Maguire and Lindelof Partnership

[TBR]

I think its funny how smalling has been slaughtered here on many occasions but now it's a mistake letting him go to Roma

We have to rid the old guard out of the club.That includes Lingard,Mata?De gea,Matic,Jones and anyone who has been part of the mediocrity.Its inherent in them now. And I know people will include Pogba but I want to see that man in a good team.

 

[MikeKing]

I was certain it would be Smalling Maguire by xmas. Now I'm just scared.

Me too, dead certain. I'm also scared. We'll have to hope that Tuanzebe makes it here immediately, or even Matic can fill in? I wont let this fool me into trusting Jones or Rojo anymore.

 

[Freak]

Can we just try a Tuanzebe-Maguire partnership instead?

 

[flappyjay]

Maguire is a better version of Blind so I magine him and Smalling could have been an impressive partnership

 

[Sandikan]

The ideal centre back combo, is surely two players who can head it, one who is fast, and one who is a ball player.

I still don't see why Maguire-Smalling wasn't spot on for that.

Tuanzebe may develop to be the pace part of the combo, but not sure he's got the aerial ability.

 

[Lee565]

He got rid of him because he cannot pass the ball and so cannot play the way ole wants.

Do we really need two ball playing central defenders in the starting 11 though, especially if it's going to harm our chances of conceding goals? Makes it pointless wasting most of our transfer budge on a defensive full back and overpaying for Maguire to still keep conceding a lot of silly goals whilst also struggling to score at the other end just like last season.

We may as well of spent our transfer budget on attacking enforcements instead and gone with the mentality of you score 3 and we will score 4.

 

[dwd]

The new chuckle brothers

 

[croadyman]

This partnership needs a break until Lindelof improves greatly in the air,personally I think Axel should partner Maguire against Leicester. Lets just try it because he is clearly affected by the mistake last week.

 

[Irwin99]

I barely saw any of Villa's games last season but do people think Axel is much better in aerial duels than Lindelof?

Aside from the goal, I didn't think he played that badly but it's obviously going to mean teams are going to target him if he can't win headers.

 

[::sonny::]

I watched Vestergaard since his times in Germany

Far better player than Lindelof at 360°

 

[redshaw]

Hope for Ole's sake they get better.

What worries me about Ole is how we've not tried Smalling with Maguire. Sometimes players are just unsuited and we may have just given up our best suit. Before a ball was kicked I'd put Maguire, Axel Smalling Lindelof as our 4 best. There's lots of games to play, injuries and long trips in Europa but we send him off to Rome.

 

[UnitedChampionsAgain]

Smalling wasn't all that in the air either. Too many times he went missing at corners whether attacking or defending. Never seemed like the 6'4 he's supposed to be.

 

[NoMidfielders]

Smalling lost his man at countless set pieces and tried to make up for it with shirt pulling. A disaster with VAR this season. Much rather see us give Tuanzebe a go and see how he does.

 

[MyDevil]

So, you guys think Smalling is better now?
Yes, it was Lindelof's mistakes for the 2 goals but he is still the better defender compare to Smalling and Jones. Sma;;ing is VAR magnet and Jones love the nurses.
Tuanzebe is untested at this level yet. He should be given chance in the cup games. Until then, I will still go with Maquire and Lindelof partnership.

 

[Red_toad]

Smalling wasn't all that in the air either. Too many times he went missing at corners whether attacking or defending. Never seemed like the 6'4 he's supposed to be.

He was our main player when it came to defensive headers. Not sure what you were watching, unless you're expecting him to make all 8 attackers by himself? In the same position Smalling would have simply marked the danger in his area, not try pass on marking responsibilities, then make a late half arsed effort to impede the player. Rio nailed it with his post match comments, when you're the defender the danger in your area is your responsibility.

 

[The Irish Connection]

The ideal centre back combo, is surely two players who can head it, one who is fast, and one who is a ball player.

I still don't see why Maguire-Smalling wasn't spot on for that.

Tuanzebe may develop to be the pace part of the combo, but not sure he's got the aerial ability.

I’m almost sure from what I’ve seen of tuanzebe that he is better in the air than Lindelof. Also quicker.

 

[Renegade]

Smalling lost his man at countless set pieces and tried to make up for it with shirt pulling. A disaster with VAR this season. Much rather see us give Tuanzebe a go and see how he does.

Genuine question. How good do you think Tuanzebe is in the air? Did you watch much of him last season in the championship? Why are you confident he is much better?

 

[Sandikan]

Smalling wasn't all that in the air either. Too many times he went missing at corners whether attacking or defending. Never seemed like the 6'4 he's supposed to be.

He was the best in the air in our squad by a country mile.
Without a doubt

 

[BringNaniBack]

He was the best in the air in our squad by a country mile.
Without a doubt

Agreed

 

[Bobski]

So, you guys think Smalling is better now?
Yes, it was Lindelof's mistakes for the 2 goals but he is still the better defender compare to Smalling and Jones. Sma;;ing is VAR magnet and Jones love the nurses.
Tuanzebe is untested at this level yet. He should be given chance in the cup games. Until then, I will still go with Maquire and Lindelof partnership.

Smalling has always been a better defender than Lindelof, it is really not that close in that aspect of the game. Ole is valuing other things in his rebuild though.

Jones is also a better pure defender than Lindelof.

 

[wm28600]

Saying Smalling or Jones are better defenders that Lindelof isn't particularly helpful though, as they're all not really good enough to play for us. That fact that Smalling and Jones have been a fixture here for several years is pretty sad all told.

My fear is what happens if Maguire gets injured. We'd have no paddles whatsoever.

 

[Cypherage]

Vestergaard is 6 foot 6, Victor is 6 ft 2, Maguire is 6 ft 4, so why was Maguire not marking the bigger player? Honestly granted I was watching the game on my phone at some distance, but Victor looked like a midget against Vestergaard, would have made more sense for Maguire to be man-marking him.

I think it will take time for them to gel, they have had 4 games together, why start swapping and changing now, how are you suppose to build consistency at the back if it keeps being swapped around?

I would be more worried about the LB position than Harry & Victor, the fact that we have to depend on a 34-year-old former winger to play in that position is more of a worry than the new CB duo.

And I would also be more worried about how easily some of our more "Elite" players lose the ball so easily, or even the fact that are attack is so blunt and mundane and slow to build at times, those are the bigger issues.

 

[Sky1981]

This is how smailing can play for us for 10 years.

Its as If 10 years isnt enough to know him inside out as a player and need to try him with a,b,c and see how it goes.

Smailing is not good. Move on. If lindelof isnt good enough, ship him out and get a better cb. Havent you had enough with shit players being tried out in different position all these years? Lingards not a winger, put him in the middle oh wait he's bad in the middle put him as winger.

Take last game for example. Bar 4 of our defender none of the midfield and wingers are playing at their natural position its mind baffling

 

[eire-red]

Lindelof was poor against Crystal Palace for their goal, but Vestergaard is a good 6'6", had a run towards the ball while Lindelof was backtracking. Very hard to gain any sort of leap in that situation. Wan Bissaka could have put more pressure on the cross, and someone could have dropped back to help pick up Vestergaard, he's clearly a danger man in the area.

I think Lindelof is good at reading the game, isn't rash and has way less lapses in concentration that all of our defenders bar Maguire. He lost a header that probably 95% of defenders would have in that situation. I've seen enough of Rojo, Smalling, Jones and Bailly to know we'd be no better off with 1 of those in the team. Tuanzebe is unproven, and I don't think Lindelof has been poor enough to deserve being dropped for him.

We need stability at the back, chopping and changing isn't going to solve anything. Maguire and Lindelof have played 4 games together, give them time to form a partnership. Maguire needs time to bed in, and hopefully we'll see him start to cover for Lindelof's weaknesses, while Lindelof does the same. We were poor defensively against Palace, but against Wolves Neves scored a superb goal, and the goal yesterday was unfortunate but you're going to concede goals like that over the course of a season.

Not many teams play route one anymore, and both Lindelof and Maguire are miles ahead of the rest at defending when the ball is on the ground.

 

[Jonno]

Still looks a good player, just had a couple or bad moments. His all-round game looks to be growing and developing, he will continue in the starting XI but it’s great Axel is next in line

 

[Enigma_87]

Why did Lindelof challenged that header in the first place? Surely if we studied Soton before the game we should have identified Vestergaard as a main threat on corners.

There were 5 players before the cross near him. Pogba who is taller than Lindelof stepped back marking no one. Maguire and Lindelof kept pointing at players. Our defensive shape was hilarious before that cross. And it’s not like we didn’t have time to set up properly.

 

[Enigma_87]

This is what I’m talking about. Seems there is no initial plan who is marking who. Three players in 2-3 yards space are pointing at opposition players.

 

[arthurka]

Vestergaard is 6 foot 6, Victor is 6 ft 2, Maguire is 6 ft 4, so why was Maguire not marking the bigger player? Honestly granted I was watching the game on my phone at some distance, but Victor looked like a midget against Vestergaard, would have made more sense for Maguire to be man-marking him.

I think it will take time for them to gel, they have had 4 games together, why start swapping and changing now, how are you suppose to build consistency at the back if it keeps being swapped around?

I would be more worried about the LB position than Harry & Victor, the fact that we have to depend on a 34-year-old former winger to play in that position is more of a worry than the new CB duo.

And I would also be more worried about how easily some of our more "Elite" players lose the ball so easily, or even the fact that are attack is so blunt and mundane and slow to build at times, those are the bigger issues.

Watch it again, Lindelöf isnt even tight enough to make it hard on him.
He is so mediocre it hurts to watch him defend.

 

[Bestietom]

It may take some time for this partnership to come good. Lindelof will have to work on going in harder when tackling players aerially. At least if he can't beat them in the air, make sure he puts them off from directing the ball.

 

[Cypherage]

Watch it again, Lindelöf isnt even tight enough to make it hard on him.
He is so mediocre it hurts to watch him defend.

Granted Victor was not tight enough against Vestergaard, but still I think Magure should have been the one man-marking the bigger player, knowing that Maguire is a better jumper then what Lindelöf is, another issue with the defenders is communication, it certainly does not come from De Gea, so one of them has to step up and start communicating and organising them at the back.

 

[momo83]

Lindalof was our best CB last year. Every defender has a mistake in them.. so yeah let’s just give the new partnership time to settle.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

The ideal centre back combo, is surely two players who can head it, one who is fast, and one who is a ball player.

I still don't see why Maguire-Smalling wasn't spot on for that.

Tuanzebe may develop to be the pace part of the combo, but not sure he's got the aerial ability.

Which was Smalling?

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

This is what I’m talking about. Seems there is no initial plan who is marking who. Three players in 2-3 yards space are pointing at opposition players.

Awful defending (from Lindelof and the others). Also, if De Gea wasn't permanently rooted to his goal line, he could have caught/punched it.

 

[Bobski]

A CB can't be trying to pass on the responsibility of marking the main threat, if he is in your area you take him, not ask a forward to do it and you play for the second ball. It is typical of how Lindelof likes to defend, passive then sweep up when the play breaks down. It means he doesn't make many obvious glaring errors but also limits his actual defensive impact.

 

[Sandikan]

Which was Smalling?

Smalling's got pace. Let's not try and say he hasn't.
You'll be saying he can't head it next.

He has the physical attributes, just not the passing.

 

[Sandikan]

A CB can't be trying to pass on the responsibility of marking the main threat, if he is in your area you take him, not ask a forward to do it and you play for the second ball. It is typical of how Lindelof likes to defend, passive then sweep up when the play breaks down. It means he doesn't make many obvious glaring errors but also limits his actual defensive impact.

Unfortunately he reminds me of playing amateur football, and a guy telling me that he "can't deal" with a certain player in the air!
Not really ideal for a premier league centre back.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Smalling's got pace. Let's not try and say he hasn't.
You'll be saying he can't head it next.

He has the physical attributes, just not the passing.

Just curious.

Be interesting to see his Roma performances. Lot of movement in that league, guess his pace will keep him right.

 

[Enigma_87]

Awful defending (from Lindelof and the others). Also, if De Gea wasn't permanently rooted to his goal line, he could have caught/punched it.

That’s another matter. DDG seems very resistant leaving his line. Something that has haunted him during his whole career and definitely a weak spot. Anticipating crosses like that can prevent more than one goal.

This is not down to confidence either.

 

[fastwalker]

Still too early to tell, but if I am honest I have never been a fan of Lindelöf. Early on last season when Jose was playing a largely defensive counter-attacking formation, Lindelof was inept, although I accept that he improved as the season progressed. Compared to Maguire the difference in quality is beginning to look quite stark. I am hoping that Maguire might have a Van Dijk like effect on Lindelöf to the extent that Van Dijk has made Matip and Gomez better central defenders. Matip in particular looks outstanding now. If Lindelöf has anything about him he will see the arrival of Maguire as an incentive to raise his game. My fear is that what you have with Lindelöf is all there is. If that is the case I would give Tuanzebe a run.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

That’s another matter. DDG seems very resistant leaving his line. Something that has haunted him during his whole career and definitely a weak spot. Anticipating crosses like that can prevent more than one goal.

This is not down to confidence either.

Yip. A top goalie should be ready to come out but waiting for the cross (speed, direction, height, etc) to make his final decision. De Gea never looks like he'll do that or even consider it.

Made worse by it being Danso crossing... was never going to be that good a cross. 1.03 in.

Defence needs to improve but they need their goalie to help (and yes, I realise how many points De Gea has saved for us in the past)