Manchester United's Dutch utility man Daley Blind has admitted that he is "confident" playing in the centre of José Mourinho's defence, with Blind filling in during Sunday's 2-0 victory over Burnley.

Confident and comfortable

Blind has been used in a number of positions for the Red Devils since his arrival from Ajax back in 2014, but has mainly been used as a left-back by Mourinho in the current campaign.

However, United have once again been struck by an injury crisis with Marcos Rojo joining Chris Smalling and Phil Jones in the treatment room, which forced Mourinho into reshuffling his side ahead of the clash at Turf Moor.

It was the first time that Blind and Eric Bailly had partnered up since the defeat to Manchester City back in September, but they performed brilliantly with Sean Dyche's men failing to register a shot on target.

Blind is more than expected to be selected for Thursday's crucial clash at the Etihad Stadium, but the Dutchman admitted that he is more of confident at filling at the heart of defence.

"I feel very confident about the position [centre-back] myself," Blind stated to manutd.com. "It was a very good performance from the team too, I think."

"I played there a lot of times last season and I feel confident in the position," the Dutchman admitted to the club's website. "I feel good in the position and feel comfortable."

"I'm happy to play there again and of course everybody knows me I play where the manager needs me," the Dutch international stressed. "I just want to play like anybody else."

Blind added: "I'm just happy for the team that we put in a good performance here today."

Going to need everyone

Though United are at the back end of the season they potentially still face nine matches, and the number of games is starting to put on the strain on Mourinho's men.

The Red Devils currently have seven players on the sidelines with the latest losses been Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimović, but Blind admitted that he thinks the squad is big enough to compete with their Champions League ambitions.

"Yes we have a big squad," he said. "Everybody is ready and we need everyone."

"You can see that again today and we have to realise that as well that you have to be ready when you’re needed," Blind concluded. "That’s why we can still fight for what we want."

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.