BLIND EXPECTS CHELSEA RESURGENCE IN 2016

Chelsea might be languishing in the bottom half of the Barclays Premier League table but Daley Blind insists Manchester United would be “foolish” to underestimate the champions ahead of today’s tea-time kick-off at Old Trafford.

The Blues parted ways with the club’s most successful manager of all time, Jose Mourinho, earlier this month following a tumultuous and disappointing start to the season. Blind's former national-team coach Guus Hiddink is now in temporary charge at Chelsea and while retaining the title is seemingly out of reach, their mission is to rediscover the imperious form that helped them to win the league by eight points last term.

“It would be foolish to underestimate them," Blind told MUTV. "I think they have a lot of quality players and they are still the team that won the title last season so you cannot underestimate them. We have to be sharp because they have a lot of players who can make the difference.

“It’s still a big game, no matter where they are in the league. Of course there is more attention when both teams are at the top of the table but it’s still a big game. It is going to be a great occasion.”

As a four-time Eredivisie winner with former club Ajax, Blind understands how to successfully defend a league title and the versatile defender acknowledges Chelsea have struggled with that objective this season. However, he does expect a difficult match against the west London club this evening.

“At Ajax, in almost every year we were champions, we were second, third or fourth before Christmas and then we started to come back, winning every game and became champions,” he says. 

“I was champion of Holland four times in a row and teams really wanted to win against us. You can see it in the Premier League with Chelsea and a club like United is the same, everyone wants to beat us."

Wayne Rooney Is Not the Problem at Manchester United

Manchester United's winless run was stretched to 8 games on the bounce​, following a 0-0 stalemate against Chelsea. The United supporters have become restless in recent weeks, watching their club play in a laborious and uninspiring fashion. And in turn, blame has been dished out, perhaps unfairly, to a certain player in the squad. That player is Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney. 

Rooney's displays this season do warrant criticism. The Englishman tallied just a pair of goals in the Premier League with half of the season over. Apart from the recent Chelsea fixture, Rooney has looked sluggish, having no influence on proceedings. 

That said, the fans' singling out of the skipper as the primary reason for United's struggles is simply ill advised. In fact, there are multiple United players, in attack, midfield, and defense that have been in poor form this season. 

Daley Blind is yet to consistently convince in the heart of defense, Memphis Depay managed to perform just once in a Champions League match, and Bastian Schweinsteiger's play has been nothing short of pedestrian. In reality, the entire team collectively has been poor, not just one player. 

Many people called for Rooney to be excluded from the starting eleven, believing he was holding United back. But in the absence of the forward, the Red Devils' slumped to defeats against relegation threatened sides Bournemouth and Norwich. The unimaginative attack continued to falter as Anthony Martial and co. were reduced to half chances to score.

The evidence suggests Rooney's presence in the team makes little to no difference on United's overall play. Instead, the tactics placed on all of the players are having a negative effect on the entirety of the squad. 

In recent times, Old Trafford witnessed lethargic, ponderous build up play. By the time the ball reaches attacking areas, defenders are already well adjusted and able to deal with the danger easily. Louis van Gaal did finally alter his tactics against Chelsea. In turn, it was no coincidence that Rooney's performance drastically improved. 

The 30-year-old was full of energy, driving at defenders and spraying inch perfect passes. The improvement did not extend to just Rooney though. For once Manchester United were threatening on the ball, creating multiple chances in the first half. 

From all of this, it's important to realize that one player does not determine the success of any club. Criticism of Rooney is certainly justified, but pinning United's poor season on the number ten is not.