The most cowardly defender I have ever seen!
He under hits nearly every pass to his RB and constantly puts him under pressure.
Thanks Jose
He under hits nearly every pass to his RB and constantly puts him under pressure.
Thanks Jose
2
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 5
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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.
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Doesn’t surprise me at all, awful defender.
Was almost hilarious hearing United fans acting as though this fella was some kind of answer to Maguire’s poor form. Oh, and the Athletic claiming he’ll be a player ETH will like
if ETH likes Lindelöf, he’ll do a terrible job here.Preach.
Pussy of a defender
Outrageously dire. Perhaps his worst performance in a United shirt.
He replaced Smalling but I'd take Smalling over him, any day. He is not good at anything. Defending, ball playing, dribbling, nothing.
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The first two goals are clear examples of Lindelof being a CB who doesnt enjoy defending
and tries to get away with doing the minimum. First shot goes through open legs instead of him
wanting to put his body on the line to block the ball and 2nd he turns his back and hopes for the best.
Both times his body positioning make it hard for the keeper to see and both times its not worth it
because he hasnt put an honest challenge in to stop the ball passing him. So he's actually a detriment
and not helping his team in either situation.
Third goal he's ball watching and allowing Gross way too much room in the box to receive the pass,
McTominay could have done a better job stopping the obvious pass inside but with McTom tracking Trossard back
then Lindelof has no excuse not to be in a position to react to a pass towards Gross and snuff the chance out.
Again he cowers and Gross has the time and space to waltz past our defender in his own box before slotting home.
There were other poor moments like Trossard playing with him in our box and Welbeck's flick getting McAllister in behind him in the incident
leading to Dalot knocking the ball into our own post after 4-0 down.
If that was a performance from an 18 year old reserve CB on his debut I'd say he clearly wasnt ready yet but lets not write him off because he's so young an inexperienced. But its not. Its from our senior CB who has been at the club for many years, is, always has been and always will be a passenger when defending. And a CB who doesn't like defending and then doesnt show the minimum levels of commitment
like against Brighton is just embarrassing. You would think he's the mid 30s player who has already retired in his mind and is thinking about his holidays in the summer, not Matic and Mata
and tries to get away with doing the minimum. First shot goes through open legs instead of him
wanting to put his body on the line to block the ball and 2nd he turns his back and hopes for the best.
Both times his body positioning make it hard for the keeper to see and both times its not worth it
because he hasnt put an honest challenge in to stop the ball passing him. So he's actually a detriment
and not helping his team in either situation.
Third goal he's ball watching and allowing Gross way too much room in the box to receive the pass,
McTominay could have done a better job stopping the obvious pass inside but with McTom tracking Trossard back
then Lindelof has no excuse not to be in a position to react to a pass towards Gross and snuff the chance out.
Again he cowers and Gross has the time and space to waltz past our defender in his own box before slotting home.
There were other poor moments like Trossard playing with him in our box and Welbeck's flick getting McAllister in behind him in the incident
leading to Dalot knocking the ball into our own post after 4-0 down.
If that was a performance from an 18 year old reserve CB on his debut I'd say he clearly wasnt ready yet but lets not write him off because he's so young an inexperienced. But its not. Its from our senior CB who has been at the club for many years, is, always has been and always will be a passenger when defending. And a CB who doesn't like defending and then doesnt show the minimum levels of commitment
like against Brighton is just embarrassing. You would think he's the mid 30s player who has already retired in his mind and is thinking about his holidays in the summer, not Matic and Mata
Even Jose complained about him getting bullied all the time on tv as a pundit. And he's the one who signed himThe most cowardly defender I have ever seen!
He under hits nearly every pass to his RB and constantly puts him under pressure.
Thanks Jose
We paid 35mil for him and sold Smalling for 15-18mil and he is three times the defender.
He's been terrible this season but I think Ten Hag will see him as a useful backup, though selling him makes sense with 2 years to go and someone on the continent probably down to pay 18-20M for him, probably in a 3 man backline I'd guess.
He's one of the few players that looked an awful liability when he first arrived and continues to show he's not up to it. It's often a frantic mess with him getting pushed around.
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Second half was his worst in years. Seems to be his task to organise the defence and it failed.
Still have faith in him and Varane under EtH, especially if we could improve the midfield.
Still have faith in him and Varane under EtH, especially if we could improve the midfield.
Thought he played quite well yeste.. nah he was terrible
He plays like it, so yes, yes he does.
People using the word bullied about Lindelof doesn't fit right for me. I would be more sympathetic if he was being bullied and it was just a lack of physical edge and aggression in his make up, but the greater issue is that he chronically refuses to engage attackers. If you had 2 world class ball winning defensive midfielders in front of him meaning all he has to do is sweep up and distribute the ball after they stop the attack he would probably look brilliant but his defensive impact without that set up is minimal, and there is next to nothing in his game to suggest he has any organizational or leadership qualities.
One of the reasons MCT is in the team is so that he can be a front screen for Lindelof on aerial balls, and whomever partners Lindelof automatically has to be the senior member of that pairing, what value does he offer Utd?
One of the reasons MCT is in the team is so that he can be a front screen for Lindelof on aerial balls, and whomever partners Lindelof automatically has to be the senior member of that pairing, what value does he offer Utd?
The physicality has always been Lindelof's downside. Not strong enough, not fast enough, and not good enough in the air. This is why i'm concern with the fans wanting to sign Timber from Ajax, another small CB from another less demanding league what could possibly go wrong with that? Getting big, strong, imposing, and fast CB is a must if you want to succeed in PL and I think ETH will be shocked with the level of physicality and how often the high ball is being played here.
But here's the problem though McT has failed to do the job, he was often found wandering off the field leaving the defense completely open.
Said it a million times after his first season that Lindelöf is everything I dislike about three new era defenders who look more busy looking good thank actually defending. Lindelöf is a nothing player.
Just a pussy, he's not a defender.
His hands at the back type of defending just gets to me. It's not natural and it puts him at a disadvantage. fecking coward of a defender.
Yes in general play, but on things like goal kicks, deep free kicks, MCT routinely guards the space in front of Lindelof.
He needs a Maguire type defender with him. Or a 3 man defence. With Varane both aren't great in air and cause more issues than anyone other pair.
What are the chances that his favorite band is a-ha? because that should be the final straw for me.
Still annoys me that we never even tried Smalling alongside Maguire.
I want to stress that while Lindelof does get physically bullied at times, its not just that and its not always that which makes the difference. Far more often its his attitude and the way he goes about defending that causes the issue. Its very rarely a case of Lindelof doing everything smart and possible in the situation to counter an opponent having a physical strength advantage and the opponent still using their strength to come out on top. No, its both not doing what he could do and the strength on top of it making it worse.
If he had this amazing attitude and went full blaze into headers and into challenges when they needed to be made and still didnt do enough that would be one thing. Because you could see the effort and maybe its just not going to work out. That would be a description of Blind when he first went to CB at United. You could see he had the attitude and will to want to challenge for the ball, he just wasnt very strong in the air. With Lindelof who is bigger and built bigger too you can almost always question his effort and strategy as well as his physicality.
Now its also true that over the years there have been games where a physical striker has played against Lindelof and not been particularly effective. Because in that particular game Lindelof was getting the strategy and effort right enough that the physicality didnt come out on top.
If he had this amazing attitude and went full blaze into headers and into challenges when they needed to be made and still didnt do enough that would be one thing. Because you could see the effort and maybe its just not going to work out. That would be a description of Blind when he first went to CB at United. You could see he had the attitude and will to want to challenge for the ball, he just wasnt very strong in the air. With Lindelof who is bigger and built bigger too you can almost always question his effort and strategy as well as his physicality.
Now its also true that over the years there have been games where a physical striker has played against Lindelof and not been particularly effective. Because in that particular game Lindelof was getting the strategy and effort right enough that the physicality didnt come out on top.
I disagree. Its fine. Completely fine... But its just a cherry on top of doing your job as a defender.
It cannot be all that you do when an opponent has the ball in front of you that you put your hands behind your back and look away or stand legs wide open. Its not in place of defending, its just another thing you can do to try not to have your hands in a position a ball will strike them.
That said you're right that it puts him at a disadvantage in some ways. Its obviously not going to help him if the attacker feigns to shoot and instead takes a touch forward. Now Lindelof doesnt have his arms in position to help slow and pressure the attacker running the ball past him. So like with many things in football its an option that has good outcomes and bad outcomes. So your job is to get it right.
Would never have let him go and said that at the time.
Same. I've never understood what anyone sees in Lindelof. Terrible signing.
Getting rid of Smalling wasnt the issue for me, but replacing him with Lindelöf is of course useless.
I didn't know much about him, i thought we would get a tough defender with ball playing ability, considering the CBs Sweden usually had and Lindelöf having ice hockey background with him also shaving his head short at Benfica. But what we got was a coward of a CB and someone that would probably get dominated physically in women's football.
Lindelof isn't good.
But the comparisons to Chris Smalling, a defender who struggles to pass the football in an era where more is required from defenders on the ball than ever before, do a diservice to the anti-Lindelof argument.
But the comparisons to Chris Smalling, a defender who struggles to pass the football in an era where more is required from defenders on the ball than ever before, do a diservice to the anti-Lindelof argument.
He is the worst defender I have seen at United makes me embarrassed to be a Swede he is afraid of challenges the ball his own shadow yet tries to act like a macho guy...
Lindelof is completely average in possession despite people thinking otherwise. It doesn't make up for his lack of any defensive ability.
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I was literally just about to post that Lindelof himself isn't all that good on the ball, so agree entirely on that.
But the reference there was to Chris Smalling, who was a bomb scare on the ball. Lindelof being average in that regard doesn't change the fact that Smalling was so poor as to be entirely incompatible for a side looking to play progressively in defence.
The comparisons with Smalling flatter Lindelof for that reason, in a way there's really no need to. The comparison points should be the likes of Matip, Konate, Dias, Laporte, Stones, etc.
Weirdly yesterday I felt like he was trying to do too much. Be the aggressor, win things but too often left stranded out of position in part due to do himself and many a time due to the others around him. He does however get muscled off the ball too easily but wouldn’t say he’s a coward.
We are just a terrible team and when your midfield just lets people run as a defender you’re gonna get screwed.
We are just a terrible team and when your midfield just lets people run as a defender you’re gonna get screwed.
I get the midfield argument but Lindelof for me has been a catalogue of basic errors from day 1. I’ve seen much better defenders in the lower leagues. I don’t get why people keep making excuses for him
He’s getting worse and worse now. Been ok this season but lately turned to the same shit as the rest of the team.
I guess at times even with the handicap of playing alongside Maguire he’s played well and shown that there is something there. It comes down to how people perceive a modern CB. I for sure think he can be improved upon but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go to a better team and do well.
He is probably just not physical enough for this league when we are as crap as we are defending as a team. He’d probably do well somewhere like a City or something.
This team is just terrible and needs a CTRL- ALT-DELETE
Don't agree with the idea that Lindelof is bad in possession. Literally one of Ole's 'go to tactics' was the Lindelof inch perfect pass over the top for Rashford in behind the defence and it did work often. The problem is he's so damn passive as a defender at times. The arms behind the back and the barest movement towards the incoming shot really fecking irritates.
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