He was immense tonight. Great player. Grrr.
Rúben Dias - FWA Footballer of the Year
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Dont know about Benfica, but he was always class for Portugal whenever i watched them. He is a beast.
He's gone up several levels this year compared to his previous displays for Benfica in my opinion - obviously a big part of this is because he's still only 23 and scarily may not even have peaked yet as a player.
Vidic like performance tonight. Very brave defender, my kind of style.
Absolute rock. The transformation he's had on their defence is simply insane. van Dijk esque.
That bolded part. What cb ever peaked at 23, and don’t give me Jones? He peaked at 17.
He’s brilliant though!
Yeah fair enough! I was thinking more in the case of injury frankly - barring that you'd definitely expect him to keep improving (although Pep potentially leaving at some point might also be a consideration).
Looks like he going to be a top class defender, still plenty of time for him to get even better. That sliding block with his head in the first half was proper old style centre back play and the way he just got up and got on with it. Just a shame he plays for City, I might actually like him as a player otherwise.
I’ve wanted him at United since he was about 20. I could cry!
Best CB in the world right now.
23 years old. Get ready for a decade of this.
Excellent defender.
City have seen seasons where they've defended well overall, but were let down at times in the CL by lapses from their defenders, or an overall breakdown of defensive organization. Stones has been great this season, but Dias has been phenomenal, both in terms of individual performance and organizing the entire defense, especially at the business end of the CL. They've really cut out the stupid mistakes at the back, and that helps the 6 up front get into a rhythm.
City have seen seasons where they've defended well overall, but were let down at times in the CL by lapses from their defenders, or an overall breakdown of defensive organization. Stones has been great this season, but Dias has been phenomenal, both in terms of individual performance and organizing the entire defense, especially at the business end of the CL. They've really cut out the stupid mistakes at the back, and that helps the 6 up front get into a rhythm.
Yeah I can’t say I knew too much about him before he signed for city but what a signing he’s been. I suppose it helps if you can just splurge an additional £60m on a CB if the other doesn’t work out
How did we end up with Lindelof instead of this dude?
Between the two of them Lindelof was better for Benfica overall I'd say.
BITW
Even better than VVD (yeah I said it)
Even better than VVD (yeah I said it)
Certainly he's better at age 23 than VVD was. That said, don't think he has the range of passing or quality on the ball that VVD does, though granted we have to see how VVD recovers post-injury.
Replace Dias with Laporte who has been a calamity in Coty's CL runs since he joined and they would probably have made another CL final before this.
Overall van Dijk is the best cb, but Dias is in the range when it comes to defending and leading a line. He's also good in a high line which most Cbs can't do. He's like a modern day Vidic that's good on the ball and can defend in a high line.
Oh I completely agree. For me Dias has been the best CB in Europe this season. Just wouldn't have him ahead of VVD from the past two years personally. Certainly I think there are questions to be asked about how VVD recovers and whether he can hit the heights he was at before - I meant no slander towards Dias at all.
Incredible find.
Just goes to show what a good scouting network, an eye for talent, and plenty of expensive trial-and-error can achieve. Mangala’s sacrifice was not in vain.
Just goes to show what a good scouting network, an eye for talent, and plenty of expensive trial-and-error can achieve. Mangala’s sacrifice was not in vain.
I'm not going to criticize us for not looking at him because many people including me didn't think he'd make such an impact especially so soon. It makes me wonder though, bar the popular names like Kounde and Varane there's definitely just some gem that could have an instant impact here
I kind of agree. He is a defender who throws himself into blocks very like Vidic
Never seriously. The only Portuguese talent he ended up signing under us was Diogo Dalot. More proof the man is done at the elite level
Only Benfica player of the last years who can compete with the big boys. He isn't a hype like Sanches (a lot of power but too few football intelect and too few football or Felix - good technique and great vision but not strong enough and not enough fysique -. Luckily we've got the best portuguese player that played in Portugal of the last seasons in our squad but he didn't come from benfica so he didn't get hyped like the ones of Porto or Benfica.
Don't think that Dias was ready at the time that we've got Lindelhof in.
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They did well getting this lad he is quality. However he hasnt exactly been great against us so far.
Clearly the best centre-back in Europe right now. And crazy that he's just 19 months older than Mbappe, Dias really shouldn't peak for another 4-5 seasons at least.
Will be interesting how long Laporte's fine with his current position. There are already rumours that Ake will push for a transfer this summer.
Will be interesting how long Laporte's fine with his current position. There are already rumours that Ake will push for a transfer this summer.
Yeah agreed about Jose, & trust me, I wasn’t trying to credit Mourinho
Most important brick in City's build this season. He's been fabulous.
Maguire is miles better than Stones though to be fair.It's the diet coke Man City.
I can't believe he's only 23. It's massively depressing. City have some ridiculous young talent that has them set up for another decade, and it's not like any of them will look to leave either.
Eh, he’s great and all and has had a phenomenal season, but players and teams have off seasons - especially here in the PL. No doubt they’ll always be up there under Pep and with the insanely stacked team they have, but it’s not all doom and gloom. We weren’t/aren’t a million miles off.
Unbelievable player. Manager's dream!
Really? Not quite sure what Ake expected if he's already unhappy with his game time.
I think he thought Stones and Zinchenko would leave and he'd be a 3rd choice CB + fight for a starting LB spot. Now he's a 4th choice for both these positions so we'll see what happens.
Sven Botman?
But the others did work out. They've both also been excellent this year.
Stones was far from a certainty before this season, in fairness. & Ake is yet to get enough game time to have any sort of opinion on his signing. Outside of Kompany, I’d say Laporte was the one who you would have said, has worked out. I also don’t really recall you guys signing a lot of CB’s though. Otamendi. Who else am I missing?