UNITED Lindelof showing he can build from back
“WE don’t have the technical quality to build from the back.”
Jose Mourinho made some bold statements during his time as United manager but claiming his side did not have a ball-playing defender to kick-start attacks following a 0-0 draw with Valencia will be right up there.
Particularly when Victor Lindelof was sitting on the bench as an unused substitute.
It was a similar story a few weeks later after the dramatic comeback against Newcastle when Mourinho dropped Paul Pogba deeper to give his side some ‘technical quality to bring the ball from the back.’
Again, Lindelof was an unused subtitute.
To be fair, Lindelof made 16 starts in the final months of Mourinho’s reign but he was rarely used in his natural position, as a right-sided centre-back, and rarely encouraged to bring the ball out like he used to at Benfica.
Mourinho said as much - admitting he ‘punished’ Lindelof by playing him on the left because he was United’s best technical defender and the centre-back never crossed the halfway line.
It only took a few minutes in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game as interim manager to realise that was by instruction rather than it being down to Lindelof’s confidence.
Jamie Carragher, after all, previously claimed the Swede was ‘out of his depth’ at this level.
Against Cardiff, though, we saw what United scouts will have highlighted when they kept tabs on Lindelof in the 2016-17 season: the fearlessness, the composure in bringing the ball out, the defence-splitting passes, that knack of picking a forward’s pocket with a clean interception rather than a tackle. It clearly took Neil Warnock by surprise and gave
United something different in possession. It sounds simple but when you have a defender who can bring the ball out, the rest of the team naturally moves forward and David de Gea does not always have to go long as a result.
Cardiff did not quite know how to deal with it and Lindelof was given the freedom of the park during one particular passage of play in the second-half to slip in Marcus Rashford after taking just five touches to bring the ball from his own defensive third into the final third. The 24-year-old was playing with so much confidence and freedom that he expected it to be a one-two, for Rashford to play him in as made his way into the penalty area unmarked.
But with goalkeeper Neil Etheridge rushing out, Rashford did what all strikers do: have a shot at goal.
Yes, it was only Cardiff but Lindelof did not play with that kind of intent against similar opposition under Mourinho.
Indeed, he crumbled under the pressure when stepping up against United’s next opponent, Huddersfield, back in October, 2017.
Lindelof, to his credit, recovered and there were countless moments last season where United fans felt he turned the corner, whether it was a crunching tackle against Brighton in November or barking at his teammates to stay focused and pointing to his temples in the final moments against Chelsea three months later.
But Cardiff may yet prove more significant when it comes to Lindelof being that ball-playing centre-back who can give United a new dimension going forward.