Talk about being desperate...
The part when you still "could not see" the second goal after almost a half an hour and also the part when you defend him for the first goal, implying that he was not at fault which is just stupid.
17
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Clean sheets
- 19
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 4
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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What a fecking pass.
At the very least he should not duck out of challenge and just stand there not tracking back. He put zero pressure on De Bruyne and then left him for others to deal with. That is a sort of play you expect from a DM who has a cover.
As for hi positioning, it was as bad as it could have been. He should either been further back or closer to De Bruyne with a more chance of winning this 50-50.
They wont talk about it.
Also, the first half, we didn't even try to pass on the floor...just hoofing for the sake of it. Pretty poor tactic from jose.
You understand that the streams are down the whole match every like 5 mins? And how on earth I could watch a reply with that shit?
Think about it and use your common sense a bit. I am watching the game in bits atm.
So did you watch the replay or not? There is one in the match thread actually.
I am trying to watch the game atm ffs. I ain't digging pages of matches....
Talking about being desperate..
Yet replying to me.
Because I have this page on and i aint digging 200 pages of match thread to find a reply...Yet replying to me.
Use your common sense.. a bit..
Play him against relegation fodder and teams we need to open up who will sit back against us. This isn't his game.
Disappointing game. It's still early in the season obviously and there's a long way to go, but if you'd asked me for my perception of Blind at the end of last season then I'd have said he's a tidy player on the ball but one who struggles defensively when he's put under pressure and doesn't have time to think...and so far this season he's verified that.
Solid and very capable in games we controlled and where he was only called on occasionally, but at sea in the first half today due to the far superior quality he was up against.
Solid and very capable in games we controlled and where he was only called on occasionally, but at sea in the first half today due to the far superior quality he was up against.
I think there were two occasions in the last 10 minutes where he dealt with Sane one-on-one easily which proves my point. Think back on how many times his lack of awareness cost us a goal last season. It's a myth that he is positionally excellent. He might be for 80-90% of the time (he is a professional footballer after all) but he is prone to being out of position.
Yeah I'm trying to think back to last season and his positioning being off point after the initial adjustment period. Refresh my memory please?
He and Bailly were much better in the second half when they got their shit together.
TBF, we could have controlled the game a bit better to suit him and other players in the team. It is not like we are hull trying to defend.
Also jose didn't sub him when he could instead of shaw unless shaw had some problem. Which means jose didn't think too badly of his performance like some of us do.
Him and Bailly sorted themselves out for the second half. Not much to see here.
You're doing anything you can to excuse his performance - first saying it was the fault of poor tactics which would be down to the manager...yet then using that same manager to also excuse him.
It was just a shite performance. No doubt a better performance would've helped but City were too good for us to control the game and Guardiola's side were always likely to have more possession. It was up to Blind to deal with that and he failed.
That'll be the second half when we'd already conceded two goals and started to control the game. It's exactly my point - Blind is perfectly fine when he's got time to think on the ball and isn't put under pressure. It's not all that helpful playing well when you've already been culpable in your side falling two goals behind.
First goal, lost Sakho when the guy peeled away. Third goal, which in my book is worse, because it's from a set piece. Reid was goal side from him when the ball was played in. Absolute nonsense defending.
Terrible mistakes today.
Poor for the goals especially for the second. The first I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as de bruyne is probably one of the most skilful players in the league so even top defenders would get roasted by him.
Got better in the second half and held his ground vs Sane even after Shaw left
Got better in the second half and held his ground vs Sane even after Shaw left
Yeah because City didn't have any chances at all in the second half. Good point bro.
He had a bad game and made mistakes. It happens to every defender.
High intensity games, he tends to feck up at times. Getting destroyed by De Bruyne for the 2 goals.
You're being obtuse now. City still had chances but were far less dominant for parts of the second half. Blind did cope with them better in the second half and I'll give him credit for that, but it shouldn't take a player half a game to adjust. He's still at fault for what happened in the first half and being alright in the second doesn't change that.
Bad error of judgment on the first goal but I don't blame him on the second, it happened so quickly.
No I am just ranting about the way we played for first 30 min as many of us expected how we would play - defend defend and defend except that we didn't do it well as a team. I think we have players to play a bit more aggressively at home. That's all.
If you let pep team attack on you like that for first 30 mins, they will likely score from something and someone else if not for blind.
Was my point.
Guardiola would want him.
He had a disappointing game, not sure how anyone can argue otherwise.
Him, Bailly & Smalling will continue to battle for the two CB positions, healthy competition between all of them should only produce good results.
Him, Bailly & Smalling will continue to battle for the two CB positions, healthy competition between all of them should only produce good results.
Yeah it was a shit game for him all round, that's established, but you to says often out of position I'll need to see a little more than that.
Thought he looked much much better in the second half
Maybe...but it's still a null point. At the end of the day they did score two goals and Blind was at fault for a least one of them, if not both. Good defenders learn how to cope when they're put under pressure. They all have bad games and slip-ups...that's natural, but it feels like it's kind of telling that, like last season, Blind's struggled as soon as he's come up against a remotely decent side who apply pressure to us. I want him to prove me wrong and show it was a one-off poor performance, but it's not an anomaly on the basis of last season. He's good against weaker teams and his passing ability's a nice bonus to have at the back, but he's easily exposed when he comes up against quality players sometimes. Which is concerning.
Absolutely.
@Cheesy come on mate, that game was end to end, both defenses were under constant pressure.
Good defenders do NOT go bad as well for one game out of 10 games regardless of any team you are up against. Do I think Blind should have done better this game. Yes.
But do i think he is a bad defender and can't have good games, no. Because it is based on a whole season of last and a few from this.
It is my view on him. That simple.
Clearly, both LVG and jose playing there so far makes it not too ridiculous, is it?
The insane hype about Blind the last few weeks was always over the top.
Stuff like; Stones is a poor man's Blind and Blind will be one of the best defenders in the league for years to come are ridiculous statements.
In a team that dominates it's opposition, he's a good player. In tough matches he's simply not good enough. He can play a pass and he's intelligent. However, he's not fast, he's not a killer and by God he's just too pretty to be a top defender.
Stuff like; Stones is a poor man's Blind and Blind will be one of the best defenders in the league for years to come are ridiculous statements.
In a team that dominates it's opposition, he's a good player. In tough matches he's simply not good enough. He can play a pass and he's intelligent. However, he's not fast, he's not a killer and by God he's just too pretty to be a top defender.
So...shouldn't it be Blind's job to cope with that? Isn't that part of why he's there? The quick-footed, technical player who's good with a ball at his feet. If anything, he is the guy who should be coping with fast-paced games.
If it was a one off I wouldn't be bothered but it was a recurring theme last season: Blind as a player who's alright defensively when we're controlling the game but exposed with ease as soon as he's put under pressure. I think he's useful and can do a good job for us at the back but I'm rightly going to point out when he's had a shite game and today was one.
Nope I didn't say he was often out of position. I'm saying people have this impression that he is this exceptionally positionally aware centre back who struggles with pace and on one-on-ones when it's often the other way round. His anticipation of what a player on the ball will do is excellent when he is one-on-one.
I expressly said he can be in position most of the time (because he is a professional footballer, and a defensive minded midfielder to be exact) but he is prone to being out of position at times, which has cost us plenty. That West Ham game was the reason we didn't qualify for the CL in the first place.
He was shit in the first half I agree but wasn't in the second.
I was replying to the post where you told us Blind wasn't under pressure in the second half and that's why he looked alright, but you agree with me that it was end to end in the second half and both defenses were under pressure? Both can't be true.
I used this video and watched it frame by frame.
When the ball is delivered, Bailly and Blind are inline. Bailly's man goes forward to meet the ball and Bailly goes forward to make the challange. Basic defending. At this point KDB is Pogba's man.
Blind holds his position and turns his body to run into the space behind Bailly anticpating either Bailly to win the header or to dummy it and allow the bounce on to Blind. Every person who has been coached at any level knows that in this instance Blinds job is to cover Bailly's back incase the ball continues. At this point, KDB has gone roughly 4 yards past a ball watching and flat footed Pogba, but is still a good 6 yards away from Blind. He's still Pogba's man, he should be tracked the runner from midfield. If Blind steps up 6 yards to meet KDB and the ball's flight continues (like a defender is told to anticipate) he is running the wrong direction against a player who is obviously faster and already has the run on him.
Next frame. Bailly stops. God knows why. Blind is not god and is unable to anticipate that his combative defensive partner would allow Iheanacho a free header, which is flicked onto KDB's run. At this point KDB and Blind are roughly 3 or 4 yards apart. Watch how Blind is running back towards his goal, he adjusts his footing to make the interception with his left foot, which if anything is his mistake. It's possible that he could have back tracked further but KDB is still just as likley to score by having a free run at a back tracking Blind.
Regardless, KDB wins the ball first and Blind has no choice but to stay still. He makes a challange and he's sent off. We all know Blind can't make that distance back, so i'm sure Blind knows it himself. The only option is it hope De Gea is quick off the line and Shaw is able to get beyond the keeper.
Give Iheanacho credit for meeting the long ball and making a killer flick on. Bailly deserves critism for backing out of the challenge. Pogba makes no effort to track KDB. All these factors leave Blind in no mans land.
His positioning was fine. Maybe it's an instance where his lack of pace was abused by KDB but I think it would be a stretch of the imagination to think any defender would match KDB for pace in that situaiton.
I'm sorry but that goal can't be pinned on Blind. The second goal was all Blind yes.
So he had like 10 games last season costing us all the point since you said it was recurring theme last season?
If you are just talking about him having bad games, well that happened to every player including your probably fav smalling who even got screwed by no name players and sent off in FA cup final.
Had a poor game. Still so much better than record signing Stones that it isn't even funny though.
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