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It will be interesting to see how we cope without Maguire. He is been our best defender but still we have managed well with Lindelof plus Bailly/Tuanzebe. What I can see we have not lost yet and only one goal conceded but not so many matches:
Even a blatant bit of poor defending is 'interpretated' as not a mistake
The mental gymnastics of word play and unwillingness to admit is absolutely incredible.agreed.Even a blatant bit of poor defending is 'interpretated' as not a mistake
The constant stream of normalisation and justifcation of 'it wasn't a mistake', 'he's a smart and intelligent player', 'defenders shouldn't engage because they may get beat/turned', 'it's better to wait (read: drag) your team mates back 30 yards to defend together', 'his mistake as the last man wasn't as great or bad as the people before him' is insufferable.
He's a comprehensively flawed player and that's fine to 'accept', if he had elite/really impactful attributes (e.g the way we appreciate and critisise Fred/AWB etc) but Lindelof is the Wayne Rooney (in his midfield stint) of Defenders at this point with his legion of defenders. And by that I mean, he's practicising the art of defending by not defending and basically performs 'Silent Domination' in the head of some posters. Utterly bizarre overrating.
Nah he really has been, playing almost every game in a very solid defense, especially after new years.
For me, in isolation, that was worse than what he did for the goal conceded.
Absolutely it was yeah.
See here for what happens when you get too tight to an attacker in the box:
Great post, Lindelof should have toe poked it away but I felt like he was maybe trying to pass it to AWB. It happens.
You must be new here.
It’s not just one mistake yesterday though is it? (I don’t agree with you on that either)
I don't disagree with you on that, just concentrating on that one passage of play.
He has some very vocal critics that's for sure not that I believe he can't be upgraded upon but barring few most in our team can be.
We don’t have to forensically analyse him though, his errors are clear as day, and often. That’s why he gets talked about.
I know a mistake free defender doesn’t exist, even Rio and Vida had the odd error in them. But ‘odd’ is the word here, not every few games
I think that's the annoying thing though, he did well up to the simple point of just kicking the ball way, then somehow just didn't kick it properly.
Man Utd have also been 1-0 down in more games this season than been 1-0 up. The comebacks are fantastic but can they keep it up?
There's the odd mistake but several times a season Lindelof will make an average player look like prime Drogba from his lack of physical application. It's a repeat flaw in his game. If anything he tends to be lucky to get away with his mistakes rather than being unlucky that it's a random brainfart.
Noticed that as well. They would not make those subs with Harry on the pitch.
Having an awful CB and 2 average CM and we still have only lost 4 PL games? We are 2nd in the league and in a Europa Final? How is that possible?
It's more that every single error he makes you and others posters blow it wildly our of proportion, as if other CBs aren't making errors. We're the hardest team to beat in the league for a reason. I'm also pretty sure that when Maguire and Lindelof partner at the back we concede the least, or close to the least, amount of goals in the league as well (when extrapolated across a full season). That doesn't happen if one of your CBs is as poor as this place claims him to be. That's not to say we can't upgrade on him, but he isn't nearly as bad as made out.
But no he doesn't. The cafe just tries it's very best to make it seem that way. Our fullback can lose his man, get our jumped in the air, and you see posts in this thread saying Lindelof shares the blame for telling his fullback where to be, or for being half a foot too far forward. That doesn't happen with other CBs.
Precisely. Ole must be a fecking wizard if he can get half a team performing to the standards he has!
Easy. Special players carrying the load
I am not saying that Lindelof, Fred, McTominay cannot be upgraded. We need a new CDM, 100% but I would not go with the theory that he is awful?
It’s of course not possible. And 2 of those 4 rare losses came when Lindelof wasn’t even playing. Last time we lost with him was more than six months ago. If he had so many so big weaknesses as some claim, every team would take opportunity of that. But they haven’t. When he has a bad game or even 1-2 bad actions, it gets blown out of proportion and he needs to be replaced.
Agreed, I have not seen 1 CB in the last 2/3 years who has made 0 mistakes.
It is possible. Bear in mind we had the joint best defence in the league in 2015/16 with a back four of Valencia, Smalling, Jones and Blind under LvG.
