Smalling & Blind Partnership

Perrick Dubois said:
I don't believe that to be the case at all about Smalling, I think he's done a fine job playing the one man defensive (cleanup) band all season but we can't rely on that as a defensive partnership next season going forward. Especially with newer midfielders bedding in, new wide players and fullbacks trying to bed themselves in also. The simple move is to sign a proper central defender and add Blind to the midfield mix and as cover for left back.

I'm sorry, what has worked now?... We lie well out of reach of the top three. I think it is safe to say, looking at the overall picture that Blind and Smalling as a combination hasn't really worked out this season...
Click to expand...
That is just plain wrong. They along with De Gea are in the top 3 list of least conceded goals in the EPL. United are fifth because of how poor we have been in attack. Especially because our senior most attackers this season: Mata and Rooney, have been crap and new boy Depay taking time to settle.
 
Last edited:
I missed most of the Everton game where Blind was voted MoTM, but I think it's inevitable that LVG's successor (*cough Mou *cough) will look to upgrade on him and use him as a rotational-utility player.
 
Our defensive record this year has been very good, even with the insane amount of injuries we've had. I certainly think we need an upgrade on 1 of Jones/rojo but Blind and smalling with de gea in a settled back 4 have proven good enough. at least not to be the first area on the chopping block come the transfer window.
 
Oo0AahCantona said:
Our defensive record this year has been very good, even with the insane amount of injuries we've had. I certainly think we need an upgrade on 1 of Jones/rojo but Blind and smalling with de gea in a settled back 4 have proven good enough. at least not to be the first area on the chopping block come the transfer window.
Click to expand...
I'd wager it's just about the first priority along with RW (notwithstanding a De Gea summer soap opera...).
 
Skills said:
Cause he's not been that good for us in midfield. Circumstances were a lot different back then though, he had to play as the deepest midfielder in place of Carrick and he simply doesn't have the positional sense or decision making ability to play that role.
Click to expand...

There you go.
 
I'm not in a hurry to see Blind back in midfield, his lack of agility makes it harder for him in tight spaces against pressing teams. He's carved out a role for himself as a CB and I'd keep him in rotation there next season.
 
Blind recently said at his national team that he feels very comfortable at CB and considers himself primarily a CB now.
 
We have the 2nd best defensive record in the league and our CB pairing is the problem? Right.

I can agree we need one more quality CB to rotate Smalling and Blind both, but acting like either of them have been below par or left wanting is fecking asinine, especially considering the insane amount of injuries we've dealt with at both FB positions.

This squad needs to focus on bringing in an ST, CAM and RM before anything else. The lack of goals and you could argue support from our holding midfielders in attack are real problems. Slagging off Blind or Smalling by nitpicking their individual mistakes over the course of a season in which they've played every minute they've been healthy for is mental.
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
That is just plain wrong. They along with De Gea are in the top 3 list of least conceded goals in the EPL. United are third because of how poor we have been in attack. Especially because our senior most attackers this season: Mata and Rooney, have been crap and new boy Depay taking time to settle.
Click to expand...
Fifth?.. Part of how poor we have been in attack has been how we have set up to utilize two defensive midfielders and accommodate Blind's on-ball offense at CB. As much as we can single out individuals for being crap, we've played several different combinations all across the board and we've largely looked to play the same stale football as a neutral base. When we've opened it up a bit when we needed to get a result which has lead to some abject defending at various points this season. Some poor results along the way in the league and crashing out of cup competitions as well.

Not everything is about individual poorness, some of it is due to the system we are trying to play that clearly hasn't worked.
 
I have been impressed with Blind as CB. I think he is an useful player because he can cover different positions.

This summer we need to sign a top CB. We have been talking about young defenders like Stones, Laporte, Marquinhos to partner Smalling.

What about an experienced CB and a leader like Hummels? I think he has the passing ability that Blind poses, so he could be a good complement for Smalling.
 
I think both centre backs have been very underrated (not necessarily here but in the media). To think we have conceeded 2nd least goals in the Premier League with both our fullback positions under frequent change is remarkable. You don't really need to play the game at professional level to know CBs performances depend in part on each other and their full backs. When personelle of the latter chops and changes, its a ridiculous task to keep it steady.

I genuinely think we have the two of the smartest CBs in the league.
 
Perrick Dubois said:
Fifth?.. Part of how poor we have been in attack has been how we have set up to utilize two defensive midfielders and accommodate Blind's on-ball offense at CB. As much as we can single out individuals for being crap, we've played several different combinations all across the board and we've largely looked to play the same stale football as a neutral base. When we've opened it up a bit when we needed to get a result which has lead to some abject defending at various points this season. Some poor results along the way in the league and crashing out of cup competitions as well.

Not everything is about individual poorness, some of it is due to the system we are trying to play that clearly hasn't worked.
Click to expand...
I'm convinced though that ours is. Look at it this way:
We play two holders to control possession and the midfield. It has never ever been about protecting our defence. Furthermore the instability in our wide areas, due to injuries at fullback areas, plus plain inconsistency from in experienced wingers has hurt the aesthetics of our style of football the most. But above all we have been horrendously blunt because our number 10 in chief, Mata and our lead forward, Rooney have not been good enough all year long. Its not the system that has failed. Its the individuals. We upgrade them or their form improves to a consistent level, so will the football. Guaranteed. Leicester for example simply improved their form to a consistent level with the same players that nearly got relegated. Even inspite of switching between 3-5-2, 4-3-3 to save themselves and the now likely to be title winning at the start of this 4-4-2 this season. Cruially, they also upgraded where they lacked. Got in a younger Cambiasso, a proper left back in Fuchs and a hard working second striker in Okazaki. And voila, baring a horror show ala Manchester United 1992, they are champs elect. PS: saying we
are third earlier was a typing error
 
I don't think Smalling is that smart, but he has a lot of potential to improve still. Working with Blind is probably helping him in that regard, as his mind is all Daley has. I don't think it works that way for Blind, who is very close to the best he will ever be in my opinion. I could be wrong, as Blind has a habit of proving people wrong.

When he first started for Ajax, the public opinion was that he would never be good enough for the first team due to his lack of athletic ability. He was very slow, not very strong, and he didn't jump that high either and turned slow. He was tried at centre-back, then as a left-back, and then benched and loaned out. During his loan he flourished, and Ajax was quick to start him the following season and played him at left-back. He did well enough, until injuries forced the coach to play him as a defensive midfielder. He was, to be frank, the best player in the league from that point on until Memphis' breakout season, driving forward passes from midfield, speeding up play, and working like a madman, winning best player in the league once or even twice, can't remember. And he still wasn't that fast.

I can see he has become a lot stronger at United physically, but he'll never be near someone like Smalling, it just isn't in him. It's funny that his father was exactly like him -- Johan Cruijff bought his father, a right-back at relegation battlers Sparta Rotterdam and he became essential in the spine of that legendary Ajax team coached by van Gaal with Kluivert, Davids, Seedorf, etc. His father was a centre-back, not fast, not strong, but very smart.

Daley Blind knows he wasn't born with all the talent in the world, and he knows his mind is the surest way to make up for some of that ground. His time at United will tell me how far hard work and honing a sharp mind can take someone.

I hope he suprises me again, he has done very well so far. If you had asked the public in Holland, we had never thought he'd do as well as he has at United. We doubted him again. Now I see the Redcafe arguing for a replacement centre-back, and it is completely sensible. But what if he does it again?
 
ShakeUnBake said:
I don't think Smalling is that smart, but he has a lot of potential to improve still. Working with Blind is probably helping him in that regard, as his mind is all Daley has. I don't think it works that way for Blind, who is very close to the best he will ever be in my opinion. I could be wrong, as Blind has a habit of proving people wrong.

When he first started for Ajax, the public opinion was that he would never be good enough for the first team due to his lack of athletic ability. He was very slow, not very strong, and he didn't jump that high either and turned slow. He was tried at centre-back, then as a left-back, and then benched and loaned out. During his loan he flourished, and Ajax was quick to start him the following season and played him at left-back. He did well enough, until injuries forced the coach to play him as a defensive midfielder. He was, to be frank, the best player in the league from that point on until Memphis' breakout season, driving forward passes from midfield, speeding up play, and working like a madman, winning best player in the league once or even twice, can't remember. And he still wasn't that fast.

I can see he has become a lot stronger at United physically, but he'll never be near someone like Smalling, it just isn't in him. It's funny that his father was exactly like him -- Johan Cruijff bought his father, a right-back at relegation battlers Sparta Rotterdam and he became essential in the spine of that legendary Ajax team coached by van Gaal with Kluivert, Davids, Seedorf, etc. His father was a centre-back, not fast, not strong, but very smart.

Daley Blind knows he wasn't born with all the talent in the world, and he knows his mind is the surest way to make up for some of that ground. His time at United will tell me how far hard work and honing a sharp mind can take someone.

I hope he suprises me again, he has done very well so far. If you had asked the public in Holland, we had never thought he'd do as well as he has at United. We doubted him again. Now I see the Redcafe arguing for a replacement centre-back, and it is completely sensible. But what if he does it again?
Click to expand...

Very good post. I remember watching that Ajax team rip teams apart. Litamanen, Finidi-George, Kanu, the De Boers, Van Der Saar, Overmars,Reiziger, Musampa. What a fecking team that was!
 
Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber said:
I'm convinced though that ours is. Look at it this way:
Click to expand...
I'm not. I'm not convinced that it is individuals at all. The 10 spot has been a genuine problem in my opinion but much of it has been system based. Memphis, Januzaj, Herrera and then Mata have all had big spells of being poor which has lead to the striker position has had the same amount of very low service, low chance creation and low ball recycling to leave them one on one with the last man/keeper.

Players have changed, low chance creation and stale service has remained. If we fix the football style first, (ie. back to a single DM so that he can drop and defend as a back three leaving the fullback positions less responsibility to drop, allow our moves to start with the single DM rather than from the CB position then we will be changing a lot of our system for the better) the players will sort themselves out in the short term and then we can move on replacements in the mid-term.
 
Every season the club has to press the reset button in a way. Not certain this partnership will remain but not a forgone conclusion he'll (Blind) be the one to lose his spot.
He is only having his first full season as a CB, going by the usual laws of progression he is likelier to get better and more settled in the role.
Since West Brom they have been showing a lot more trust in each other, as oppose to the one man show they have been putting on all season. If this continues, it'll have to take an extremely talented individual to displace either of them.
 
They have done well and I think centre back is Blind's best position. Along with Dave they have been our best 3 players this season (well, them and Martial). The problem is the rest of the defenders, who have been in and out all season and mostly been underwhelming. Would keep the partnership for next season and look for the likes of Mensah to provide back up.
 
There's no serious debate whatsoever that the Smalling/Blind partnership has worked very well, but we need to bring in the finished product CB next season. Names like Hummels, Laporte, Varane and Marquinhos would not be out of order for acquisition.

Use Blind as a defensive midfielder in a 4231 or a left mid in a 433 to give the back four the defensive help they've been too often lacking.

Perhaps to argue against the point I've just made, we've been weakest defensively on set pieces. That's where you can take advantage of Blind. And in truth Smalling. Bring in a CB who can sort out our issues defending set pieces and, presuming we keep De Gea, we're almost in full-time fortress mode.
 
The problem on set pieces is that Smalling is the only real presence in the air, except on the rare occasions that Fellaini is playing, and he picks up the opponent's most potent header. The rest get out-jumped or let their man go free. So it's a combination of lack of height and lack of organisation. Smalling's dangerous tendency to wrestle opponents needs to be tempered, though.

In truth, having Shaw back next season will help Blind-Smalling a lot.
 
surf said:
The problem on set pieces is that Smalling is the only real presence in the air, except on the rare occasions that Fellaini is playing, and he picks up the opponent's most potent header. The rest get out-jumped or let their man go free. So it's a combination of lack of height and lack of organisation. Smalling's dangerous tendency to wrestle opponents needs to be tempered, though.

In truth, having Shaw back next season will help Blind-Smalling a lot.
Click to expand...
What's this thing with Martial guarding the goal in set pieces, considering he is one of our tallest and better headers. Even young Rashford gets involved knowingly being one of our weakest in aerial challenges.
 
I missed the game against Everton, did Blind play that well against Lukaku?
 
Raw said:
Very well, Lukaku barely had a sniff.
Click to expand...

Awesome. I'm delighted for him, and for us.:)

Neat fact: He and Eriksen of Tottenham played together for years and years at Ajax.
 
Blind has been fantastic and has played almost every game this season. We now have the most clean sheets in the league so why change it?
 
Not sure what else blind needs to do to convince you lot. He and Smalling are probably one of the best CB pairings in the league. they compliment each other massively. Glad he keeps on proving the critics wrong.
 
I'd get an upgrade on Blind.

For me Blind can be our new O'shea, capable of having good to great seasons, versatile and a useful squad member.

Assuming that LVG is going, then I'd bring in a Central defender(whether right footed or left footed)...get a defender first and foremost. Great United teams have usually had that as their bedrock.

The only time I would have played Blind as CB was if Guardiola was coming here as manager.
 
Don't care how good a ball player Blind is, we are not winning too many cups with him partnering Smalling. We need buy a new partner for Smalling, with Mensah backing them up.
 
Sylar said:
Too many games this season it has seemed like they are both playing different games and theres been a lack of communication (even this late into the season)

BUt credit to them for the number of clean sheets theyve kept (along with DDG).

We do need to upgrade though if possible.
Click to expand...

Im more than ever convinced that they dont talk to each other and just go out and do their own thing given what happened with that first goal.
 
We only have a good defensive record because we are a defensive and negative side. When teams attack us with intensity or we have to chase a game and leave space we are all at sea.
 
Smalling is decent, Blind composed but too often they are horribly exposed for the limited players they are. Doing their best and a good job most of the time but like the rest of the team, they're a huge step down from what we had a short time ago.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Fault was at Rojo and Darmian. Smalling & Blind were having a decent game against Spurs until that collapse.
Click to expand...

didnt they both go to head the same ball, got in each others way, and were both out of position, leaving Ali to stroll in behind?
 
Nothing wrong with the partnership. They were at fault for the first goal, though. Both went for the same ball, meaning they were out of position when Alli scored. Other than that, they didn't do anything majorly wrong.
 
Fosu Mensah made the defense look good while he was on the pitch. As soon as he went off, the defense looked a mess.
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
Nothing wrong with the partnership. They were at fault for the first goal, though. Both went for the same ball, meaning they were out of position when Alli scored. Other than that, they didn't do anything majorly wrong.
Click to expand...

That shouldnt happen, especially with communication. I think thats the biggest problem, I dont think they talk to each other. I didnt see it at the Liverpool game at home recently (they were hardly talking) and it was the same at Saints at home. They dont talk when defending.
 
Blind is just atrocious defender. Anyone who has any common sense in football would see that. In fact, if you ask opposing managers what the #1 idiotic decision LVG makes every game, the consensus would be playing Blind as a CB. Our clean sheets have nothing to do with Blind, but more the defensive possession based system we play and having 1 competent defender in Smalling. We literally have to play 2 defensive midfielder to compensate for his weakness, only because he can pass the ball?

Today for that first goal as Smalling went in to challenge for the ball, Blind was literally there ball watching while Alli positioned himself. Now if Blind had some pace it would not be as worrying, but for a player who might give Mata a run for his money for the least atheltic premier league player there is no reason in the world he should think he can beat Alli in a footrace... Third goal was the same thing. Blind can't keep up with Lamela and gives him miles of space.

The only reason he looks okay sometimes is because he always has 2 DM and a CB covering him. If you watch him under pressure he always plays it safe against the attacker because he is scared they will blow by him. Allowing them to run at the defense, pass, shoot, or do whatever the hell they'd like. A mediocre backup LB and CM nothing more.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Fault was at Rojo and Darmian. Smalling & Blind were having a decent game against Spurs until that collapse.
Click to expand...

They were having a good game, until both went for the same header, directly leading to us conceding the first.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.