Daley Blind | Ajax Performances

Yagami

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Why would he leave Ajax for us. They have direction. That move was an upgrade for him.
Don't get me wrong - don't think there's a chance at all. It's just something I'd like.
And this was what LVG was trying to fix by calling it a philosophy - how every club should have a fixed way of playing to atleast drop back to.

We have nothing now.

LVG was good for us and I don't care what tripe people come up with afterwards. If we had given him 3 years then ask a homegrown manager like butt, Giggs or ole to take over we would have one solid style at United.
I was for his sacking, but I also appreciated what he tried to do.

I just can't believe we went for José after him. Completely set us backwards as a club as we had to start from scratch again. And we need to again now.

Pouch was the dream after Fergie, Moyes, van Gaal and José for me. Hopefully, with better results, Ole achieves what van Gaal tried to do.
 

Wanderlust_09

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Happy for him. Funny how we actually sign a decent player, completely mismanage him and blame it on him being shit. Our club just drains talent.
Pretty much the story of all our transfers since SAF left.

Very depressing.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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He was really good at CB with Smalling in 15/16. You could say our possession style and defensive set-up made them look better than they were, but it's the most solid we've looked since Rio and Vidic.
 

izec

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It will be the same with Herrera next season.
Kind of. There are definitely half the squad that we need to ship out earlier than him. We wont replace him anyway with a better player, probably someone equal or worse for more money
 

AndyJ1985

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Funny how Blind and Depay look like decent players as soon as they leave this club. Just wait until Pogba joins Madrid and looks like the reincarnation of Zidane.
 

Dr. StrangeHate

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Funny how Blind and Depay look like decent players as soon as they leave this club. Just wait until Pogba joins Madrid and looks like the reincarnation of Zidane.
We have seen Pogba be amazing in every team other than us, so it wouldn't be a surprise. On form and in the right setup he is the best midfielder in the world.

Something happens to people when they come here. Lukaku is not as bad as he plays for us. Fred was a mainstay in a CL team. Sanchez, Baily, Matic, Mata all good players yet they are shit for us. Something is seriously wrong at our training department.
 

Welbeckham

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Brilliant, intelligent, sophisticated footballer, who was always simply too good for us. He’s a world class center-back who made Smalling look brilliant (and possibly vice versa tbf) next to him.
 

gibers

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Brilliant, intelligent, sophisticated footballer, who was always simply too good for us. He’s a world class center-back who made Smalling look brilliant (and possibly vice versa tbf) next to him.

Spot on. He's a WC player that has had his prime years wasted. Imagine if he played for Pep..
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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It’s depressing how we had him but Mourinho decided to sign Lindelof and sold Blind.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Funny how Blind and Depay look like decent players as soon as they leave this club. Just wait until Pogba joins Madrid and looks like the reincarnation of Zidane.
Blind always had this performance with us. Mourinho just doesn’t fancy him, still stuck in my head why Mourinho doesn’t fancy Blind but interested in Lindelof.
 

Redplane

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Blind always had this performance with us. Mourinho just doesn’t fancy him, still stuck in my head why Mourinho doesn’t fancy Blind but interested in Lindelof.
Agreed. Don't think many realized that he was very consistent here with some moments of brilliance. Never got the hate. We might have technical players but we lack strategic intelligence and split section decision making on the pitch - things a player like Daley offered despite being not a particularly remarkable athlete.
 

Bloedrood

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Playing his 60th game of this season tonight, including national team games.
 

WolfInSharp'sClothing

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Blind is one of those players whose versatility probably did him no favours earlier in his career as he never nailed down any one position. Next to de Ligt this season he has been superb at centre back.

Ajax really is the breeding ground for the next generation of superstars.

I'd sell Pogba for £150m and De Gea for £100m, then offer all £250m to Ajax for 5 players.

Andre Onana (Goalkeeper, 23), Donny van de Beek (Centre Mid/Attacking Mid, 22), Nicolas Tagliafico (Left Back, 26), Matthijs de Ligt (Centre Back, 19) and David Neres (Right Winger, 22).

Would give you a very talented, relatively young starting lineup that could improve and grow together. Something like this.....

Onana (23)

Dalot (20)___de Ligt (19)___Lindelof (24)___Tagliafico (26)

McTominay (22)___Fred (26)

van de Beek (22)

Neres (22)________Martial (23)

Rashford (21)​
 

KirkDuyt

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I will forever be firm in my believe, that if you put Blind back in United's team he will struggle. Everything is clicking for Ajax this year. All the players are finding their feet and they're playing some incredible stuff. This doesn't mean Tadic was secretly always a world beater which Southampton somehow missed, it doesn't mean Lasse Schöne would walk into this Juve, Real or Bayern side and it doesn't mean that selling Blind was some kind of huge mistake. Blind is perfectly at home at Ajax, in a CB pairing with Matthijs de Ligt who is an extremely strong physical presence. At the moment something very special is happening in Amsterdam. That's the beauty of knock out competitions, it's prone to fairy tales.

Something similar happened in 2004 after which Ajax eagerly bought Angelos Charisteas. We all know how that ended. Or at least, I do, because Feyenoord bought him from Ajax after he couldn't get a game.
 

Kaglish10

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I will forever be firm in my believe, that if you put Blind back in United's team he will struggle. Everything is clicking for Ajax this year. All the players are finding their feet and they're playing some incredible stuff. This doesn't mean Tadic was secretly always a world beater which Southampton somehow missed, it doesn't mean Lasse Schöne would walk into this Juve, Real or Bayern side and it doesn't mean that selling Blind was some kind of huge mistake. Blind is perfectly at home at Ajax, in a CB pairing with Matthijs de Ligt who is an extremely strong physical presence. At the moment something very special is happening in Amsterdam. That's the beauty of knock out competitions, it's prone to fairy tales.

Something similar happened in 2004 after which Ajax eagerly bought Angelos Charisteas. We all know how that ended. Or at least, I do, because Feyenoord bought him from Ajax after he couldn't get a game.
But Blind was our best defender under Van Gaal, especially after December when Smalling went back to his shell, it was Blind who held our backline till the end of the season. That was amazing, considering it was his first experience in the central back role. He also looked quality for us in the Europa final cup match. So yes, Blind would have been quality here however Mourinho wanted something different from his defenders. He wanted a huge defender that's good in the air, which Blind is not.

No doubt that playing alongside a quality defender in de Ligt who's even far better than Smalling would surely have make him look more at home.
 

Daslogisch

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We have seen Pogba be amazing in every team other than us, so it wouldn't be a surprise. On form and in the right setup he is the best midfielder in the world.
Oh hell no. Pogba is a very good midfielder once in form, but therefore also the most overrated in the world. He's not the star he was made out to be. Paul Pogba is not a top 5 midfielder, maybe not even top 10.

For some reason he's always been marketed as the next big thing and he still lives off that reputation, but he simply is not. Good player, yes. Close to world class, yes. But he's not a Messi or Ronaldo of midfielders (as he is always made out to be), he's not a special player. He is just a good player (very good on his day), nothing more and nothing less.
 

Redpimp

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Oh hell no. Pogba is a very good midfielder once in form, but therefore also the most overrated in the world. He's not the star he was made out to be. Paul Pogba is not a top 5 midfielder, maybe not even top 10.

For some reason he's always been marketed as the next big thing and he still lives off that reputation, but he simply is not. Good player, yes. Close to world class, yes. But he's not a Messi or Ronaldo of midfielders (as he is always made out to be), he's not a special player. He is just a good player (very good on his day), nothing more and nothing less.
Sorry mate, Pogba is world class now! One of the top 3 midfielder in the world. Its just that we cannot have the right setup to extract the most of of his talents!
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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Hmm Pogba is one of the best midfielders but can't play in midfield unless there is severe covering for his back ups.

At AM he isn't better than silva, De bryun e, Eriksen, Hazard etc
 

Ixion

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I thought it was a stupid decision at the time to sell him and I still do. He's a good player across multiple positions, criminal to let him go.
 

Daslogisch

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Sorry mate, Pogba is world class now! One of the top 3 midfielder in the world. Its just that we cannot have the right setup to extract the most of of his talents!
Pogba is not top 3 midfielder.

I would take players like Verratti and Thiago over Pogba in a heartbeat, let alone players like Modric, Eriksen or De Bruyne. And then there are also true top class holding midfielders like Busquets, Kante and Fernandinho. Kroos has had a poor season, but maybe it's too soon to write him off. The old Kroos is also a class above Pogba.

Pogba is a good player, but very hyped. His hype is what makes him 'world class', not his abilities. Ability wise Pogba is not better (not at all actually) than Rakitic or Pjanic - who are also very good players - but they do not have Pogba's hype.
 

Based Adnan

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Embarrassing some of the shite we kept over Blind

He was on lesser wages than pretty much everyone as well. Was on around 70k IIRC. Ridiculous decision to let him go but keep lads like Darmian, Smalling, Jones, Young and Rojo around.
 

FujiVice

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All the players we've got in our squad, and we decided to sell someone who is a hard worker, talented, versatile, on low wages, loyal and now making us look like fecking idiots. A step above a lot of players at this club.
 

ivaldo

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All the players we've got in our squad, and we decided to sell someone who is a hard worker, talented, versatile, on low wages, loyal and now making us look like fecking idiots. A step above a lot of players at this club.
While we now routinely struggle to play out form the back. It was incredible how many people were Desperate to have him out of the club.
 

George Owen

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All the players we've got in our squad, and we decided to sell someone who is a hard worker, talented, versatile, on low wages, loyal and now making us look like fecking idiots. A step above a lot of players at this club.
Stop with this crap.

He is a good player for Ajax possession football style.

But for a team that has to actually do a lot of defending, he will be crap, just like he was for us. Absolutely useless for any aerial threat.
 

Ekeke

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Stop with this crap.

He is a good player for Ajax possession football style.

But for a team that has to actually do a lot of defending, he will be crap, just like he was for us. Absolutely useless for any aerial threat.
He wasnt crap for us. He had the most aerials on the pitch against Juventus and has the 2nd most on the pitch after Llorente so far. So far he has more than De Ligt and not for the first time. Always has more than Spurs CBs other than Sanchez
 

thepolice123

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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.
 

FujiVice

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But for a team that has to actually do a lot of defending, he will be crap, just like he was for us. Absolutely useless for any aerial threat.
Isnt that sort of the point of Man United? To have players than dont need to do a lot of defending, because we should be mostly on the front foot? A team that aspires to be dominant shouldnt be selling players like Daley Blind. Christ, you make it sound as if he was an egg plant when he was here. He was a good player for us.
 

giorno

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He was good at CB under Van Gaal, in a team that was highly organized and pressed high and well and kept the ball a lot

He's a good CB at Ajax, in a team that is highly organized and presses high and well and keeps the ball a lot

He wouldn't have worked with Mourinho
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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People underrated him because he had a few minimal flaws to his game that made people think he was unstable.

In reality he was the opposite - he covered his flaws well and was a stable player that benefitted our attacking game as much as he did our defensive game.

Smalling & Blind was the best defensive partnership we had - that has more to do with Blind than just Smalling. Even as a LB he was decent in those seasons he was used when Zlatan was up top.

A class and elegant player; given up because of a manager that preferred different style of player.
 

ThierryHenry14

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He was good at CB under Van Gaal, in a team that was highly organized and pressed high and well and kept the ball a lot

He's a good CB at Ajax, in a team that is highly organized and presses high and well and keeps the ball a lot

He wouldn't have worked with Mourinho
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.