[Ekeke]

I think he was decent on the ball at times. But he was physically bullied too often, and did not have any real outstanding qualities as a defender. For some periods I did not mind him as a 4th choice style CB, but the partnership with Maguire was bad.

Best of luck to him, but it's good that we are not renewing.

This is why stats (all of them, or as many as possible to give an overall picture) are important. Yes Lindelof could play a nice longball. Every 3 or 4 games he would do that. As he has very few to no strengths as a defender, the one part where he does occasionally do something good is remembered. But the difference between a player like Lindelof and a good ball playing CB is you can expect them to play the ball out well every game, or at least most games. Someone like Lisandro for example does this.

When compared to other CBs the regularity of his forward passes is bang average. His pass accuracy is good, because most of the time he keeps it simple

So yeah its still absolutely true, he played some great balls over the top for our attacking players during his time here. But those times were few and far between.

 

[A-man]

It's incredibly selective and has zero context.

Moving games in which he came on late and we didn't concede into the "didn't play" column, because you're just manipulating the "per game" criteria by counting a two minute cameo as a game played without conceding:

2017/18 - 1 goal per game conceded when he was playing (15 games), 0.57 goals per game conceded when he wasn't (23 games)

2018/19 - 1.33 goals per game conceded when he was playing (30 games), 1.4 goals per game conceded when he wasn't (10 games)

2019/20 - 0.91 goals per game conceded when he was playing (35 games), 1 goal per game conceded when he wasn't (4 games)

2020/21 - 1.03 goals per game conceded when he was playing (29 games), 1.4 goals per game conceded when wasn't (10 games)*

2021/22 - 1.74 goals per game conceded when he was playing (27 games), 0.91 goals per game conceded when he wasn't (11 games)

2022/23 - 1.12 goals per game conceded when he was playing (17 games), 1.09 goals per game conceded when he wasn't (22 games)**

2023/24 - 0.89 goals per game conceded when he was playing (18 games), 1.68 goals per game conceded when he wasn't (24 games)

2024/25 - 0.27 goals per game conceded when he was playing (11 games), 1.7 goals per game conceded when he wasn't (30 games)


Through his entire career at the club, we average 1.11 goals per game conceded when he is playing and 1.27 goals per game conceded when he isn't. Up to the end of 2022/23, the average was 1.2 goals per game conceded while he was playing and 0.99 goals per game when he wasn't.

If you go from 2018/19 to the end of 2021/22, which is basically his stint as a regular starter, it was 1.23 goals per game conceded while he was playing, and 1.2 goals per game conceded when he wasn't.

Literally the only way to make out that Victor Lindelof had any sort of positive impact on our defensive contributions is if you, bizarrely, believe he'd have been a difference maker these past two seasons. Up until that point, we were conceding more goals per game with him in the team, even while he was at his supposed "peak".

* 14 goals conceded - 4 came after we went down to 10-men in that freak 6-1 loss against Spurs - it was 1 goal per game conceded while he didn't play, while we still had 11 men on the pitch

** 24 goals conceded - 11 came in the two freak results against Brentford and Liverpool (4-0 and 7-0) - it was 0.65 goals per game conceded while he didn't play across the other 20 matches

There is nothing selective and nothing like your strange calculation. It’s in fact the most basic stats you could imagine for a defender: All goals we have conceded when he played, versus all goals we conceded when he didn’t play, expressed as goals conceded per 90 minutes. Not per match. Per 90 minutes. So everything is included. All PL matches included from his debut until his last match.

 

[Alex99]

There is nothing selective and nothing like your strange calculation. It’s in fact the most basic stats you could imagine for a defender: All goals we have conceded when he played, versus all goals we conceded when he didn’t play, expressed as goals conceded per 90 minutes. Not per match. Per 90 minutes. So everything is included. All PL matches included from his debut until his last match.

My "strange calculation" is looking at the goals we conceded with him on the pitch vs the goals we conceded when he wasn't.

He was a bang average defender that would have been shifted far quicker if we were even remotely well run as football club.

His contributions during his time at the club amount to nothing more than "being there".

 

[A-man]

That is not how stats work.

In reality this argyment is about as convincing as saying you’ve got a lucky £2 coin because it landed heads six times out of ten.

Here’s why. Two averages on their own don’t tell you whether the gap is real or just random wobble. Proper stats work starts with a hypothesis test: you assume there’s no difference (that’s the null hypothesis) and you ask, “How unlikely is it to get a gap this big purely by chance?” If the answer is “not very unlikely at all”, the numbers are noise and you move on. You also wrap each average in a confidence interval – a range that says, “The true value is probably somewhere in here.” If those ranges overlap heavily, the gap you’re bragging about isn’t worth a penny.

Think of it like trying to work out if a die is loaded when you’ve only rolled each version a dozen times. Die A averages 3.8, die B averages 3.4. Does that mean die A is special? Maybe. But roll counts that small swing wildly: one extra six or a couple of twos and the averages flip. Until you roll hundreds of times – or at least run the proper significance tests – anyone claiming Die A is better is just guessing.

Same with Lindelöf. We’re not checking the opposition quality, the minutes he actually plays, who his partners are, what the match situation is, or whether he’s jogging around for the last three minutes while we park the bus. Without that context and without significance checks, “fewer goals with Vic” is just another pub-talk superstition. Sadly, the broader truth is simpler: Lindelöf has been exactly what United have been for most of the last decade – middling, occasionally decent, often fragile – and that standard is nowhere near good enough for a club with Man Utds ambitions.

He will leave and likely not play for a club anywhere near Man Utds level again. Not to say Man Utds desired level.

Sorry but it all depends on what you claim. I claimed we have conceded less goals (per minute, was maybe a bit unclear there, thought it was obvious) when he played compared to when he didn’t play. It is comparable to which team scored most goals in a game in terms of simplicity. I never said it depended on who else started, sunny weather or anything else. Just plain simple stats: goals conceded per minute.

There are a few people here who believe we conceded more goals when he played and that is simply not true, as stats show.

 

[andersj]

There are a few people here who believe we conceded more goals when he played and that is simply not true, as stats show.

Ok. Good for you. I could not see anyone make that argument until you brought it up. Bringing up then looks rather pointless and irrelevant.

However, I see alot of people claiming that Lindelof was not a very good defender and never good enough for Man Utd. And that is obviously true.

 

[GL21]

so far away from being a Manchester united quality centre back it's unbelievable. The defenders of him on here need a reality check, a smack on the face and someone standing screaming 'WAKE TO feck UP'. Seriously though the fans on here defending his performances are a prime example of what's gone wrong with us. Please have that 'eureka' like moment where you realise your expectations need to be better

 

[simonhch]

It was obviously the right decision to let him go, he certainly should've been cycled out a few years ago, but we were too busy fecking up the rest of the team with terrible decisions. All that said, the level of vitriol towards him is a bit strong, and I don't like it. He had his flaws, not least his physicality, but in general he was a reasonably solid and reliable option for us. Just had the tendency to get bullied far too often, which meant he could never be a top CB. As a fourth choice defender, he was absolutely fine, and he had some great games over the years. Honestly, the level of hatred towards him isn't commensurate with his general shiteness. Of the two that came under Mourinho, him and Bailly, I was always much, much more nervous with Bailly on the pitch.

Wish him luck for the future.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

I liked Victor. While he certainly lacked aggression and seemed to play within himself at times he was professional, not prone to injury or rashness. Perhaps a better partner would have helped him flourish.

That said, I'm still distressed about him turning up for preseason with his boots in a bin bag a few seasons back.

 

[andersj]

It’s in fact the most basic stats you could imagine for a defender: All goals we have conceded when he played, versus all goals we conceded when he didn’t play, expressed as goals conceded per 90 minutes. Not per match. Per 90 minutes. So everything is included. All PL matches included from his debut until his last match.

Basic, but also a stat that tells us very little about the quality of the player/defender.

 

[golden_blunder]

It was obviously the right decision to let him go, he certainly should've been cycled out a few years ago, but we were too busy fecking up the rest of the team with terrible decisions. All that said, the level of vitriol towards him is a bit strong, and I don't like it. He had his flaws, not least his physicality, but in general he was a reasonably solid and reliable option for us. Just had the tendency to get bullied far too often, which meant he could never be a top CB. As a fourth choice defender, he was absolutely fine, and he had some great games over the years. Honestly, the level of hatred towards him isn't commensurate with his general shiteness. Of the two that came under Mourinho, him and Bailly, I was always much, much more nervous with Bailly on the pitch.

Wish him luck for the future.

The thing I don’t like by people saying 4th choice CB, for most of his time here he’d be around the first team because of injuries or silly selections. Glad he’s gone, never ever good enough for the level of players we should aspire to have. Our managers simply weren’t displaying the right expectations by keeping him around so long.

Nice guy but a defender not a chance

 

[KingEric04]

The thing I don’t like by people saying 4th choice CB, for most of his time here he’d be around the first team because of injuries or silly selections. Glad he’s gone, never ever good enough for the level of players we should aspire to have. Our managers simply weren’t displaying the right expectations by keeping him around so long.

Nice guy but a defender not a chance

The fact that Lindelof was present in Man Utd for 8 years is the reason why this football club has been in shambles for so long. Such mid players like Lindelof should have never been present for such a long time in a club like United. He should've been sold before the Covid times but he stayed until this season which is completely nuts and inexcusable.

 

[A-man]

Ok. Good for you. I could not see anyone make that argument until you brought it up. Bringing up then looks rather pointless and irrelevant.

However, I see alot of people claiming that Lindelof was not a very good defender and never good enough for Man Utd. And that is obviously true.

Out of interest, who of the CBs are good enough for United according to your standards?

 

[Gandalf]

Not to derail anything but the guy played his final game for us over a month ago and has left the club, why is his performance thread so active now? If you think he is good enough, think he is garbage or think he looked good in his wifes dress it makes no bloody difference anymore.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Not to derail anything but the guy played his final game for us over a month ago and has left the club, why is his performance thread so active now? If you think he is good enough, think he is garbage or think he looked good in his wifes dress it makes no bloody difference anymore.

Because despite what anyone thinks, nobody is going to start a new thread for Victor Lindelof.

 

[Gandalf]

Because despite what anyone thinks, nobody is going to start a new thread for Victor Lindelof.

Not even @golden_blunder?

 

[andersj]

Out of interest, who of the CBs are good enough for United according to your standards?

At Man Utd today? None of them have proven to be good enough.

Maguire have, overall, been our best CB since 2019. That is not saying much.

 

[criticalanalysis]

I saw a stat the other day which said over Lindelof's career, he had back peddled the most amount of collective yards per 90 and engaged in the least amount of duels despite being in the vicinity of a player. There was another one where his xG progressive passing was the lowest ever recorded.

 

[Red00012]

I saw a stat the other day which said over Lindelof's career, he had back peddled the most amount of collective yards per 90 and engaged in the least amount of duels despite being in the vicinity of a player. There was another one where his xG progressive passing was the lowest ever recorded.

For some reason I just thought of Fr Jack Hackett saying “Nuns , reverse , reverse” when I read this.