I am a Blind fan but I feel that in a game where we were never going to retain possession, the benefits of playing Blind were neutralized and I actually feel that we would not have conceded one goal or so with Smalling on the field. The physicality of both Smalling and Bailly would have taken its toll on City, Bailly wouldn't have to exhaust himself and go for every header off open field plays, and Smalling is excellent at closing down fast and marking tightly as we saw with his great season last year. This is besides the point but we should have opted for a Fellaini Blind Pogba midfield, with Blind having so much experience at CB now I feel like he would be an excellent ball-winning defensive midfielder, almost like a Stopper role, which I feel like we needed in this derby but that's just my opinion.

I understand what Blind offers, he's a smart player with and without the ball but is Smalling just going to be relegated to the bench? He was one of our captains last year and I'm sure he is a big voice communication wise in sorting out the defense and midfield.