[GueRed]

He's just a walking meme now...

If he was english and/or an academy graduate he wouldn't be getting the benefit of doubt.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Sakho. Same type

Good call. There’s been games where Sakho’s genuinely looked like he might be playing drunk, only to somehow put in a quality defensive performance.

 

[Bilbo]

One of those players who must be impossible to coach. You could spend all week with him working on positioning, timing & picking your spots and then in minute 2 he'll do some inexplicable, probably dangerous challenge in an area of the pitch he has no right to be in.

 

[stevoc]

A big part of his loveableness is how he plays football, though. Reckless, mad, absolutely no consideration given to the welfare of himself or the person he's taking down. He's not just a wacky personality off the pitch which would be boring and would give him much less allowance.

I think it's really harsh to judge centre backs coming in for one game and effectively writing them off. The majority of centre backs need a run of consistent games to look anything like a decent footballer. Chucking them in once in a blue moon and then wondering why they failed to impress seems ridiculous.

It is and it was just as ridiculous when people in here were claiming he was the best CB at the club on the back of him having a good run of 4-6 games for the first time in 2-3 years at the start of the year.

Eric can come back in after a break and look brilliant or he can come back in and be a one man comedy act like last night. Inevitably his form gets better then he starts playing like a lunatic again and then he gets injured. And thus the Bailly cycle begins anew.

 

[Jaxa]

A big part of his loveableness is how he plays football, though. Reckless, mad, absolutely no consideration given to the welfare of himself or the person he's taking down. He's not just a wacky personality off the pitch which would be boring and would give him much less allowance.

I think it's really harsh to judge centre backs coming in for one game and effectively writing them off. The majority of centre backs need a run of consistent games to look anything like a decent footballer. Chucking them in once in a blue moon and then wondering why they failed to impress seems ridiculous.

He's been the same for 5 years now ... this isn't kneejerk because of 1 game , I don't blame Bailly for being a crock and therefor never getting a good run of games to show his true potential , I blame our idiotic board for keeping this type of player on the books. I love Bailly, but I am a bit bored now of not winning trophies and carrying liabilities in our squad that's all

 

[sugar_kane]

Always found this guy has been massively overrated due to him being a bit of a "character" and occasionally doing some crazy skill on the pitch, similar to Rojo.

Not interested in the slightest in that where centrebacks are concerned, after goalkeeper it's the one position on pitch where you want the least drama.

 

[Based Adnan]

Typical Bailly performance

He's a classic case of a player who gets rated higher the more he's out injured and when you consider his injury record, it's no wonder some say he's the best CB at the club

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I hope this puts an end to the thought that "Bailly is our best defender". It's not even close. He's an exciting player who will throw his body on the line, but for every last ditch tackle Bailly makes, Maguire and Lindelof make a routine play because they were already in the right position. I agree that we need an upgrade on Lindelof, but it's not Bailly. He is good enough to be 4th choice, but our first choice pairing is definitely Maguire and Lindelof...

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Any (credible) word on what his new contract is worth?

I mean - how much is he on now?

 

[Foxbatt]

I think why some people like him is purely the entertainment factor. I mean how boring is Maguire and Lindelof? Extremely boring.

Bring on Bailly and you are on the edge of your seat. Brilliant control in his own box, surround by the opposition. A Cruijff turn on his own penalty spot, a dummy past two opposing players and striding forward, going past the opposition midfield like a knife thru butter. Reach the edge of the opposition box and has four of his team mates as options to pass with only one opposing defender between him and the goal and then he passes straight to the only opposing player who sets a counter attack with Bailly and half his team mates all out of position.
Only Eric Bailly could do it.

 

[stevoc]

I think why some people like him is purely the entertainment factor. I mean how boring is Maguire and Lindelof? Extremely boring.

Bring on Bailly and you are on the edge of your seat. Brilliant control in his own box, surround by the opposition. A Cruijff turn on his own penalty spot, a dummy past two opposing players and striding forward, going past the opposition midfield like a knife thru butter. Reach the edge of the opposition box and has four of his team mates as options to pass with only one opposing defender between him and the goal and then he passes straight to the only opposing player who sets a counter attack with Bailly and half his team mates all out of position.
Only Eric Bailly could do it.

Yeah and then decides to not even bother running back to help defend the counter attack his poor pass created.

The enigma that is Eric Bailly.

 

[Foxbatt]

Yeah and then decides to not even bother running back to help defend the counter attack his poor pass created.

The enigma that is Eric Bailly.

But don't you love to watch him play? I mean in games that's meaningless? I hope we win the next two games and he plays in the remaining games simply for the entertainment factor.

 

[stevoc]

But don't you love to watch him play? I mean in games that's meaningless? I hope we win the next two games and he plays in the remaining games simply for the entertainment factor.

Would you like to see all our defenders do crazy, wacky things during games for the entertainment value of it?

 

[The Mitcher]

But don't you love to watch him play? I mean in games that's meaningless? I hope we win the next two games and he plays in the remaining games simply for the entertainment factor.

No, I find it frustrating and hair pulling.

 

[Foxbatt]

Would you like to see all our defenders do crazy, wacky things during games for the entertainment value of it?

Yes I do in meaningless matches. Or in matches where we are winning handsomely. I nearly fell off laughing against Roma when he went on that run and then as Mitcher said nearly pulled out my hair when he refused to run back after passing it to the Roma player.

 

[ivaldo]

Crazy how many were calling for him to start over Lindelof just a month or so ago.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

No, I find it frustrating and hair pulling.

This. IMO the whole "he's entertaining, we need to keep playing him" take feels like one big cope as a result of the new contract we gave him.

 

[Bastian]

Crazy how many were calling for him to start over Lindelof just a month or so ago.

Lindelof has improved and the partnership with Maguire looks better and better. The best scenario though is Lindelof being third choice because we upgrade. Agreed on Bailly. He was his usual self. Erratic, reckless, brave.

 

[ivaldo]

Lindelof has improved and the partnership with Maguire looks better and better. The best scenario though is Lindelof being third choice because we upgrade. Agreed on Bailly. He was his usual self. Erratic, reckless, brave.

We should be looking to upgrade/replace CF, RB, RW and CM before CB.

 

[stevoc]

Yes I do in meaningless matches. Or in matches where we are winning handsomely. I nearly fell off laughing against Roma when he went on that run and then as Mitcher said nearly pulled out my hair when he refused to run back after passing it to the Roma player.

It was a European semi final, hardly a meaningless match. And to be honest no I don't find it entertaining.

 

[Foxbatt]

We should be looking to upgrade/replace CF, RB, RW and CM before CB.

I don't think our CBs are the problem. If we have a top class DM in front of them we don't need to look at getting a new CB right now.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

I dunno - can't say I fully understand why we'd want to keep this guy around for three more years on more than decent money.

As someone else said (in this thread or another thread - don't remember), he really hasn't shown much development at all. His strengths remain the same - but so do his weaknesses.

 

[ivaldo]

I don't think our CBs are the problem. If we have a top class DM in front of them we don't need to look at getting a new CB right now.

There seems to be an irrational dislike for our CBs that isn't really grounded in anything other than a preference for a different style of defending. We're very hard to beat and, once you discount the first few games of the season where our squad clearly wasn't up to speed, we've been as solid as anyone. If we can upgrade then fine, but it shouldn't be a priority.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

There seems to be an irrational dislike for our CBs that isn't really grounded in anything other than a preference for a different style of defending.

Yeah - you could probably say that.

We don't concede an alarming amount of goals considering how we actually set up and play on average.

A likely enough finish to this season might see us 2nd (behind City) in terms of goals conceded in the league. Which would be...yes, what? Par for the course, I guess. Not great, but certainly not bad (or alarming given the way we usually set up).

 

[Bastian]

We should be looking to upgrade/replace CF, RB, RW and CM before CB.

I predict people will start talking about the need for a top class CB after about two weeks into next season if we don't do it.

 

[United in sin]

He's just a walking meme now...

If he was english and/or an academy graduate he wouldn't be getting the benefit of doubt.

The last part can can easily be applied to McTominay. Bailly's best performances this season helped propel united to 1st in January and he was rewarded with a place on the bench against Liverpool in that game 0-0 game at Anfield

 

[stevoc]

The last part can can easily be applied to McTominay. Bailly's best performances this season helped propel united to 1st in January and he was rewarded with a place on the bench against Liverpool in that game 0-0 game at Anfield

That's called rotation mate.

 

[The Mitcher]

The last part can can easily be applied to McTominay. Bailly's best performances this season helped propel united to 1st in January and he was rewarded with a place on the bench against Liverpool in that game 0-0 game at Anfield

Correlation does not equal causation.

 

[The United]

He was doing decent until he had to defend in the air.

If we have another CB who is a bit more aggressive with pace and power (and good in the air) might free up our DM/CM from some of their defensive duties and support the attack more.

 

[Foxbatt]

The issue is that none of our DMs on their own is good enough. You have to use two of them to do the job of one class DM.

 

[Vernon Philander]

Having pace as a CB can only bail you out of so much until the rest of your deficiencies catch up and you end up looking mediocre (or worse). Which is why I used to be very confused when I kept reading on here that Eric should have been ahead of Lindelof.

 

[The United]

The issue is that none of our DMs on their own is good enough. You have to use two of them to do the job of one class DM.

Nothing wrong with 2 CMs siting on the base. It is called balance. If we are to use our FBs high up, you need one for each side to cover/support. I can't actually think of another top team in EPL or CL playing with only 1 DM/CM sitting ALONE on the base without support. It is humanly impossible to cover the whole pitch unless their FBs sits next to them or don't overlap as much. If your CBs loses most of long ball from deep or slow at chasing after thru balls then the defense has to have numbers to make up for it.

If CBs are aggressive and good at sniffing out danger from long/thru balls before opponent strikers settle from them, the two CMs would not need to come back often to help them out in own half.

I do rate our CBs decently. I suppose I am just wondering if there is a CB with having a bit of all of our CBs' strengths in him.

 

[Roane]

My biggest issue with Bailly is his fitness. His injury record is woeful.

I think there is the argument to be had that had the injuries not been as persistent and he had a good run he would be a decent enough, if not very good player.

The other thing I think his fitness would have maybe provided us with him playing in a MF role. I think his skillset would allow for this.

Overall though my opinion hasn't really changed for a long time. I think the defence and keepers are getting a lot of attention but our problems are further up field. I think we need a proper MF or two and a young striker in the Cavani mould. We often give the ball away very easily (Bruno is a big culprit for this) and a lot of teams walk through our MF.

Also think Henderson offers more stability at the back than DDG.

All this adds to our defences performances. I honestly think if we had VVD we still would have these problems because we simply don't offer our defence...well a defence ahead of them.

 

[United in sin]

That's called rotation mate.

Hardly. Bailly was match fit and dropped to the bench after two arguably MOTM performances. What did Lindelof do to usurp him? I feel he deserved to continue his run.

He outperformed Maguire in both matches before Liverpool as well, making vital blocks that secured our three points. Im sure you remember the players swarming him after a last minute block against Villa in a game we won 2-1 to maintain our number one spot I the league at the time. He was on fire, so why bench him in while he's high on confidence?

 

[stevoc]

Hardly. Bailly was match fit and dropped to the bench after two arguably MOTM performances. What did Lindelof do to usurp him? I feel he deserved to continue his run.

He outperformed Maguire in both matches before Liverpool as well, making vital blocks that secured our three points. Im sure you remember the players swarming him after a last minute block against Villa in a game we won 2-1 to maintain our number one spot I the league at the time. He was on fire, so why bench him in while he's high on confidence?

Because he's erratic, inconsistent and injury prone. Hence why he was rotated.

Lindelof however highly you rste him has been reliable, consistent and fit for most games. Which is obviously why Solskjaer prefers him.

 

[A-man]

Not his best game but don’t want to judge him when he plays with a new back line as that makes it very difficult for a CB. However don’t think Tuanzebe and him make a good pair.

 

[Devil may care]

Erratic Eric tonight.

 

[arthurka]

Not his best game but don’t want to judge him when he plays with a new back line as that makes it very difficult for a CB. However don’t think Tuanzebe and him make a good pair.

He doesn't make a good pair he is all over the place all the time.

 

[SoCross]

Bailly considering he is supposed to be the senior defender last night was terrible for me. Poor in possession too.

 

[Floyd]

Bailly considering he is supposed to be the senior defender last night was terrible for me. Poor in possession too.

Bailly the senior defender. That it so not a good role for him.