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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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criticalanalysis

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Good game but mindful it was against a very meek attack and almost everything was on the flloor i.e it definitely suited both centre backs.

Bailly full body step overs give me life :lol:
 

Still ill

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Yeah, how often can you say you enjoy, I mean actually enjoy watching our centre halves playing? I enjoy this guy. Play him till he breaks.
 

Harry190

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There was a strange moment in the game where he went from astounding to awful. He overpowered a Sociedad player who was almost through on goal and sold him a dummy and cleared up 20 yards of space for himself on the right hand side only to inexplicably turn around in the other direction and invite pressure.

Strange dude.
 

TsuWave

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There was a strange moment in the game where he went from astounding to awful. He overpowered a Sociedad player who was almost through on goal and sold him a dummy and cleared up 20 yards of space for himself on the right hand side only to inexplicably turn around in the other direction and invite pressure.

Strange dude.
He did everything right. He won the ball, used a couple of body feints instead of just booting it (and inevitably giving possession away) then gave it to the player on the left, which then gave it to Matic who messed up the distribution. If we’re going to play from the back, which we do at times, you need players that are confident on their ability.
 

Harry190

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He did everything right. He won the ball, used a couple of body feints instead of just booting it (and inevitably giving possession away) then gave it to the player on the left, which then gave it to Matic who messed up the distribution. If we’re going to play from the back, which we do at times, you need players that are confident on their ability.
He had a completely open field on the right when he performed the first body feint. He put the ball back on the left with a semi hospital pass while that area was overloaded.

Otherwise he was good. He has his usual moment of madness.
 

Foxbatt

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He had a completely open field on the right when he performed the first body feint. He put the ball back on the left with a semi hospital pass while that area was overloaded.

Otherwise he was good. He has his usual moment of madness.
Absolutely. He was very good apart from that one moment. He had all the time in the world to get it to his right side but then suddenly decided to take an extra movement and closed the field for him.
 

Isotope

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I love this guy, i love his personality, his audacity, his confidence, he's a madman and an entertainer and not too bad at the defending part too,

If Eric wasn't made of glass he is world class and get's in to most teams starting 11.
True. I don't care if he's the best CB at the club or not. But to me, he could be world class if only he would stay fit.

Maybe loan him to Bayern or Barca, and he'd come back as fit as a bull.
 

Sylar

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He should start vs Chelsea with Maguire. Think they played there last season in our win and did well (though Giroud late was a bit of an issue)

He had a completely open field on the right when he performed the first body feint. He put the ball back on the left with a semi hospital pass while that area was overloaded.

Otherwise he was good. He has his usual moment of madness.
Maybe because it was awb he saw :lol:
Nah but seriously I thought the last one was one turn too many as well but I would like to know what he saw on the right that made him turn back (except madness)
 

Rossa

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His passing/ability on the ball is so underrated. And it's not related to being able to play some Scholes-esque balls to the wings. He hits passes with pace and plays it to the correct side of the attackers, which people really underrate in helping attacks. When a player has to stop his momentum to receive a pass, it can kill the flow of an attack.
This, and the fact that our players can have their lunch whilst waiting for the ball to arrive, bouncing awkwardly towards them.
 

A-man

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He should start vs Chelsea with Maguire. Think they played there last season in our win and did well (though Giroud late was a bit of an issue)
Not sure who Ole will play. He has picked Lindelof for most big games in PL this season, and the defence has been solid, pretty much all of them have been clean sheets. Personally I don’t think it’s smart to play Bailly with only two days of recovery, considering his injury record. On the other hand last game was not very intense for the defence so might not be an issue.

We have three straight clean sheets against Chelsea in the PL:

4-0 (Lindelof /Maguire)
2-0 (Bailly/ Maguire / Shaw)
0-0 (Lindelof /Maguire)

Then we won one and lost one in the cups last season.
 

Sylar

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Not sure who Ole will play. He has picked Lindelof for most big games in PL this season, and the defence has been solid, pretty much all of them have been clean sheets. Personally I don’t think it’s smart to play Bailly with only two days of recovery, considering his injury record. On the other hand last game was not very intense for the defence so might not be an issue.

We have three straight clean sheets against Chelsea in the PL:

4-0 (Lindelof /Maguire)
2-0 (Bailly/ Maguire / Shaw)
0-0 (Lindelof /Maguire)

Then we won one and lost one in the cups last season.
I blame the loss last year on ddg anyway.

But you make interesting points. What would be frustrating is that it looks like we are playing bailly once a week, and now, if he gets injured on top of that...
 

Devil may care

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Pretty much. Which is a bit strange considering how little Baily has played with the both of them.

Fingers crossed his injury record gets better
I think it simply comes down to the fact both Lindelof and Maguire know Bailly has the pace and athleticism to cover their biggest weakness and so they are more comfortable in their game.

I'd like to see us manage his fitness by only playing him in the PL.
 

A-man

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I blame the loss last year on ddg anyway.

But you make interesting points. What would be frustrating is that it looks like we are playing bailly once a week, and now, if he gets injured on top of that...
After 5 years of injuries this is maybe the only solution.

I personally also think he performs worse against top teams who can take advantage of his weaknesses, while it is more weak teams that take advantage of Lindelof’s weaknesses. If it makes sense?
 

Sylar

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After 5 years of injuries this is maybe the only solution.

I personally also think he performs worse against top teams who can take advantage of his weaknesses, while it is more weak teams that take advantage of Lindelof’s weaknesses. If it makes sense?
Kick and rush vs teams that play football?
 

Sylar

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Not sure what you mean.
Oh i thought thats what you mean.

Teams that play on the ground (so football playing teams) which suit Lindelof vs teams that play long balls, etc (which suits Bailly)
 

A-man

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Oh i thought thats what you mean.

Teams that play on the ground (so football playing teams) which suit Lindelof vs teams that play long balls, etc (which suits Bailly)
My personal opinion is that one of Baillys weaknesses are poor awareness of what’s going on behind him in combination that he sometimes leaves his position to push at poorly chosen moments. He’s a bit random. The best teams take advantage of this. Lindelof is the opposite. Not aggressive, but good at closing open space and good at following tactics. Never random. Should however say that I think Bailly has polished away a bit of this randomness in his last matches.
 

Adam-Utd

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Nobody want to mention his lovely pass in the 1st half for Fernandes?

For all the "Bailly is a maniac" talk, he sure has been nice and composed recently and playing great football.

Nothing better than watching him hunt down a striker, rob them of the ball then dance his way out of trouble :drool:
 

stevoc

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Nobody want to mention his lovely pass in the 1st half for Fernandes?

For all the "Bailly is a maniac" talk, he sure has been nice and composed recently and playing great football.

Nothing better than watching him hunt down a striker, rob them of the ball then dance his way out of trouble :drool:
By recently you mean the only two games he's played for 5 weeks vs Sociedad?
 

Foxbatt

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My personal opinion is that one of Baillys weaknesses are poor awareness of what’s going on behind him in combination that he sometimes leaves his position to push at poorly chosen moments. He’s a bit random. The best teams take advantage of this. Lindelof is the opposite. Not aggressive, but good at closing open space and good at following tactics. Never random. Should however say that I think Bailly has polished away a bit of this randomness in his last matches.
There was a point in the last game when the commentator said the RS has pace and then Lindelof took charge and he said but Lindelof has the know how. Maybe Bailly brings it out. I have a feeling that Lindelof and Bailly may be the better option.
 

red woppit

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Time to play a back three?
A back three could work very well, but both fullbacks would need to get forward asap when we have the ball, and get into the opponents penalty area as much as possible, this would be an absolute necessity of we had a midfield two of Fred, Matic or McTominay. One of those + Pogba (or Mejbri ultimately) would be a very good solution if we did go three at the back. You could also fit Tuanzebe into that equation, and any of the four main CB's are good at bringing the ball out of defence.
For me Bailly is the best CB we have, just gets injured too often, but when he plays, all the other defenders seem to play better.
 
Last edited:

AgentSmith

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Time to play a back three?
Given the way Chelsea set up and the players we have unavailable it could be the best option.

No McTominay, no Cavani, no Pogba and James a doubt with Martial being a no-go leaves us a little limited.

Henderson

Bailly Maguire Shaw

AWB Fred Matic Telles

Bruno

Greenwood Rashford
Looks reasonable enough.
 

CG1010

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If the stat in the banner is correct, he has got 8 cleansheets in 13 appearances this season. Given how poor our defence generally has been, that cannot be a coincidence. He is probably our best CB when fit.
 

A-man

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If the stat in the banner is correct, he has got 8 cleansheets in 13 appearances this season. Given how poor our defence generally has been, that cannot be a coincidence. He is probably our best CB when fit.
Its not a coincidence, but one major factor is the cup matches. In those stats you find teams like Luton and Watford. Tuanzebe had similar record last year if I’m correct. If you look at PL, Bailly has 2 clean sheets out of 6 matches.
 

Foxbatt

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Bailly is the most entertaining player we have. I mean I love to watch him play. You never know what he is going to do next.
Even off the ball. I mean his request to Cavani to do his trademark celebration. He was so serious.
Bailly could be brilliant and horrible in the same movement. I would love to see him dribble thru and score a goal. He is capable of it.
 

A-man

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There was a point in the last game when the commentator said the RS has pace and then Lindelof took charge and he said but Lindelof has the know how. Maybe Bailly brings it out. I have a feeling that Lindelof and Bailly may be the better option.
I also liked what I saw. It would be interesting to see this pair 5-6 games in a row against PL opposition. Maybe they too weak in the air?
 

Foxbatt

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I also liked what I saw. It would be interesting to see this pair 5-6 games in a row against PL opposition. Maybe they too weak in the air?
Lindelof talks and waves his arms about a lot during the game. Maybe that is what is keeping Bailly a bit more attentive?
 

A-man

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Started a bit poorly with some mistakes but grew in to it after a few minutes. Overall I think he was ok defensively and a clean sheet is always a clean sheet. Normally he is pretty weak in the air, but in the first half he stepped up and won some good headers, nice to see. The problems imo were more when we weren’t defending and it was not only Bailly but more collectively owned problems. The whole back line + Matic were slow with the ball and when under pressure they looked stressed. They also dropped very deep which didn’t help our attack.
 

criticalanalysis

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Okay game. One poor touch in the first half but after that was solid enough as was rarely troubled. Safe and fairly progressive with the ball.

Standard performance Lindelof puts in week in week out, which is praised for being 'consistent, didn't make mistakes, good clean sheet, rest of the team/attack wasn't good enough'.

For Bailly it's a step up simply for the minutes and ability to show he can be a good centre back option. Should continue to get games ahead of Lindelof if he's available.
 

Isotope

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I forgot what minute, but there was him and Benteke (I think), where he flicked the ball backward over the later, then carried on with the ball forward. Hahha.. I thought that was great.
 

roonster09

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Thought he did well, good composure on the ball too.
 
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