Dropped down a level or two since he came back from Africa. Was all over the place.
Having Smalling next to him won't help though.
Having Smalling next to him won't help though.
3
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 38
- Clean sheets
- 19
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Red cards
- 2
- Status
IMHO I reckon he is Jose's one seriously bad buy and our answer to Citys Mangala. Dread to think where we will be in a years time if he is one of our two main central defenders.
Looked shaky the last 2 games. Maybe needs a small rest after the african cup of nations
Hold my hands up there. Don't know what the hell has happened to him. Recently looks all over the place .. his composure has gone and it is affecting all aspects of the game.
Either he is now feeling overwhelmed with all the recent success and the big games are coming thick and fast and he's inexperienced dealing with it mentally or he's losing concentration.
From being rock solid defensively and astute on the ball to shaky, hoofing the ball. Needs a good talking to or taken out the side for a bit.
you were watching him in the first half of the season right?
The football forum in general has been shocking tonight. The amount of ludicrous posts are fascinating.
I don't care if I missed the game today, posts like this are more shocking than any performances on the field. What the feck are you on about with nonsense like this?
He just seems so unsure of himself the last few games.
Both games against st etienne he was dreadful. Not quite so bad today but it is a little concerning.
I expect Jose to be working hard with him this week.
Both games against st etienne he was dreadful. Not quite so bad today but it is a little concerning.
I expect Jose to be working hard with him this week.
Wow, just wow.
Tell you what I'll come back to this thread in 12 months time. If I'm wrong about him I will willingly and gladly apologise as I'd love him to become the world class defender that many imagine he will.
Fair enough, and sorry about the overly-aggressive post. We're all on the same side after all!Tell you what I'll come back to this thread in 12 months time. If I'm wrong about him I will willingly and gladly apologise as I'd love him to become the world class defender that many imagine he will.
Looks very shaky lately hope it is not the Smalling affect!
New CB will be a top priority for our manager this summer.
Yes, I've heard, that's why I called him reliable.
Typical of Jones' fans to blame everything on Smalling, even when Bailly is terrible in every aspect of his game, it's still somehow Smalling's fault.
Feels like we've still got a lot of the same problems we had last season defensively - as a unit we're alright when a game is calm and there's not a lot of pressure being applied, meaning we're able to concede a relatively lowish number of goals...but once the defence are put under regularly pressure they're a lot weaker and more prone to errors. Bailly's still only 22, right enough, so hopefully he'll develop into that leadership figure quite soon.
A bit shaky today but to be fair so was Smalling and Rojo. All three were nervous as hell and lacked composure. Looking at how we line up defensively, you can see that Mou likes a solid central two with one attacking the ball and the other covering the space. At the moment neither Eric or Smalling look to have worked out who is doing what. First season, disrupted by injury and AcON, the lads doing alright when you get some perspective
The world isn't split into Jones fans and Smallings fans. What a childish way of seeing things. I rate both players but Jones has been far better this season. Smalling was immense in the first half of last season but has looked worryingly flaky for quite a while now.
Let's have Smalling-Rojo combo back, with Blind on the left. Bailley can sit on the bench for a while, get the Mkhi treatment.
What a dreadful post, he was very good up until December.
Both wrong, I have no idea which games have you been watching.
Well whaddayaknow. Your cluelessness knows no bounds. There's a suprise.
Gotta say I enjoyed Jones another great performance today just when we needed him. So reliable.
he came back to the side playing well, not at his best but Bailly looks like Tyler Blackett all of a sudden
His shoulder is heavily strapped in the celebration photos must be carrying an injury which wouldn't help him.
Agree with this. Smalling is good on his own, but he is not the Rio I hoped he would turn into. Remember we had Neville, Rio, Vidic and Evra at the back - all leaders on the pitch. And then you had vds in goal. Now there are none that seem like leaders although they may be fine individually.
This is correct.
I'm still pretty much done with Jones because he is a liability when it comes to keeping fit and playing games but he generally played very well when he did play earlier this season (comfortably his best level he's ever shown for us imo)
Bailly was dog shit today and must be getting close to being dropped.
was very very average today....has been for a few weeks now
Seems some lookalike has switched places with him when he was on International duty.
I don't think he and Smalling are a good pairing, because their distribution is very wonky. In fact, some of our struggles keeping the ball in the 1st half, came from them 2 constantly hoofing the ball forward. Their inability to distribute is a killer at times.
Hopefully Bailly bounces back. He's looked a bit panicky lately while defending. Not as assured during the start of the season.
Hopefully Bailly bounces back. He's looked a bit panicky lately while defending. Not as assured during the start of the season.
I agree wholeheartedly with your first comment. Modern CBs need to be able to play the ball forward, and be calm under pressure.
For me, Bailly should play with either Rojo or Blind at CB.
He needs to be rested / dropped next game or two. It might not be an issue since its Bournemouth at home, but maybe Smalling RCB and Rojo LCB needs to be tried (also need Jones back lol).
But i agree with whats said above, I dont think his partnership with Smalling is good at all.
But i agree with whats said above, I dont think his partnership with Smalling is good at all.
Not a good performance from him and I was surprised to see him start after his rash play against St. Etienne to get sent off.
To all those saying Bailly had a bad game today (he did) it's worth noting that our defence as a whole was really exposed because we didn't have enough midfield cover in front of them. We were completely overrun in midfield, Tadic had acres of space to pick passes and Bailly/Smalling didn't know whether to stay or go. Also, we had Rojo out of position again for reasons passing understanding, and he probably had a worse game, at fault for both one disallowed and one allowed goal. Yes Bailly is short of top form at the moment and yes he didn't have a good game in this one, but rumours of his demise are being greatly exaggerated. He can and will become a top defender, and he has, in my opinion, the perfect manager to get him there.
Some bad Voodoo was brought back from Africa with him. He's like a different player since that tournament.
Might be a bit of a controversial opinion, but I think he needs to spend a few games on the bench to maybe take the spotlight off him and give him a rest. He's been very shaky since he came back from AFCON as others have said. Give Smalling-Rojo a go and for a few games and please god just put Blind at LB. He might be limited himself, but next to Rojo and Darmian he looks like Maldini's illegitimate child off his extra-marital affair with Roberto Carlos.
He's had a couple of great performances since he's been back. Only really been below average the last two or three games.
5 games since he's returned, and one of them was against a piss poor Leicester. He struggled in both games against Saint-Étienne and was very poor today.
I didn't see the Watford game live, but he hasn't been encouraging since his return. Everyone has a bad spell.
Don't think it's a big surprise we look shakey when smalling plays.
Bailly will be good, no chmemistry between him and smalling tho
Bailly will be good, no chmemistry between him and smalling tho
A lot of his mistakes in this game and the last one have been entirely individual and nothing we can pin on Smalling, as much of an easy scapegoat as he might be.
If he's making mistakes because Smalling "adds nervousness" to the back four, then Smalling must be not only nervous but fecking terrified the way Bailly is playing at the moment. He needs to sort it out and revert to his levels before Christmas.
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Back to smalling+blind combo!
Joking asides, it has been obvious that that cb combo has been a tad shaky recently and jose seems to playing them into getting their form back. I feel much safer with jones + rojo this season strangely.
Bailly has potential to be a good cb but as usually a group of people overhyped him and the other group will probably go the opposite of extreme. A few sane posters said that he had a lot to work out to become a good CB even when he was in such good form in the beginning. It is still true and it is just more visible atm.
Joking asides, it has been obvious that that cb combo has been a tad shaky recently and jose seems to playing them into getting their form back. I feel much safer with jones + rojo this season strangely.
Bailly has potential to be a good cb but as usually a group of people overhyped him and the other group will probably go the opposite of extreme. A few sane posters said that he had a lot to work out to become a good CB even when he was in such good form in the beginning. It is still true and it is just more visible atm.
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