Daley Blind | Ajax Performances

charlenefan

Far less insightful than the other Charley
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
33,052
Ajax's best defender tonight, snuffed out everything
 

Dolf

Full Member
Joined
May 27, 2016
Messages
2,887
Location
Amsterdam
How many headers did he win tonight? Another great match by him. Another clean sheet.
 

Jazz

Just in case anyone missed it. I don't like Mount.
Joined
Feb 11, 2014
Messages
30,894
Just such an intelligent football player. I bet Smalling misses his old partner...:)
 

Pow

New Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2015
Messages
3,516
Location
Somewhere
Supports
Chelsea
Just oozes class. So calm. Complements de ligt really well. Great game.
 

Beachryan

More helpful with spreadsheets than Phurry
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
11,551
Almost like understanding the game is more important than pace and strength. cheers Jose.
 

Darlington Padgett

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Sep 9, 2017
Messages
1,208
Good player but some people are massively overrating him.

Just look at the match, they put Llorente against him and they are having a field day in the air. He was never going to be a starting CB for us, especially in the PL.
Have you seen our starting CBs? :lol:
 

The Cat

Will drink milk from your hands
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
12,109
Location
Feet up at home.
I got called out for this the last couple of weeks but the bloke is an amazing player and I still can't understand why we sold him.
 

Skills

Snitch
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
42,010
This. I always wonder if the Man Utd fans have more patience with LVG, how his possession football style can transform Man Utd? Given so many people want to see his back he won't be missed anyway. Fans wanted immediate success so Mourinho was hired, and he delivered in terms of trophies.
Van Gaal's time was up. But it seems clear now that the next person we hired should've been someone who would build on his work rather than tear it all apart and send us back to square 1.

Mourinho for me is the most damaging manager we've had in the post Ferguson era.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,080
Location
Hope, We Lose
This. I always wonder if the Man Utd fans have more patience with LVG, how his possession football style can transform Man Utd? Given so many people want to see his back he won't be missed anyway. Fans wanted immediate success so Mourinho was hired, and he delivered in terms of trophies.
Thats not what success looks like with the amount of money he spent. That was the minimum
 

Baxter

Full Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
11,737
No better then Chris Smalling or Phil Jones, glad we got rid
sike
He’s definitely better than Jones, and he’s a million times better than Rojo. He can also pass a ball unlike any of our clowns.

White text :lol:
 

settembrini

Full Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
3,283
4 tackles.
4 interceptions.
8 clearances.
5 headers.
1 foul committed.
0 dispossessed.
0 bad touches.
84% passing accuracy.

Fantastic performance.

Van Gaal didn't get much right as our manager but converting Blind into a centre back was a really impressive move. Hard to believe we sold him but have tied Jones down until 2023. He's miles ahead of anyone in our squad as a left sided CB.
 

Canagel

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
13,888
Technical ability and football brain beats physicality and height.
 

VorZakone

What would Kenny G do?
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
32,618
"Physically weak" they said. He's certainly compensating it very well with his football IQ and passing.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Messages
16,977
Van Gaal's time was up. But it seems clear now that the next person we hired should've been someone who would build on his work rather than tear it all apart and send us back to square 1.

Mourinho for me is the most damaging manager we've had in the post Ferguson era.
Ideally would have hired Pep after Van Gaal.

The board didn't plan for anything though.

Giggs 100% was the planned successor to Van Gaal. But Van Gaal's 2nd season went awry and then Jose became available.

And Woodward being Woodward just went with it.
 

wilkie1990

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 2, 2019
Messages
24
Got to laugh at how narrow minded some people are on here. When Blind played for us, the majority on here seemed to constantly be digging him but now appreciate his talent after watching him tonight!
 

Based Adnan

Full Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2014
Messages
4,063
Got to laugh at how narrow minded some people are on here. When Blind played for us, the majority on here seemed to constantly be digging him but now appreciate his talent after watching him tonight!
There were plenty of people recognizing Blinds uses and wanting him to stay. Quite naturally when he comes out and proves we shouldn't have gotten rid of him those people are going to be more vocal.
 

Yagami

Good post resistant
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
13,472
Crazy how underrated he still is. Should've been one of our last players sold, but we prioritised instant success over developing our football, and strength and power over intelligence and technical quality.

Why did Ed have to go with José :(
 

Henrik Larsson

Still logged in at RAWK (help!)
Joined
Sep 13, 2013
Messages
5,421
Location
Swashbucklington
A big reason why Blind left us and went back to Ajax and not to a club like AS Roma is because he didn't like being a squad player at this age and point in his career. He's an undisputed starter now at his hometown club, possibly the first guy on the team sheet given his experience as well.

It's also interesting how people fail to see how the PL is literally the least ideal league in the world for him to play in. He's got many qualities but over the course of a PL season he's just not an ideal option given the physical violence that goes on. Even a purist like Pep Guardiola himself wouldn't use Blind in every match. He rotates his CB's based on the opposition.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-is-rotating-his-manchester-city-centre-backs

"Maybe in another game there will be another one. For example, sometimes I play Nico and Vincent because they are both amazing at winning duels. Defensively, winning duels, both are perfect. In some games, I need that. In other games I need more of the build-up and, I don't know, I need more special details."
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
A big reason why Blind left us and went back to Ajax and not to a club like AS Roma is because he didn't like being a squad player at this age and point in his career. He's an undisputed starter now at his hometown club, possibly the first guy on the team sheet given his experience as well.

It's also interesting how people fail to see how the PL is literally the least ideal league in the world for him to play in. He's got many qualities but over the course of a PL season he's just not an ideal option given the physical violence that goes on. Even a purist like Pep Guardiola himself wouldn't use Blind in every match. He rotates his CB's based on the opposition.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-is-rotating-his-manchester-city-centre-backs

"Maybe in another game there will be another one. For example, sometimes I play Nico and Vincent because they are both amazing at winning duels. Defensively, winning duels, both are perfect. In some games, I need that. In other games I need more of the build-up and, I don't know, I need more special details."
He never actually struggled playing CB for us though, in fact in his time with Smalling that was our best defensive record we had.

Jose replaced him because he wanted somebody bigger and quicker. Unfortunately for us they're much dummer also.

It just showed me to Jose was not interested in building up play, he just wanted giants to make a wall.
 
Joined
Feb 12, 2018
Messages
19,776
He never actually struggled playing CB for us though, in fact in his time with Smalling that was our best defensive record we had.

Jose replaced him because he wanted somebody bigger and quicker. Unfortunately for us they're much dummer also.

It just showed me to Jose was not interested in building up play, he just wanted giants to make a wall.
But yet he bought Lindeolf, this is how you know he was losing it.
 

12OunceEpilogue

In perfect harmony
Scout
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
18,392
Location
Wigan
There's still an argument that he's not quite the player we need starting for us in the PL. However as with the Herrera debate, in which some are saying he's fine to leave because he isn't tip-top class, I struggle to see how we're in the position to let good players go, as none of our squad members are hitting the heights.

He was fine yesterday, it was bittersweet seeing him play well for another team and it was downright bitter seeing how Ajax have thrived and we've diminished since the 2017 EL final.
 

Renegade

Full Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Messages
5,393
We’d be wanting to throw £50m at him if he had never played for us while putting in these performances. Criminal to let him go before Jones & Rojo. Did Jose only use him at CB that once in the Europa final? You’d think that performance alone would have encouraged him to do it more.

I worry Herrera will go to PSG and show us what we’re missing next season aswell.
 

Sir Scott McToMinay

New Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2018
Messages
2,737
Location
Acapulco, Somalia
I thought Spurs were pretty awful in the final third, didn’t think he was particularly great last night.

Going by what’s written here you would think we sold a prime Ferdinand, not a player whose only suitors were Ajax.
 

Needham

Full Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2013
Messages
11,747
Didn't see anything special from him last night. Had better protection in front than he got at Utd and was actually a part of the weakest part of the Ajax team. If this is an example of fan revisionism, what kind of response are we going to see when Lingard does great at Newcastle, Rojo shines at Getafe, Smalling looks rock solid at Everton etc? Blind had his strengths but he was also ponderous and error prone.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,080
Location
Hope, We Lose
He never actually struggled playing CB for us though, in fact in his time with Smalling that was our best defensive record we had.

Jose replaced him because he wanted somebody bigger and quicker. Unfortunately for us they're much dummer also.

It just showed me to Jose was not interested in building up play, he just wanted giants to make a wall.
I'm still curious as to what Jose was trying to build the team towards. We had the biggest team in the league but barely scored from set pieces. So I guess we werent doing much work on those in training. He wanted to counter attack with big boys who are slow? I guess that explains why we barely ever counter attacked and instead had really slow buildup play, which isnt counter attacking.
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,080
Location
Hope, We Lose
I thought Spurs were pretty awful in the final third, didn’t think he was particularly great last night.

Going by what’s written here you would think we sold a prime Ferdinand, not a player whose only suitors were Ajax.
Only the champions league semi finalists and probable finalists.

I think its clear Blind wanted to return to his home club
 

Ekeke

Full Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
53,080
Location
Hope, We Lose
Didn't see anything special from him last night. Had better protection in front than he got at Utd and was actually a part of the weakest part of the Ajax team. If this is an example of fan revisionism, what kind of response are we going to see when Lingard does great at Newcastle, Rojo shines at Getafe, Smalling looks rock solid at Everton etc? Blind had his strengths but he was also ponderous and error prone.
He was better than De Ligt who is hyped up as the best young CB in the world.

CB isnt really about looking special. Its about dealing with whats thrown at you and not making individual mistakes. On top of that Blind played a couple of nice passes into midfield and a pass or two in behind Spurs backline.
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
I'm still curious as to what Jose was trying to build the team towards. We had the biggest team in the league but barely scored from set pieces. So I guess we werent doing much work on those in training. He wanted to counter attack with big boys who are slow? I guess that explains why we barely ever counter attacked and instead had really slow buildup play, which isnt counter attacking.
I genuinely don't think we did... any training? What did we work on in all that time.

The only thing I think we worked on was defensive shape / 2 banks of 4 with 1 man up top.

He relied on the players to go and score a goal by themselves, then his work would take over.

Unfortunately for us we often found ourselves down 1-0 and then the plan was screwed.

I really hope in the future we move towards the Ajax/Barca model, it's just much more effective and enjoyable.
 

izec

Full Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2013
Messages
27,164
Location
Lucilinburhuc
Selling Blind and buying Lindelöf was a downgrade. I mean selling Blind is fine if you upgrade on him or buy a CB specimen, but we didnt.