Standing at five-foot-eleven, Daley Blind is hardly short but his style of play and less robust frame has often led onlookers to assume he is a far more petite player: too small to be a centre-back, anyway.
Yet the Dutchman, who has signed as a utility man to play in defensive midfield and out on the left two summers ago, has emerged as not only a solid, short-term fix next to Chris Smalling this season at the back for Manchester United but as a central defender adept enough to stare down the best that the Premier League has to offer.
His strengths aren’t usually the type of attributes cherished by fans of the English game to guard their goal area, however. For a start, Blind is not physically strong. Unlike so many of the other enforcers who prowl the backlines of the league, deterring would-be attackers from darting into space and hauling them to the ground or out of the danger zone if they do dare to trespass across the final third, he isn’t able to bully his opponents. He isn’t imposing, neither in stature nor attitude.
Daley Blind has made as many defensive errors in the Premier League this season (3) as Marcos Rojo last season.
Daley Blind has made more defensive errors (3) than any United player in the Premier League this season, the same tally run up by Marcos Rojo last year.
Blind’s lack of staying power and aggression originally saw him caught out when thrown up against centre-forwards such as Bafetimbi Gomis and Graziano Pelle, who were able to roll him, almost effortlessly, to get goal side and leave the Dutchman flattened out in their wake. The sight of United’s stop-gap centre-back being paired off against traditional No. 9-type strikers was once wince-inducing.
Romelu Lukaku has all the qualities of exactly that type of forward and more. The Belgian has good feet, excellent movement and an ever-improving sense of timing. He doesn’t just bulldoze in without thought, as suggested by the regular caricatures used to paint him as a blunt instrument up front for Everton. At 22, he has already begun to show a greater appreciation of his craft than many of the older heads in his position, and should have been another attacker capable of tormenting Blind.
Instead, it was Lukaku who came off worse in their duels as United ran out 1-0 winners in the Toffeemen’s latest visit to Old Trafford, and not because their makeshift Dutch central defender had been putting in extra hours in the gym.
Daley Blind's game by numbers vs Everton:
100% aerial duels won
3 interceptions
3 blocks
2 clearances
2 tackles won pic.twitter.com/1TEALV9ory
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) April 3, 2016
Blind’s weaknesses are still very much self-evident. He still lacks speed. At 26, he’s as strong as he’s ever likely to be and yet remains vulnerable to being out-muscled. Too slow, too sleight, there were moments where Lukaku looked as if he might be able to turn him but he never quite managed it.
Interestingly, when Blind was taken off right at the end of the game after picking up a knock, with Timothy Fosu-Mensah coming in play at centre-back and Antonio Valencia arriving off the bench to go to right-back, the Belgian reacted by heading toward the Ecuadorian. He had been purposefully targeting Blind and now wanted to identify a new weak link to lean on. The converted winger, turned full-back fit the bill, just as Blind did.
However, the subject of the striker’s attentions did not implode under the pressure. In fact, he almost appeared comfortable with the situation. Blind expected Lukaku to spend the game trying to dominate him as his gate into facing David De Gea, one-on-one, and it was this self-awareness of what his opponent wanted to do and how to play with the margins that gave him an edge.
The Dutchman has learned to manage his flaws and tweak his approach so to accentuate his strengths and, to some extent, use the expectations of strikers against them. He goes into what might otherwise be dangerous situations with his eyes wide open to make his superior technique and tactical intelligence make up for his athletic deficiencies: playing with smarts, not playing with power. His speed and strength is in his head and his feet. Previously, Blind has been looked upon almost as a luxury defender by his detractors.
Yes, he was good for a nice, pretty ball fired out from the back to a waiting team mate in a more advanced position, but it wasn’t worth the defensive frailties that came with it. But against Everton, he was able to almost play cat and mouse, letting Lukaku see just enough to go in for the kill only for Blind to spin away, impishly snatching away the ball with a well-timed foot or using some other subtle trickery to shepard his rival to a side he’d prefer to take him.
It was defending in the style of a counter-puncher in boxing, encouraging the other fighter to commit and over-extend only to hand them smoke and mirrors and shadows before slicing through the chaos with anticipation, speed and skill and then disappearing out of range.
Daley Blind completed 83% of his passes against Everton.
Daley Blind completed 83% of his passes against Everton.
It’s a cleverness that also saw the defender cow Sergio Aguero from centre-back in United’s Premier League encounter prior to their Everton victory in a 1-0 win over Manchester City. At five-foot-eight, the Argentinian is hardly a powerhouse but with stocky, big-legged frame he is a far more physically threatening attacker than he is often perceived to be: an intimidatingly explosive handful often too good for the best defenders in Europe, let alone the Premier League.
However, he too was managed and kept at arms length by the ever-diligent Dutchman. While most footballers may slump down in the dressing room after a game nursing their knocks and bruises, Blind must rush off to stick his head in an ice bucket such is heat his attention span and constant computations must built up in his brain.
Aguero and Lukaku have struggled to beat Blind of late. Kane and Vardy await in the weeks ahead.
Aguero and Lukaku have struggled to beat Blind of late. Kane and Vardy await in the weeks ahead.
Of course, he still can’t achieve these individual victories by himself. Football is obviously a team sport but that is never more true than in defence. A back three, four or five depending on who you wish to include has to function as a solid and well-drilled unit. Organisation and cooperation is key, and Blind’s growing chemistry with Chris Smalling has been vital in his improvements as a centre-back, as well as the complementary cover of United’s full-backs. Against Everton, Fosu-Mensah and Matteo Darmian were also impressively switched on in their defensive duties.
Even so, Blind’s future remains uncertain. Injuries and inconsistency — not necessarily to the player himself but to the support network around him — will likely cause him to suffer a few more bad games here and there, and surely United would prefer to purchase a proven, top-level, left-footed defender to partner with Smalling, long-term.
Although it is a harsh assessment of the Dutchman given his improvements, he remains a utility player filling in at a position that the transfer market failed to provide for. It seems unlikely that a manager such as Jose Mourinho would persist with him. For all his sharpness of mind and crispness on the ball, Blind is no Ricardo Carvalho or Raphael Varane.
Despite playing fewer games, it is Blind who has made the most passes for United this season, rather than Juan Mata. He is their hub for recycling possession and creativity at the back.
Despite playing fewer games, it is Blind who has made the most passes for United this season, rather than Juan Mata. He is their hub for recycling possession and creativity at the back.
That shouldn’t take anything away from the technical supremacy that he has been able to achieve up against the Premier League’s most feared forwards, however, but like his own realisation of the parameters by which he can remain safe in a battle of wits with an attacker, there are limits.
If United are to retake their former position as title-winners and Champions League contenders they will need a ball-playing defender worthy of that ambition. In the meantime, they’ve got Blind and he might just have enough about himself at the back to help take his team back up into the top four this season, or as close as they can get should the form of their rivals hold firm.
http://www.squawka.com/en/news/technical-supremacy-how-daley-blind-came-to-master-the-premier-leagues-most-feared-forwards/635288
