A good professional with nice attitude. Versatility is an asset as well for United which has been injury-stricken for many years in a row.
It is a pity his contribution to this club has always been underrated here. I reckon people are just deeply used to a certain type of old-fashioned center backs like Rio and Vidic who are strong, fearless and menacing for opponents. All due respect, I will always respect them a lot.
However, even Rio and Vidic are great, it doesn't mean they have no weakness. Plus, there is not standardized criterion of what property center backs should possess to be categorized as top-notch.
IMP, Blind, unfortunately with quite a lot conspicuous vulnerabilities, represent a nascent ideal type of center backs who can function as a metronome and who can launch attack directly in and from defending. This change in what defenders should do is part of the transformation happening in the football world at the moment. The ever-evolving Total football, particularly Pep Guardiloa's Barcelona epitomizes this philosophy which aim to make the switch between defending and attacking in a blinking of an eye.
It is no wonder many people here underestimate him. He is so different from our legendary defenders like Rio, Vida, so on and so forth.
Many are not happy with LVG's bold belief in Blind as a center back throughout the whole season last year. Whenever he made mistakes, they were always highlighted. But Blind is a player of a master in terms of reading the game. The fact is, in spite of bombarding criticism of players, especially Blind, United had the best defending record in PL last season. And Blind played the most games.
My understanding is center back is a position of extreme importance and there was no any other player in our squad who could fulfill the role prescribed by LVG. I also think there are not many center backs in the world could fulfill the role Pep Guardiola designate. After all, Pep's idea of football is revolutionary, to a larger degree. It is a novelty. I am afraid his idea has not been implemented in English youth training system, there are not many defenders who are trained under his model. Pep desperately needs a center back who is good on the ball, so he went for Stones who proved to be not as good as Blind at all.
Having said so, I am not trying to prove Blind is fashionably flawless model. No, he has many limits, especially his relatively unimpressive pace and strength which made him a target for strikers. Nevertheless, we also witnessed some games where Blind's ability of reading the game simply outclass his opponents with monstrous physicality. Lukaku was a good example.
I have lots of sympathy for Blind. Such an intelligent player. With his physical ability, you almost expect him not to survive in PL where strength and pace is highly regarded as indispensable. But he did survive and I think he is doing very good. Of all the players in PL history, he is probably the most disadvantaged center back in terms of physical strength and pace. But the statistics he and his teammates produced last season were exceptional.
Jose demands quite different performance from defenders. the fact Blind stay in his squad surprises me a lot. I guess it is because his superb football intelligence. But I am afraid he could be easily highlighted among his teammates. I can't imagine he will make a lot under Jose. All I want is when he makes mistakes, I hope people here should show some lenience. After all, he is a Manchester United player and he is a good lad.
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