Kopral Jono
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- Oct 9, 2007
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I agree.I don't think he's put in a decent performance for a good month or two myself. No idea why he was all over Mitrovic today, he's shite.
I agree.I don't think he's put in a decent performance for a good month or two myself. No idea why he was all over Mitrovic today, he's shite.
Thought Blind was pretty good actually and has been all season. Handled Mitrovic far better than Smalling did.How about those who have to play with a midfielder pretending to be a CB, who's also extremely unathletic and incapable of winning anything about aerially? How many of them look good?
Oh yeah, he's been the one holding our defense together all season, while it was clearly Smalling who needed the protection from midfield to look goodThought Blind was pretty good actually and has been all season. Handled Mitrovic far better than Smalling did.
Happens with all centre backs in those types of systems. Look at Mourinho's Chelsea or Inter or the current Athletico Madrid I agree though if we play like that Jones is a better partner than Blind.Oh yeah, he's been the one holding our defense together all season, while it was clearly Smalling who needed the protection from midfield to look good
To be fair to him... if he was surrounded by other people who could actually defend, he probably wouldn't feel the need to have to win every ball by himself all the timeHe's been doing it far too much recently, I'm sure I pointed this out a while back; over/underestimating things (flight of ball, pace of an attacker...) due to overconfidence, pushing up to high to win the ball quickly etc... I don't think he has been as focused as he normally is. Physically he can dominate most forwards and his pace gets him out of trouble a lot but he's relying on that sort of style too much recently. It's more Ramos in his brainless stage (near enough most games) and Kompany (in his mare season) than other defenders with great pace and strength like Boateng at the minute.
Just get him a proper partner, so he doesn't have to be in stupidly good form for us to have a hope of a clean sheet. His form has suffered since the Watford game and we've kept 4 cleansheets since then. 2 of them against a dreadful Chelsea team and one against a league 1 team.He was due a poor game. He's barely put a foot wrong in over year. Poor from him, but not really too concerned. It was such a scruffy game. No discipline from either side. The game never settled down. It was as if neither team were playing any sort of formation.
Smalling was carrying Blind at the beginning of the season, but since November, Blind has been comfortably the better of two.Oh yeah, he's been the one holding our defense together all season, while it was clearly Smalling who needed the protection from midfield to look good
Blind's often been the more suspect of the two, but I thought he was mostly fine tonight. Smalling was easily the bigger liability.Smalling was carrying Blind at the beginning of the season, but since November, Blind has been comfortably the better of two.
Nah, Blind is not good at actually defending. Most of his good defending comes as a result of him making up for some shit defending he's done moments before it.Smalling was carrying Blind at the beginning of the season, but since November, Blind has been comfortably the better of two.
Needing protection certainly had nothing to do with conceding that penalty though, and his arguably being out of position for their first certainly wasn't the midfielders fault. Hell, it was even Fellaini who covered him!His poorest game of the season tonight, but he's allowed an off day.
The so called defensive midfielders ahead of him were about as useful as chocolate teapots. They did nothing to protect him.
I don't think the lack of cover in front of him is that much of a problem, physically he can compensate with anything in front of him.The lack of cover he seemed to be offered by the midfield 2 today seemed to cause him a world of problems.
It does makes you wonder how many of his impressive performances have been him, and how much has been LVGs solid defensive set up.
They haven't been good enough all season, but his run of form from the start of the season was unbelievably good. It was probably just foolish expecting him to be able to continue in the same vein for the entire season, without a noticeable blip.Nah, Blind is not good at actually defending. Most of his good defending comes as a result of him making up for some shit defending he's done moments before it.
There's a reason Smalling is now running around like a crazy person trying to do all the defending himself... because the blokes who are around him aren't very good at it.
True I guess, our midfield was just porous in general throughout!Needing protection certainly had nothing to do with conceding that penalty though, and his arguably being out of position for their first certainly wasn't the midfielders fault. Hell, it was even Fellaini who covered him!
True, that certainly didn't help. Schneiderlin was anonymous, and Fellaini's always poor positionally.True I guess, our midfield was just porous in general throughout!
The thing is, Blind is quite good at defending. Since when we applaud defenders trying to do all things by themselves, isn't that considered bad (Phil Jones)?Nah, Blind is not good at actually defending. Most of his good defending comes as a result of him making up for some shit defending he's done moments before it.
There's a reason Smalling is now running around like a crazy person trying to do all the defending himself... because the blokes who are around him aren't very good at it.
Blind never taken responsibilty from smalling, chris just hasnt been as dominant as before past coupe of games, Blind makes two reasonable errors per game, how can anyone claim that he's been better, this game also people will talk about smalling but Blind made another two big mistakes which people didnt even notice as they only see big manBlind's often been the more suspect of the two, but I thought he was mostly fine tonight. Smalling was easily the bigger liability.
Smalling's mistakes were ultimately the ones that cost us goals though, so he's always going to come in for more criticism due to that.Blind never taken responsibilty from smalling, chris just hasnt been as dominant as before past coupe of games, Blind makes two reasonable errors per game, how can anyone claim that he's been better, this game also people will talk about smalling but Blind made another two big mistakes which people didnt even notice as they only see big man
and for today's game I agree with you but it would be quite a nonsense to claim that blind has been better in recent weeks as he certainly hasn'tSmalling's mistakes were ultimately the ones that cost us goals though, so he's always going to come in for more criticism due to that.
Blind is good at defending the way any defensive midfield of his mold is good at defending. In that, he does roughly the same job that a 25 yr old Carrick would do at centre back. He can make a tackle when and where he needs, will do a good job at reading the play and will obviously be excellent in possession.The thing is, Blind is quite good at defending. Since when we applaud defenders trying to do all things by themselves, isn't that considered bad (Phil Jones)?
Not that stats tell everything, but I looked at it and well: http://www.squawka.com/comparison-m...ck_score/defence_score/possession_score#total
Blind is better at tackling and not making fouls while being quite better at posession/attacking score. Smalling is better in the air, interceptions and clearances. Blind is better in any attacking/posession attribute and in total ranking (whatever it means) is comfortably the better player. Forget about the last thing though (total score), but the other points stand.
I think that Smalling was brilliant at the beginning of the season, but for the last two months or so, Blind has been quite better than him. Which is kind of surprising, with our defense getting less protection, I would have thought that it would have been the other way around.
Anyway, he has been here almost Welbeck-overrated, so he might play every day like this and Blind can be Baresi, and people will still claim that he is carrying Blind. For whatever reasons, a lot of people got this idea that Blind can't defend despite that he has been doing a solid job here and at the very worst case, is our second best central defender.
Next time we should get Blind to mark the 6'3 striker. We'll see how it goes...That penalty was pure and utter stupidity, and was 100% Smalling's fault. If Blind had done it people on here would be a lot less forgiving.
I don't agree. I think that Blind is really good at defending. For example tackling that you mentioned. He has more tackles in less minutes than Smalling, while also having a better percentage of successful tackles. So that isn't just 'he can make a tackle', but it is 'good at tackling'.Blind is good at defending the way any defensive midfield of his mold is good at defending. In that, he does roughly the same job that a 25 yr old Carrick would do at centre back. He can make a tackle when and where he needs, will do a good job at reading the play and will obviously be excellent in possession.
Mascherano isn't a CB, but has been one of the best in the world in that position for the last 4 seasons or so.BUT because he isn't a centre-back (and he really isn't a centre-back) then he will constantly struggle with defending that is suited to a natural centre-back. Matching players runs, intercepting the ball, staying with your man, heading and - the main one - positioning. Blind often finds himself in the wrong position when defending, quite simply because he's not a centre back.
And yet - in my opinion, you don't have to agree - Smalling has been struggling more than him in the last two months (it was completely different in the beginning of the season). There is something wrong here. Either Smalling isn't that great, or Blind isn't that bad. Or both are decent with neither being great (which in my opinion is the closest to the truth). In my opinion, Smalling has some mistakes in him while having a shit technique, Blind has a great technique but lacks physical attributes. They are doing an alright job, but either of them is far from a top player. And in my opinion, during the course of the entire season they have been around the same level.It's little things like that with Blind. He will generally be okay/good in most defensive moments... but because he isn't a centre back, a lot of the time he'll find himself in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing - and when we find ourselves under the cosh/pressure, and the amount of defending back there that he has to do increases, the more he struggles and the quicker he gets found out.
A lot of refs will stop play and sort it out before allowing the corner to be taken. From what I saw, Dean could just as easily given us a free kick instead of awarding them a penalty.He does this quite a lot to be honest, going to the edge in the penalty area, especially at corners. He always grabs the opponents shirt. Honestly, I'm quite surprised that we haven't conceded a penalty earlier in the season because of it, always thought it was just the english game or the referees let him pass due to domestic bias.
What is this shit? Red Cafe is the worst place to be straight after a loss.He's decent, but has no intelligence. Thick as pigshit. Always a mistake him.
He could have got sent off today the way he handled mitrovic. He wasn't thinking straight. It wasn't the rock solid smalling today. It's the way he was committing fouls. Already on a tellies card and he was literally wrestling with mitrovic in the last minutes. That's insane.Was he that bad today?
First goal: Was correct in his initial position, was correct to close the space on Wijnaldum, got beaten by an unpredictable turn of pace
Penalty: Got penalised for something defenders do (to him) week-in week-out with no punishment.
Not his best game but didn't do loads wrong in my opinion.