[A-man]

Hard to tell if that was the instruction or Bailly just wasn't comfortable being out wide. Whichever it was, one of them was at fault for the goal.

Whatever instructions that was a huge mistake by Ole, but it was repaired in time with the sub.

 

[Arka_BleedingRed]

Probably the only player alongwith Sanchez who hasn't improved. Bundle of nerves, poor positioning and decisions. If this continues, he will be moved with Rojo. Need Koulibaly/ De Ligt and Axel back here.

 

[Ekeke]

Wouldnt read too much into it. Was a centerback playing right back against some quality players. Had a bad 30 mins pre injury, but that's it. Out of position it's not a massive surprise.

He must have forgotten that he was told to play right back then. In the first 20 mins when Young was getting double teamed down the right he stayed at CB. It was only after Young was roasted a bunch of times and Bernat had scored 1 and forced Dave into another save and Young had shouted in frustration, that Bailly finally went out to the right to help him

 

[Ekeke]

I was beginning to think this aswell, when they had the ball it appeared he was consciously moving more central and my guess is that Young should then have slotted in on the right side to track back. Instead Young decided he wanted to stay in CM.

Just a side note, sick of Young doing more pointing at other players than anything of note himself .

Young was confronting Di Maria who was running down the wing, then Bernat would overlap and get played in. 2 vs 1. The RCB should obviously be helping him same with McTominay.

 

[Litch]

Like him but there's going to be some decisions made about his career here irrespective of yesterday's game. Jones and Smalling just signed contracts, Lindelof I certain will be offered an improved one. That's three CB and I'm pretty sure we'll sign another in the summer.

 

[11101]

Yeah, I thought I'd figured it out a couple of times but it was so inconsistent what they were doing it became hard to tell.

Looking at the goal again it was on Bailly. Young was marking someone else, and Smalling was also equally at fault.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

That was a 1/10 performance. Just horrendous. I hope he comes back stronger from it and I'll be watching his next outing with extra interest and encouragement, but that was very bad.

 

[acnumber9]

Looking at the goal again it was on Bailly. Young was marking someone else, and Smalling was also equally at fault.

Had Smalling not played him offside? Bailly was deeper than the rest of the defence.

 

[Nickosaur]

You'd think we'll be buying a CB in the summer. And lindelof and smalling are both better than Bailly. I think his day is done. Bring tuanzebe back and with Jones staying around as back up that's a good pool of CBs.

 

[11101]

Had Smalling not played him offside? Bailly was deeper than the rest of the defence.

Smalling got caught unaware. Mbappe stepped forward and then turned him. It's a fairly basic move but with Mbappe's pace that split second pause before Smalling realised what was going on cost him.

No idea what Bailly was playing at on the other side. He played everyone on side but still managed to be 5 yards behind the scorer. With the rest of the defence signing new contracts you wonder if he's running out of time to start learning some composure.

 

[Red_toad]

Had Smalling not played him offside? Bailly was deeper than the rest of the defence.

That is correct, don’t worry about OP he just likes to see what they want to see. Goal was all on Bailly, hes still learning his trade. Injuries have really affected his development.

 

[MadMike]

Looking at the goal again it was on Bailly. Young was marking someone else, and Smalling was also equally at fault.

How was Smalling at any fault for their goal, never mind equally to Bailly?

For one, he and Lindelof stepped up to play PSG offside and Bailly played them onside. Then he rushed to cover the ground to Mbappé and as he got close to him and extended to block a potential shot, the cutback from that close range went through his legs. That’s not a mistake, that’s happens when you’re reaching like that. Bailly was still fast asleep at the far post as Bernat swept in for the goal.

You’d have be both blind and incredibly biased to assign blame to Smalling for that goal.

 

[acnumber9]

Smalling got caught unaware. Mbappe stepped forward and then turned him. It's a fairly basic move but with Mbappe's pace that split second pause before Smalling realised what was going on cost him.

No idea what Bailly was playing at on the other side. He played everyone on side but still managed to be 5 yards behind the scorer. With the rest of the defence signing new contracts you wonder if he's running out of time to start learning some composure.

But he stepped into an offside position had Bailly been in line which he should’ve. Had Smalling followed him it would’ve been a mistake.

 

[11101]

But he stepped into an offside position had Bailly been in line which he should’ve. Had Smalling followed him it would’ve been a mistake.

Smalling's mistake was not spotting what Mbappe was going to do earlier. He was just late to react and once Mbappe made the move he was always on the back foot.

Bailly is still the one who played them all onside, maybe equal blame is unfair but they both made mistakes.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

This

He's a young defender playing out of position and woefully out of form. We've seen the best of him and I have high hopes that he can be a brilliant CB. Just needs patience and working with him, a lot

Young, he’s 25 next month and been at the club 3 seasons. Looks woeful every time he steps on the pitch, not just last night. It’s not the first time he’s been subbed before half time is it? I’m certainly not convinced he was injured.

 

[acnumber9]

Smalling's mistake was not spotting what Mbappe was going to do earlier. He was just late to react and once Mbappe made the move he was always on the back foot.

Bailly is still the one who played them all onside, maybe equal blame is unfair but they both made mistakes.

Because he should’ve been offside. If Bailly does what he’s supposed to it doesn’t matter if Smalling sits down and starts eating his lunch. Smalling did his job by trying to play him offside. When the flag doesn’t go up he then actually tries to rectify it. Bailly did neither.

 

[OohAahMartial]

No better than TFM for me, both blessed with physical attributes and great in the lunging tackle but don't look like footballers, lack awareness, concentration, intelligence, positioning, an understanding of their role. This is tricky for us going forward as we already have to ship out Rojo and Darmian, maybe even Jones. Guess he gets one more year of training.

 

[UnitedChampionsAgain]

Can't believe how bad he was. It was like he hadn't been given any instructions last night. Surprised how much passion he showed in celebrating at the final whistle as he showed none in the game. Anyway, gets injured far too often so his time could well be up. Pity, as he looked decent a couple of years ago.

 

[acnumber9]

You’d have be both blind and incredibly biased to assign blame to Smalling for that goal.

Oh he’s definitely incredibly biased. He was complaining the other day that we conceded two against Southampton because Smalling sits too deep. The only way he could’ve done anything about that goal last night as by being deeper and playing Mbappe onside. If he had then that would’ve been the mistake instead.

 

[redDNA]

His weaknesses and Lindelof's earlier weaknesses were opposite.

It takes football intelligence to be a top pro, a defender can improve his physical side of the game, aerial ability,but qualities like positioning,spatial awareness,reading of the game are harder to fix.

Good defenders shot down threats before they manifest by their positioning, anticipation of the where the ball/striker is going and awareness of their surroundings.

Paolo Maldini said if I have to make a tackle I have already made a mistake. Any defender that always makes last ditch tackles to clear his line is not a good one.

I wanted him to stay ahead of Jones, but I think he should be sold alongside Rojo to make space for a new CB and Axel.

 

[11101]

Oh he’s definitely incredibly biased. He was complaining the other day that we conceded two against Southampton because Smalling sits too deep. The only way he could’ve done anything about that goal last night as by being deeper and playing Mbappe onside. If he had then that would’ve been the mistake instead.

Not really biased. He's a good, reactive defender, but that is not enough for where we want to be. We need someone who is better on the ball and better at reading the game. He's the perfect Everton level defender.

He had no idea where Bailly was or what he was doing. He simply reacted to Mbappe too late and got done.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Not good, but it was an odd decision to start him at RB. He rarely ever plays there (has he ever for us before?) and we had 2 players available (possibly 3 if Darmian is still alive?) who can and have played at RB regularly.

Harsh to judge players playing out of position, but he's not been particularly great at CB for a while either. Not kicked on at all from a fairly impressive 1st season.

 

[Matt007a]

I know he's not a RB so you have to give him some leeway but really his play for their goal was terrible. Firstly he plays Mbappe onside because he's walking back, looking the wrong way and then he completely freezes when the ball comes across. I mean even if Bernat wasn't there, he still should have been the player chasing the loose cross and gaining possession back. There is no reason or excuse for being so static in that moment. He's completely sleeping.

 

[Minimalist]

Not good, but it was an odd decision to start him at RB. He rarely ever plays there (has he ever for us before?) and we had 2 players available (possibly 3 if Darmian is still alive?) who can and have played at RB regularly.

Harsh to judge players playing out of position, but he's not been particularly great at CB for a while either. Not kicked on at all from a fairly impressive 1st season.

Mourinho played him there sometimes.

Also pretty sure he was known to be comfortable there at his previous club.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Mourinho played him there sometimes.

Also pretty sure he was known to be comfortable there at his previous club.

Just looked up the numbers. According to Transfermarkt, he played RB 3 times under Jose in 16/17, and just twice this season (last night, and also for 15 mins off the bench in another game).

For Villarreal, he played CB 48 times, LB twice and RB twice, and has apparently only played CB for Ivory Coast.

Not a lot of game time in that position. For me, not enough to be starting there in our biggest game of the season.

 

[RedIan]

Really liked eric when he started, strong and fast in the tackle.. looked our best centre half.
Now im almost sure he has to go. Some games he just completely switches off and has a vacant spaced out expression on his face. Too many horrendous errors and poor positioning and awareness of danger. Sorry eric youve lost what it takes at this level, get rid.

 

[acnumber9]

Not really biased. He's a good, reactive defender, but that is not enough for where we want to be. We need someone who is better on the ball and better at reading the game. He's the perfect Everton level defender.

He had no idea where Bailly was or what he was doing. He simply reacted to Mbappe too late and got done.

He doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head. He was in the position he should’ve been in. Bailly was the only one who wasn’t. If he had have been then the goal doesn’t happen because Mbappe would be offside.

 

[settembrini]

He played like he had been told we were using a back 3 when everyone else on the team had been told it was 4-4-2.

 

[Adam-Utd]

He just didn't seem awake / concentration levels weren't up to the required level.

He's a good physical player but mental attributes are just as important as a defender. We saw a couple of similar situations where Young got infront of his marker and cleared it, that's the difference.

I don't want to hate on him as he must be feeling awful right now, but the sub was necessary.

 

[GioF]

Clearly struggled last night...his defensive positioning was the reason why they were so strong down their left with Bernat & DiMaria.

Bailly was following the run of DiMaria inside and left Bernat free to push forward, instead of passing DiMaria on and covering the overlapping run.

Also his decisions leading to their goal was really poor. It’s a shame as I’m a big fan of Bailly as a CB but he can’t play RB. His positional play just isn’t there.

 

[Andycoleno9]

His level of concentration is just awful. I was a huge fan of him but i don't trust him anymore

 

[Bwuk]

Clear misunderstanding on who was meant to be playing where between him and Young in the first half.

I like Bailly but that was dreadful.

 

[King.of.Red]

He is likeable figure but well, it's best if we sell him next season. 3 seasons and no improvement.

 

[Andrew~]

Two things: thought Ashley Young let him down big time overall, but that mistake for their goal was shocking. You simply can't switch off like that in a crucial game like this one.

 

[stepic]

he was shocking for that goal. no idea why Ole didn't just play Young at RB and Dalot at RW. thankfully Ole corrected his mistake before Bailly didn't do any further damage.

 

[Bola]

He’s woeful. I’m glad the weird cult of Bailly appears to have disbanded, because their perpetual defence of his weekly chaos, and somehow demonising Smalling for his shortcomings was borderline deranged.

Every time I watch him, I see this....

I actually really like that Zaire kit

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I know he's not a RB so you have to give him some leeway but really his play for their goal was terrible. Firstly he plays Mbappe onside because he's walking back, looking the wrong way and then he completely freezes when the ball comes across. I mean even if Bernat wasn't there, he still should have been the player chasing the loose cross and gaining possession back. There is no reason or excuse for being so static in that moment. He's completely sleeping.

Yeah, I give him leeway for everything else except the goal... which was disgraceful "defending" really.

 

[Red4Ever]

Helped set up our second at least. Very poor though

 

[Bola]

It's important not to be too harsh on him, but his positional understanding was poor and the loss of marking on his man was lower league standard. The argument of 'Being played out of position' at RB, only stretches so far

He has had some very good games for us, but his form this season has been generally poor.

I generally can't fault his effort or desire, but the situation is already tough for him with 5 CBs already in the team. That could potentially rise to 8 in the summer, if we buy a top level CB and our two loanees return (TFM and Tunzebe).

Edit - You'd have to imagine that we will offload 1 defender this summer, possibly 2. He is under threat

 

[Robertd0803]

Awful performance. Him going off injured was a blessing in disguise. (If that phrase isnt banned on this site at this stage)

(Would never wish injury on a Utd player for the record)