Manchester United seem to always have problems with their centre backs and Swedish defender, Victor Lindelof, is the latest to suffer a setback this season.
The 25-year-old defender had an average performance last season with stats of 24 interceptions, 40 tackles, and 118 clearances.
With the addition of the Leicester star defender, Harry Maguire, who joined The Reds in the last transfer window, one would have expected a better looking United side defensively. But the reverse is now the case.
Lindelof has not been able to complement his new partner so far, with terrible blunders made and lack of coordination while on the pitch.
This has brought more work for the England defender, as he has to work double-time for both himself and Lindelof in order to cover up his mistakes.
The departure of Smalling, to Roma, now leaves Manchester United with five centre-backs aside Maguire. Victor, who seems to be the best option available, has been more of a disadvantage.
The defender has attempted to clear the ball in two games now and has lost both which eventually led to goals.
The match against Crystal Palace ended in a 2-1 defeat and the first goal was as a result of a sloppy mistake by the defenders, as Lindelof failed to win a header which led to Ayew’s goal.
A similar occurrence happened in the last match against Southampton as Vestergaard out-jumped Victor to Danso’s cross that led to the equalizing goal.
Something fundamentally wrong with Lindelof, who's waited to head the ball two games running now, lost both and both have led to goals. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) August 31, 2019
Reasons why
The problem might not actually be that the Swedish defender is bad, but might be as a result of the fact that the two defenders are yet to get along.
The players are more focused on playing individual games instead of being in sync; as a result of this, they have failed to complement each other and have caused a loophole in the defence.
Victor, however, needs to step up as he seems to be the main culprit.
Ferdinand also said this
“Lindelof is the main culprit here. It’s a case of personal pride. They both have to say ‘have I done enough there?’ If Lindelof gets tight earlier on, Vestergaard can’t get a run on him.”
Possible solution
The two centre-backs need to bond with each other, possibly, train together so as to create a form of chemistry which they clearly lack.
On the other hand, bringing in Jones might seem to be a bad idea as the English Defender is popularly known for causing own goals, but could be a possible solution as he could be more in sync with Maguire based on the fact that they are both England players.
Without this treated, Manchester United might have another major problem added to their long list of problems, making their chances of getting anything tangible in the Premier League this season slimmer by the day.
