Ryan Giggs: Don't write off Victor Lindelof after slow Man Utd start

October 24, 2017
Posted by Steven Tan | Source from Sky Sports

Huddersfield humbling

Losing to Huddersfield was obviously disappointing but you can never be surprised in the Premier League. You have to be right at it every weekend and Manchester United clearly weren't after two tough away games at Liverpool and Benfica.
 
I've been to Benfica a couple of times and it's a tough place to go. I also experienced it when all the injuries seemed to be in the same position and that has happened with Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick all being out.
 
All of the sudden they catch up on you and the midfield in particular has to be at it, so that seems to have take its toll.
 
I am a little bit surprised at Ander Herrera's comments though because you wouldn't really comment about your team-mates, you leave that to the manager. When you start questioning you team-mates' work rates, even if they weren't at it, it can set a dangerous precedent.
 

Lay off Lindelof

One player who has attracted a lot of criticism is Victor Lindelof but he certainly shouldn't be written off yet.
 
Some players come to the Premier League and bed in straight away and others can take six months or even a year, as it was for Patrice Evra, Jaap Stam and Nemanja Vidic, and they went on to be unbelievable players.
 
You win together and lose together and you can't single out a player, especially when he hasn't been playing regularly. He's just got to knuckle down and come through this.
 

City slip inevitable

Manchester City are obviously still flying with their results and performances but I think they'll have their problems. They'll have their sticky patches and United just need to be hanging onto their coat tails and ready to pounce.
 
The fear is that United are not in the place to pounce when Manchester City slip up. They have tough games coming up, with Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal before the Manchester derby in December.
 
Man City have been in superb form recently
 

Wembley woes washed away

The performance of the weekend had to be Tottenham's 4-1 victory over Liverpool. I must admit I thought they would struggle to compete due to the improvements of the Manchester clubs and with Wembley, but you've got to say they are a fantastic team with a fantastic coach.
 
Without a shadow of a doubt playing at the Bernabeu helped prepare them for that game. Once you get those sort of results you have an invaluable belief.
 
Coming through one of the most daunting experiences in football certainly would have made it a lot easier to face Liverpool at Wembley.
 
I'll stick with going with one of the Manchester clubs for the Premier League but it is very, very close and a couple results between the top sides can turn that.
 

Win all that matters

Manchester United versus Tottenham has always been, both at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane, an attractive game. Obviously we've got a good record over them at home and I would have said before the last week that Manchester United will win when they face Spurs on Saturday (live on Sky Sports Premier League).
 
However, I now think that United need to win it more than Tottenham. It's a huge game and the crowd will really be up for it, but if you go after Tottenham they can get you.
 
You always want to put in a good performance but United just need a scrappy 1-0 win. I think Jose Mourinho and the fans would take that and forget about producing an entertaining performance.
 

Salford strike back

We were really pleased with the results at the weekend, beating York while Harrogate were held. We're now just one point behind Harrogate in top spot and the table looks pretty healthy.
 
You look at Harrogate's superior goal difference and scoring goals was clearly something we needed to improve on. Scoring three goals was obviously an improvement, although conceding two late goals was disappointing.
 
Salford beat York 3-2 on Saturday (Pic: Charlotte Tattersall)
 
To get such a good win without Lois Maynard was a big boost as well as he's probably been one of the best performers over the course of the season.
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