2
That second last sentence is harsh. He stands and jockeys when it’s the best option. Yesterday there was no other option than to get at the player and make the slide and clear it out. He’s done this on other occasions as well.
I generally quite like Lindelof but yesterday he was a different animal. I hope he keeps this form because he's been like this at other times throughout his stay here but hasn't managed to maintain it. Is it possible he's over the back injury now, I wonder?
I don't think it is, that's his usual style of defending. While I agree the slide was the best option I've seen plenty of other similar situations where he'll just choose to not engage and try to get a block away instead.
I'd say they've managed him better rotating with Bailly. Before it was just Lindelof 24/7 and that probably wore him down and made it harder. With being able to rest i'd say it's helped? perhaps it's the added confidence of a loud/confident goalkeeper behind him too.
Possibly the rotation is helping, he looked really fast and aggressive both on and off the ball yesterday. He's better on the ball than Maguire I reckon but it's possible his back injury has been preventing him from making his surging runs like we saw more from him last season.
Absolutely, and I'll be honest, 6 weeks ago, I didn't think Lindelof was good enough for us but recently he's really reminded me of why I rated him so highly. I think a lot of his form this season can be attributed to his back injury and probably a change in our style of play as well.
Agree with this. We should wait until he helps keep a clean sheet against City away or something.
Yeh agree with you there especially in his reading of the game. Also I’ll add that he never gets enough credit for his one on one defending on the ground. He very rarely gets beaten when someone is dribbling at him. He’s very good at watching the ball and knowing when to step in which is one of the weaknesses of Bailey who tends to commit early.
My thread, dammit. And I always had Victor down as man of impeccable taste so the ‘tache is no surprise.
Yeah his one on one defending is often something he's criticised for, to passive apparently, what they don't seem to grasp is that he's usually isolated and if he lunges in before backup arrives, he's at serious risk of being skipped past or giving away a dangerous free kick and potentially getting himself sent off. I would actually put that in the reading of the game category but it's good to highlight it.
This has nothing to do with Lindelof, but what was up with the interceptions yesterday? Both Lindelof and Harry had 5 each according to the stats. The clearance/tackle Lindelof did after Bruno’s misplaced pass was registered as a interception as example. Never seen that kind of action registered as an interception before. It kind of shows that the whoscored stats are very subjective.
I dont know for sure but I'm assuming it counted as an interception rather than a "tackle" because it was a pass intended for another player that didnt make it there and so he didnt have it under control. Of course we can see its a slidetackle and most people would probably call it a tackle based on that.
It makes sense from the definition of interception, to prevent a pass from reaching the opponent. Just that I haven’t seen them be so “generous” with interceptions before. In some ways it doesn’t really matter, but it just shows that these stats are very subjective. Someone is judging whether a player was challenged enough to call it an aerial is another example.
He still lets his man run across him too often and isn't great in the air. Both big drawbacks for his game. He's playing solid, but he isn't Sergio Ramos.
Worse than Telles. Are you joking?
