What do people see in Lindelof?

[tenpoless]

It all started from how "we need a ball playing CB", "a modern CB", "our CBs are so outdated", "football has changed", etc.
Now you're stuck with someone who can play with balls (just like any other footballers) but shite at defending. The type of defender who could hit the crossbar in a crossbar challenge but shite at chasing, closing down and outmuscling attackers. I'd take a strong, tall bastard who could outmuscle and throw the opponent winger 5 meters away before he even has the chance to sprint any day, rather than a ballerina defender who does pretty passes that end up being passed back by whoever received it anyway.

 

[golden_blunder]

He is good with the ball, reads the game well. Good team player that can combine well others.

Often good against the very best teams, but just like half our squad not the mentally strongest and not a winner. Thus when it matters the most he has his worst games.

He is a bit like Ole as manager in terms of being like that. Thus fans should love him more than they do since people want to keep Ole. Top 4 quality, but for a title win you may want to uppgrade and keep him as a backup.
Although I would say the same about Stones before this season, but Pep has transformed him so I think a Conte or another world class manager could see Lindelöf turn into top class.

No coach is god. You can’t polish a turd

 

[golden_blunder]

pep would walk the league again with Lindelöf as his centre back. We fail to create against a poor villareal team and people conclusion after this is to talk about a centre back?

Wrong, it’s the end of the season after a game in which another goal against is a black mark for his ‘defending’

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

The real question is what Ole sees in Lindelof. Most supporters think he’s shit.

he was inherited. It’s pretty obvious the manager wants a new CB. At the moment there is little alternative.

 

[Gandalf]

I think it is less about what people see in him and more an idictment of the competition for his position. The inescapable fact is that we only have 1 CB that is good enough and that is Maguire. Lindelof partners him because I think Harry understands what he is getting from him and although he has his weaknesses he is consistent with them so the team can adapt accordingly. Bailly may be potentially better but his kamikaze style creates panic in the players around him and the cupboard is pretty bare after that. We need 2 CBs minimum but at best we will get a new partner for Maguire and for the time being we will continue to muddle along with Lindelof and Bailly as the main backups.

 

[Littlinho]

Seems like a likable guy but he's about as bang average as they come. Shocking signing by Jose

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

I see a weak link and probably our worst starting playing. Hopefully that’s rectified this summer.

 

[11101]

You can’t the passive trick with headers

No and that's why Maguire needs to be there.

Lindelof can definitely be upgraded but he's not as bad as many make out.

 

[Van Piorsing]

He seems too likeable and friendly for a PL defender. Sir Alex usually went for absolute c*nts in defense causing respect and sometimes even fear in opponent. Even Evans and Heinze despite limited abilities could damage anyone who came too close our box. De Gea could use that kind of protection as he's also too nice of a lad.

My favourite Lindelof's ability is that he's clean tackler on the ground. Quite useful perk in VAR era, sadly it's not enough for United.

 

[Giggsy13]

he was inherited. It’s pretty obvious the manager wants a new CB. At the moment there is little alternative.

Agree on Ole inheriting lindelof but disagree on little alternative being available. Axel has shown flashes and imo, deserved a run in the team after his away performance at PSG.

 

[Darlington Padgett]

35 year old Raul Albiol would've walked into our starting 11 this season.

 

[TsuWave]

awful defender

 

[bosnian_red]

Everyone knows he is an average at best CB, what's there to talk about? It's one of our biggest needs, finding a partner for Maguire. He's good as a 3rd choice CB but that's about it.

 

[Adam-Utd]

pep would walk the league again with Lindelöf as his centre back. We fail to create against a poor villareal team and people conclusion after this is to talk about a centre back?

I can't believe anybody would seriously think this? even Ake is better than Lindelof and he's on the bench for city.

You think literally no other PL side?

I think maybe Sheffield, perhaps Leeds at a push.

 

[Robbie Boy]

I can't believe anybody would seriously think this? even Ake is better than Lindelof and he's on the bench for city.

I think maybe Sheffield, perhaps Leeds at a push.

Well at least that's two eh.

 

[RedSky]

Lindelof is alright, he's obvious not a "fraud" or any of the other ridiculous hyperbole used to describe him sometimes.

However, he isn't good enough for a title winning team, and is the weakest link we have at the back. He'd make a pretty decent backup CB, which is hopefully what he'll become after the summer transfer window.

The problem with Lindelof is that every man and his dog fancies the physical fight against him. Decent Managers target him at set pieces and high balls knowing he's bad at defending them. He's a good player to have when the games comfortable and the opposition is struggling, but if you come up against a team that is tricky, he'll ultimately fail you time and time again.

 

[The Hilton]

The problem with Lindelof is that every man and his dog fancies the physical fight against him. Decent Managers target him at set pieces and high balls knowing he's bad at defending them. He's a good player to have when the games comfortable and the opposition is struggling, but if you come up against a team that is tricky, he'll ultimately fail you time and time again.

Yeah he gets physically bullied quite a lot, as I said he's a decent CB but we'll concede goals at set pieces (and to crosses, big strong strikers, etc) with him starting.

 

[Fredo]

Another shit buy by Jose which we are still suffering from till today, he's an okay defender, good squad player but we must buy a top CB to partner Harry, or we mold Lindelof/Bailly/Tuanzebe into one defender, Lindelof alone is not good enough

 

[Eugenius]

Lindelof is in the team purely for pragmatic reasons - mainly because of weaknesses of the other CBs (availability) and that because spending another £50m on another centre back straight after after buying Maguire probably isn't a good use of limited funds.

Objectively he is just an average player. He could easily be playing for Arsenal, Leeds or one of those clubs around 8th-10th and no one on here would rate him. Rarely ever a trainwreck, and even more rarely ever a dominant performance. But yesterday's goal was one of several of his time here where it's very clear a top centre back deals with it properly and we don't concede.

There are a few posters who confuse him playing regularly with that meaning he is a actually a good defender. Therefore his lack of an obvious attributes/in game actions means he must have good positioning or reading of the game (despite obvious examples like the goal yesterday). And then there a fair few Swedish posters who like him for obvious reasons.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

I don't rate him as a CH for a side with ambitions to win trophies but last night's goal isn't on him.

As Rio showed, Bailly and Shaw are 2 on 2 and both half asleep... Bailly allows himself to be played and Shaw just isn't concentrating. Fair play, it was a well worked move (NFL like to create a hole) but all Bailly and Shaw have to do is stay goalside of the players they're marking and at least make it difficult.. they didn't.

Other areas of his season/last night... again, not great or good enough for a top team but that's a separate issue to the defending for their goal.

 

[spiriticon]

35 year old Raul Albiol would've walked into our starting 11 this season.

Exactly this. I look at Lindesoft and I look at Albiol and I say 'yup, Albiol please'

I bet Albiol didn't cost £40 million either.

 

[Oranges038]

F*ck all if I am honest.

Good.
Ok at defending when the play is in front of him and defending on the ground.

Bad.
Slow
Weak in the air
Generally weak in fact
Too passive
Too reactive
Lacks any leadership qualities
Strikers don't fear him

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

No coach is god. You can’t polish a turd

He is not though. He is a very good defender and many factors could improve him and us as a team with him.

Remember Stones being shit for a time and then improved thanks to getting a good partner and Peps management. Now he is part of the best defensive partnership in the world. Noone called him world class before this season.

Remember Chelsea def looking really poor under Lampard and now Tuchel have come in and improved them a lot. They have a past it Silva as the main man and Christensen/Rudiger who noone rated before Tuchel took over.

Moyes has made a solid defensive side with West Hams average defenders and Moyes is far from a world class manager.

People here called Evans shit and wanted him gone and now he is the star defender for Leicester who won the Fa cup.

Also Liverpool is doing ok with the likes of Nat Phillips in the team. I know they struggled though without Van Dijk mostly, but they got the shit together in the end.

Is Lindelöf a Van Dijk level defender? No, but people go over the top about his level due to having a bad final. Same as people attacking Rashford for a poor final. Both are very good players for us this season. Should they be nailed on to start every game? I think not, but to call them shit and useless is very stupid.

I think buying a defender makes sense particular with the injury record to many of our defenders. If that defender is better than Maguire or Lindelöf then great, but it is going to cost us a lot if we want a world superstar. I rather spend the big money on someone like Grealish, Sancho, Haaland etc and a defensive midfielder. Hopefully we can find a brilliant cheap defender that works well with Maguire, but I have 0 trust in us being able to do that with the Glaziers.

 

[Redlyn]

He'd make an excellent back up. There is a reason why CB is high in most peoples priority list.

 

[NoLogo]

Not much, he is a very average CB, I think there are easily two dozen CBs on his level in the PL.

 

[Abraxas]

He's very poor from these situations. I don't think he is terrible all-round, he was part of a relatively good defence this year. That doesn't necessarily convince that he is ultimately good enough to be a regular player but it indicates he isn't a hopeless player or any other hyperbole.

I don't think we learnt anything new last night. Having Bailly and Lindelof in a team together isn't feasible, we can't command set piece situations or any kind of crosses, and you have one guy prone to outbursts and one that can be quite passive. It sounds like it may balance out but in practice it just results in greater potential for mistakes as they both sorely lack genuine quality alongside them. Given Maguire is the one man that can help this situation it places too much on his shoulders.

I think we've got a few too many options at CB that shouldn't really be there. Bailly, Lindelof, Jones, Tuanzebe is a little too many bodies and probably one quality player short. It's not a terrible situation, it just needs some thought and tidying up in the market to make sure we get the right person in.

 

[Buster15]

He has been at United long enough now to be able to know what he is like.
And I would classify him as ok.
But not as good a defender as Smalling or even Jonny Evans.
His is lacking in the physicality department.

 

[golden_blunder]

He is not though. He is a very good defender and many factors could improve him and us as a team with him.

Remember Stones being shit for a time and then improved thanks to getting a good partner and Peps management. Now he is part of the best defensive partnership in the world. Noone called him world class before this season.

Remember Chelsea def looking really poor under Lampard and now Tuchel have come in and improved them a lot. They have a past it Silva as the main man and Christensen/Rudiger who noone rated before Tuchel took over.

Moyes has made a solid defensive side with West Hams average defenders and Moyes is far from a world class manager.

People here called Evans shit and wanted him gone and now he is the star defender for Leicester who won the Fa cup.

Also Liverpool is doing ok with the likes of Nat Phillips in the team. I know they struggled though without Van Dijk mostly, but they got the shit together in the end.

Is Lindelöf a Van Dijk level defender? No, but people go over the top about his level due to having a bad final. Same as people attacking Rashford for a poor final. Both are very good players for us this season. Should they be nailed on to start every game? I think not, but to call them shit and useless is very stupid.

I think buying a defender makes sense particular with the injury record to many of our defenders. If that defender is better than Maguire or Lindelöf then great, but it is going to cost us a lot if we want a world superstar. I rather spend the big money on someone like Grealish, Sancho, Haaland etc and a defensive midfielder. Hopefully we can find a brilliant cheap defender that works well with Maguire, but I have 0 trust in us being able to do that with the Glaziers.

I judge Lindelof since day 1, not based on 1 match. I’ve said all along he’s nowhere near good enough if we want to win trophies. We don’t have room for passengers in defence. He may not be awful but he’s not good enough to be anything more than a squad player at United. He makes mistake after mistake, she’s away from confrontation, even last night he was guarding a post at a corner. He’s a centre back for pity’s sake! Why is he hiding?

 

[UnhiredSquire]

Every other team in the Premier League has at least one, if not two or more, better centre-halves. United fans rating Lindelof is the classic example of donning rose-tinted glasses.

The problem is Ole rating him. Mike Smalling was much better at defending than him. Bailly — for all his calamities — is a better defender than him. Axel certainly could be a much better player than him, but needs the chance to show it. Playing grandpa Nema at centre-half would probably be an upgrade. I'm certain Michael Carrick could come out of retirement and play that unfamiliar position better than Lindelof. The "Iceman" isn't actually that cool under pressure. He is frail. He makes poor decisions. His ball playing ability isn't even that great. He would certainly sign Rashford's conceivable petition to do away with heading in football. And he effuses mistakes — every season he has been at the club. And that is simply not going to change.

 

[A-man]

Overall he had a good season with a dip at the end. He’s a player whose strengths are depending on good collaboration with the other defenders. He needs to be able to anticipate what his partner will do and vice versa. When he plays with Harry that works well and we concede few goals. They have partnered in 26 PL games this season and we only conceded more than 1 goal in 6 of them. Probably not many CB pairs with better record this season.

 

[Cloud7]

Do people actually see anything in him? I thought the general consensus was that we need a CB to partner Maguire and get Lindelof out of the starting lineup as soon as possible?

 

[Sir Matt]

He's weak, slow, passive, and just not very good at defending. He constantly gets outmuscled or falls over hoping for a foul when he should be fighting for the ball. A player who was directly involved in shipping three goals in a match against Palace last September should never have been first choice for United all season. It's been clear that he's not good enough for more that a couple seasons now.

 

[christy87]

Nowhere near the quality of player we need in that position, he just looks so fragile and if you look fragile people will think you are and won’t fear you, as a CB you have to be up for the fight, if you landed a few body shots on him he’d fall apart, whereas Maguire would brush them off and come back at you.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Overall he had a good season with a dip at the end. He’s a player whose strengths are depending on good collaboration with the other defenders. He needs to be able to anticipate what his partner will do and vice versa. When he plays with Harry that works well and we concede few goals. They have partnered in 26 PL games this season and we only conceded more than 1 goal in 6 of them. Probably not many CB pairs with better record this season.

No I think it is only Stones, Dias that has done better. People talk up other teams defenders a lot, but if they play for us they get called shit.

So these other amazing defenders are. Dier, David Luiz, Dawson, Evans, Christensen, N Phillips. How much would they improve us? We had Evans and stupidly sold him I guess.

If these played for us they would get destroyed by fans and we know fans did hate on Evans under Moyes etc.

 

[Jezpeza]

I see a 6 out of 10 centre back with no real strong attributes who we should have on the bench and to play in unimportant cup games and rotate into the team when we play bottom half prem sides if need be.

 

[Valencia's Left Foot]

A soft defender that easily loses players on set pieces.

Probably the weakest starting CB United have ever had.

 

[RedDevil@84]

He didn't come cheap and if we can trash Maguire (who has is own limitations) this guy should be put on the stand. This is my first thread and honestly the next one will be some kind of a vintage positive one.

Lindelof gets trashed way more than Maguire. He gets abused so much in matchday threads and in his own thread. Till we sign some awesome defender, Lindelof Maguire is the best combination we have. All others are sicknotes or low quality.

By the way I don't think Lindelof is ridiculously trash. He has his good things and can work with a high quality defender who can compensate his weaknesses.
But his major weaknesses are physicality and headers and that is key in PL.

 

[The Cat]

He's bloody awful. I would prefer David May 100% over him.

 

[A-man]

No I think it is only Stones, Dias that has done better. People talk up other teams defenders a lot, but if they play for us they get called shit.

So these other amazing defenders are. Dier, David Luiz, Dawson, Evans, Christensen, N Phillips. How much would they improve us? We had Evans and stupidly sold him I guess.

If these played for us they would get destroyed by fans and we know fans did hate on Evans under Moyes etc.

Forum fans are always very reactive. A few weeks ago he was great, now after being poor at the goal he’s shite. And the grass is always greener. I promise you, if it had been Lindelof who failed to keep clean in front of his own goal like Torres on Cavani’s goal, people would be saying he was soft, slow, poorly positioned, a coward, a pussy etc.

 

[MattyB1986]

Looking back at our seasons highlights, a vast majority of our goals we conceded was the result of this man not being a very good defender, frankly.