Irwin: Blind Key In Anfield Thinking

Denis Irwin believes Daley Blind has proved to be an astute signing by Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal due to his versatility, and his role on Sunday at Anfield could be crucial.

Blind excelled at left-back in the win over Tottenham last weekend and has also performed well in a defensive midfield role, as well as adapting to a position in a three-man defence earlier in the campaign, which has impressed Irwin.

"Daley's a good, honest pro," Irwin told ManUtd.com at the launch of the Red Heart United charity match. "He can play at centre-half if you need him to, left-back if you need him to, and obviously he's played mostly in midfield for us this season. I think he's been a really good signing.

"He's a player who reads situations very, very well, I thought he played extremely well on Sunday [against Spurs]. It'll be interesting to see the team the manager picks against Liverpool, but it wouldn't surprise me if he picks the same 11 players, because they played so well. That's the manager's decision and he's got one or two back from suspension and injury, but I thought the team played very well on Sunday."

Blind faces competition for his place from Luke Shaw, if fit, at Anfield and the Dutchman could revert back to midfield, but Irwin says van Gaal must be tempted to name an unchanged side. "I know Blind can fill in places and he's done tremendously well for us in midfield," he says. "He hasn't played at left-back that many times, he's not played centre-half in a three that many times for us but we know he can play there.

"That's for the manager to decide, but I've got to say he played very, very well at left-back on Sunday, as did the defence as a whole. I thought Phil Jones and Chris Smalling were aggressive, didn't give Harry Kane much room, and Antonio Valencia played really well at right-back, so it was good to see and we'll need plenty of that at Anfield."