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Eric Bailly Ivory Coast flag

2020-21 Performances


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6.0 Season Average Rating
Appearances
21
Clean sheets
9
Goals
0
Assists
1
Yellow cards
4
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That's Bailly @ 1m:45s right? Things we see our defence do time and time again in games. No idea where his man was until the ball was in the back of the net.

 
I love Bailly but at the same time I fear a mistaken will happen at any moment with him just like today but lucky for him and us we came away with 3 points!

I get that when watching him play too, but not as much as before. Reason is I think he's dialed back the nutcase level setting just a bit. Maybe that long spell out with the knee has resulted in a nanosecond of delay in Bailly's brain, question himself.. 'Is this likely to end very badly for me''? And he still goes all in anyway though I find it to be marginally more calculated than reckless.

Maybe that will be just enough that he'll be able to stay fit for decent stretches and Ole will have to pick him over Lindelof. Which if he's fit should be doing anyways IMO.
 
I googled and 4 days ago, Ole said he had a minor injury but that he would be ready for today’s match.
 
Apparently he sustained a knock during yesterday's training and he couldn't recover in time. Lindelof is being rested, so looks like he's in line to start on Saturday possibly, but not entirely sure anymore who partners with Maguire when all fit because there are clear pros and cons when pairing a Bailly or Lindelof w/Maguire.
 
So the reason Bailly didnt play against Sheff Utd (was due to start), was that he was involved in a car accident on the way to the game. He wasnt driving. He's ok apparently, just brusing and scratches etc.

Source: Duncan Castles, The Transfer Window Podcast.
 
Injured in a car crash when he wasn't even driving.

Yet more proof that he is injury prone.
 
Even if he is injury-prone, he's someone I'd like us to keep in the squad. Because when he does get fit and comes into the side, he always hits the ground in top form straight away. So he makes for a really useful back-up even if you don't want to rely on him as our long-term first choice.
 
Even if he is injury-prone, he's someone I'd like us to keep in the squad. Because when he does get fit and comes into the side, he always hits the ground in top form straight away. So he makes for a really useful back-up even if you don't want to rely on him as our long-term first choice.

Does he though?
 
I still don't understand the story around his injury. Pretty sure United released clips of training from this week that featured Bailly, so how injured is he? Also seen these stories from journalists doing the rounds that he was in a car crash but wasn't driving? All seems strange. Honestly, I struggle to see how he could be worse than Lindelof.
 
Honestly, the fact that so many are desperate for him to come back in shows how easy it should be to upgrade on Lindelof in the transfer market.
 
Honestly, the fact that so many are desperate for him to come back in shows how easy it should be to upgrade on Lindelof in the transfer market.

Dont disagree but a fit Bailly would mean we dont need to buy a defender. But of course that seems to be a mirage.
 
Dont disagree but a fit Bailly would mean we dont need to buy a defender. But of course that seems to be a mirage.

Yep but we’re wanting something that’s been proven multiple times over the last 5 years to be untrue.
 
You want to pretend we can rely on Maguire or Lindelof?

No, truthfully I don’t think either are good enough but at least they can stay fit.

What use is Bailly to us if he’s never available.
 
I know he was injured tonight, but the fact he's been dropped lately when he has been fit is criminal.

We have seen Maguire-Lindelof partnership for over 18 months now. It's just not up to standard. Surely it's worth trying something different given how bad our defensive record has been? Bailly has performed mostly well in the games he's played and it just makes a lot more sense logically to have a pacy centre back in the team, I've no idea why the Maguire-Bailly partnership was broken up.
 
So I checked their recent records Bailly vs Lindelof.

Bailly started getting regular game time on 12/23 against Everton. There's been 14 games since then.

In 7 with Bailly W6 and D1, 4 clean sheets. GF 11 GA 4

In 6 with Lindelof 2W 3D and 1L, 2 clean sheets. GF 16 GA 9.

Caveats are lindelof played the 9-0 game, skewing things, at the same time he played against City, Liverpool x2, arsenal.

Despite that I feel clean sheets for Bailly against Everton, Wolves and only 1 goal conceded against Villa point to his stronger performance.

Either way we have to improve upon Lindelof.
 
I know he was injured tonight, but the fact he's been dropped lately when he has been fit is criminal.

We have seen Maguire-Lindelof partnership for over 18 months now. It's just not up to standard. Surely it's worth trying something different given how bad our defensive record has been? Bailly has performed mostly well in the games he's played and it just makes a lot more sense logically to have a pacy centre back in the team, I've no idea why the Maguire-Bailly partnership was broken up.

He was dropped for the Liverpool match at Anfield and Lindelof was many people's MOTM. So it was justified.

Next game against Fulham he was ropey. Then he was in a car accident and injured for 2 games. He was on the bench for the last 2 but he may not have been fit enough to risk starting. And now he is apparently injured again.

Some people in here can't or won't admit that the guy is injury prone but let's face it he is.
 
What he's done a few times now is come back and be really good for his first one or two matches then drops back off again and starts making mistakes. Then gets injured, and a lot of people only remember how good he was for that first 1-2 matches. Repeat.

He's done it a few times yes, especially his recent return. But's he's also returned in shaky form like at the start of the season culminating in the comedy show vs Spurs.

But yeah some only seem to remember the good parts of the Bailly cycle.
 
Should be sold ideally along with Tuanzebe and Jones to make way for new CB or two .Under no circumstances his contract should be extended no matter how good he can be on occasion, it's simply not worth it to have injury prone players they would always let you down.
 
No, truthfully I don’t think either are good enough but at least they can stay fit.

What use is Bailly to us if he’s never available.
Well this point is flawed. Bailly staying fit isn’t even the problem anymore. He’s been fit for a number of weeks but been on the bench because Ole has an obsession with Lindelof and Maguire. So even if he was fit today, most likely Ole would have benched him again anyway.


I actually like what Ole has done so far. He’s got so many things right. But this defensive partnership he is getting completely wrong for me.
 
He was dropped for the Liverpool match at Anfield and Lindelof was many people's MOTM. So it was justified.

Next game against Fulham he was ropey. Then he was in a car accident and injured for 2 games. He was on the bench for the last 2 but he may not have been fit enough to risk starting. And now he is apparently injured again.

Some people in here can't or won't admit that the guy is injury prone but let's face it he is.
Actually he was injured already after the Fulham game, and that’s why he didn’t make it to the bench when we beat Liverpool int he cup.

I’m really wondering what injury he has now.
Edit: it was a fresh injury. From Daily Mail:

Bailly has suffered a fresh injury in training and will have a fitness test on Saturday morning to see if he can face Carlo Ancelotti's Everton.


Well this point is flawed. Bailly staying fit isn’t even the problem anymore. He’s been fit for a number of weeks but been on the bench because Ole has an obsession with Lindelof and Maguire. So even if he was fit today, most likely Ole would have benched him again anyway.


I actually like what Ole has done so far. He’s got so many things right. But this defensive partnership he is getting completely wrong for me.
Ole was alternating Lindelof and Bailly. Lindelof played the bigger teams and Bailly weaker. It was a smart thing to do as Lindelof needed extra recovery after a match because of his back injury, and Bailly has never been able to stay fit so plenty of recovery makes sense for him as well. Both of them played well imo. Then Bailly got some minor injury after Fulham and didn’t even make it to the bench in the next game va Liverpool (which Lindelof was planned to play anyways). After that came Sheffield and he was mostly likely going to start but had a car accident and Axel started. He was back at the bench for both Arsenal and Southampton but now he must have got some new injury as he is injured according to Ole. The strange thing is he didn’t play vs Southampton but maybe not fully recovered. The other matches sense.
 
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