDG often bailed us out and we also basically kept more possession than most teams, thus limiting their shots on goal. Blind is grand as cover but he's not some sort of top CB, like some seem to believe.
If I could pick between the two, I would rather keep Mata. Sure, Blind is a decent player but very overrated on here. Yes, our defensive record from last season looks good but there are plenty of factors for that, not just the CB's. It's not like we are talking about a prime Rio / Vidic partnership here. DDG often bailed us out and we also basically kept more possession than most teams, thus limiting their shots on goal. Blind is grand as cover but he's not some sort of top CB, like some seem to believe.
Disagree entirely, but there we are.
Don't hold back mate, say what you really think.
We're set to retain Carrick and already have BFS and schneiderlin for the DM spot, can't see Blind getting in ahead of them. No way does he play as a CB for Mourinho so that's ruled out too. CBJ will cover for Shaw so that's his final position gone. This is why I don't see the shock at blind reported to be surplus to requirement.
Mata on the other hand doesn't have people ahead of him. But, he doesn't fit the profile for a Mourinho right winger, that's for sure which means him staying would make sense only if we play him as the #10. Like it or not, I see Rooney nailed on for the spot which would mean the end of Mata
The point is that we're unlikely to strengthen to the point where a player as productive as Mata doesn't come in useful as a squad player over the course of a season. Mata has (I think) been our second highest goal scorer since he arrived at the club? Given we're a team that struggles for goals as is, selling him now leaves us with a lot of strengthening to do. I would be surprised if we do enough in this one summer. In which case, why not keep him for now?
Everyone would love a tall, fast and strong CB, because that covers the ideal physical attributes a CB should have... The whole article is based on a hunch that Blind wouldn't be his 1st choice at CB, no shit.
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