Daley Blind: Time for Dutchman to oust Michael Carrick for good

Don’t be fooled by his fine goal against West Brom, Daley Blind has a long way to go to become Manchester United’s midfield general.

Daley Blind of Manchester United shoots to score against West Bromwich Albion (Reuters)



A victory for Manchester United against West Brom in Monday night's clash at the Hawthorns would have been huge. The table is so congested right now - there are just six points between 4th and 17th - that three points could catapult a side into the top four or even the title race overnight.

As it was United had to settle for a 2-2 draw against the Baggies, and they were lucky to escape with that. It was only Daley Blind's unerring finish three minutes from time which saved Louis van Gaal from the ignominy of defeat and although his goalscoring may not be the primary reason he's in the side, United will be glad that the Dutchman was on hand to spare their blushes.

But how did Blind fare throughout the rest of the match?

The summer signing from Ajax was brought in to help shore up the United midfield which had been infamously lacking bite and drive ever since the demise of Owen Hargreaves and even as far back as Roy Keane's exit. And although he has looked a good fit in his four previous starts for the club, providing a steady platform in the middle to enable the dazzling array of attacking talent ahead of him to flourish, at times against West Brom he was overran.


Daley Blind stats (Squawka)



West Brom were always going to struggle to maintain as much possession as their more illustrious opponents (and so it proved with the Baggies outdone 41% to 59% in this regard). Therefore their main attacking thrust would likely come from counter attacks.

Stopping these counter attacks is one of the main duties that Blind should be fulfilling in the side, however the home side were allowed to strike twice this way, through Stephane Sessegnon's wicked first time finish and Saido Berahino's excellent breakaway goal.

For the first goal, left-back Luke Shaw allowed himself to be sucked into midfield, vacating his flank and allowing Graham Dorrans to send the ball neatly round the corner into the path of Andre Wisdom who provided a brilliant assist for Sessegnon.

And while Shaw was certainly at fault for the opener, Blind will be disappointed that he was not on hand to cover for his team-mate's error. As the deepest midfielder in this United system it should be Blind's job to shuttle across and help out a struggling full-back or track the late run of a midfielder. He did neither and his team paid the price.


Similarly for the second goal, it may not have been Blind who was glaringly obviously at fault - that particular honour fell to Phil Jones and Rafael - but this could have been the moment that the Dutch Footballer of the Year stepped up and made United fans remember what it was like to have a truly dominating presence in the middle.

Instead, he allowed Sessegnon and Chris Brunt to play the ball around him without putting in a tackle, leaving the back four vulnerable and Brunt with the space to pick his pass which Berahino was able to run onto and supply the finish.

However, there were of course positives to Blind's performance. The equalising goal was certainly his most eye-catching contribution, and it was a fine finish, worthy of earning his side a point. When the ball fell to the former Ajax man he had such a narrow gap through which he could slot the ball and beat Boaz Myhill in the West Brom goal and he found it with aplomb, bending the ball around defenders as well as the goalkeeper's despairing dive.





Daley Blind stats (Squawka)

His distribution was also tidy if unremarkable throughout, as it has been for much of his United career so far. His passing success rate of 93 per cent for Monday night's game is impressive and up slightly on his 90 percent average for the season, albeit his passing map shows many of these passes were simply going from side to side without truly penetrating the West Brom defence. On the two occasions where Blind did try to play the ball in behind the opposition neither of his passes found their intended target.

So all in all a mixed night for Blind. Not disastrous, not majestic.

The problem for United is that they have seen much of what Blind is providing before from a certainMichael Carrick, who was an unused substitute against West Brom as he recovers from injury.

Carrick has certainly served a purpose for his side over the past few years, but when compared to the much more dynamic styles of their rival's counterparts such as Nemanja Matic, Fernando and even Morgan Schneiderlin, he often comes up short.

United fans will be hoping that there is more to come from their own midfield general.