PIE-EdWeatherall wrote:
What about his pass forward into Lukaku (?) - a lovely ball into the box
I'd like to see him bring it forward more often, but you can see he is playing safe, within himself
That was a nice pass and could have been a goal, had Lukaku's timing of jump been slightly better (about a half second earlier).
I think it's way too early to write off Lindelof, but to be honest, at the moment he is not showing even a hint of something potentially great. I just hope he's still playing with his brakes on and should gain more self-confidence (to start with). He was a bit unlucky to slip at the occasion of Newcastle's goal, but what I didn't like was him hiding his head, when he was already on the ground. Some other players (Vidic comes to mind) would try to block the shot with their head, rather than hiding from it.
Anyway, not all the players are the same when it comes to getting used to a new league and a new style of football. For example, Bailly didn't need much time to get used to EPL football, while Vidic or Evra were not that great right at the beginning.
Looking at our current "reserve" options in defence, I currently don't see Lindelof as better than Rojo, Tuanzebe or Blind. Maybe Lindelof will be better than all of them, but I'm just saying for the moment.
Concerning Blind, the problem with Mourinho is that he just doesn't seem to be keen to putting him on the centre back position.
Imo, especially when we play with three at the back, Blind could be useful as a left sided centre back, with maybe Darmian as a right sided CB and Bailly or Smalling as the central one. Neither Blind nor Darmian are exactly the players suitable to play attacking wing backs in a 3-4-1-2 formation, so I'd rather try them as the left and right sided central defeenders in that formation, while Shaw/Young and Valencia would be the external players running up and down the pitch. Also with the 4 at the back, I'd always rather put Shaw and Valencia as LB and RB, much before Blind and Darmian, as the latter just don't offer enough in attack.