I agree but I'd also say Smalling keeps it another 5 better than it would otherwise be.
Best CB pairing
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They're a dreadful pairing. Rojo and Jones for me but even that is sh*t.
Rojo and Bailly.
Smalling and Jones by a country mile?
Smalling and Jones by a country mile?
Why would you want 2 overaggressive CBs prone to mistakes?
Bailly and whoever was to be replaced by the CB we didn't sign.
Because I think they're our best Cb's. I don't rate Smalling at all, never have.
They were quite good together in the 16-17 season. Although Rojo got away with dirty fouls IIRC, should've been red carded a few times during their run together
That's what I was eluding to. Yes Rojo can be wild but he is not Bailly wild. Either way whatever partnership we put out they are not good enough to compete for the big trophies. Mourinho has to take responsibility for this too as it was his 2 signings that put in the horror show at the weekend.
None of the above!
Sounds mad to me.
Rojo gets beat a lot and makes more challenges that are rash / could be punished heavily. Bailly's rashness is usually not like this weekend giving away a penalty with a bad tackle. Bad tackles are a Rojo thing
I disagree, Bailly is the most hyped up of all our defenders. Said in pre season he was an accident waiting to happen and I was proved right only 2 games in. The man looks like he puts his boots on the wrong feet. Hopeless player.
Yeah and you thinking Smalling is our best defender sounds nuts to me.
A fit injury-free Jones and the #1 world-class CB we refuse to sign.
I don't know if it's a joke or not but this is like asking for a high football IQ and ball playing Smalling. Not happening.
its almost as if you havent watched us play this season
Right now out of what we have, has to be between Bailly, Jones, and Smalling for me. The problem with these players is so much damn inconsistency and injuries. I'd like Mou to give Tuanzebe a chance in a three at the back. This would give Shaw and Young so much more freedom to bomb forward. Shaw has looked really lively attacking wise these two games. Run a 3-5-2 with Sanchez and Lukaku up top. Maybe im just talking out my ass tho lol
No. of games for each partnership -
S/J - 28
J/B - 10
B/S - 13
L/S - 8
L/B - 4
L/S - 2
(Where are numbers with Rojo & Blind?)
What's interesting to me is the fact that in 65 games in 2 seasons we had 6 different partnerships. Smalling is our most consistent defender featuring in 51 of these 65 games. And in only 43% of those games we used the same partnership. You have to wonder how many of them were consecutive games.
Our most successful teams in the past have had the same CB partnership used in majority of the games. The defensive numbers might be good, but our defense is not getting the consistency and continuity you expect from a title winning defenses. I guess the reason for our over reliance on De Gea.
When a partnership plays over double the amount of any other combo and is almost always in during our biggest, toughest matches its obviously going to throw the win percentages off.
Its easy to have a high percentage for a couple of games when you've picked easier matches to try something out.
Its easy to have a high percentage for a couple of games when you've picked easier matches to try something out.
I'm actually inclined to agree, we chop and change far too often in our team and you have to let partnerships build. For the next game I'd stick Smalling next to Lindelof/Bailly but the latter two should be allowed to develop, they are still only 22/23 - not many CB's are top class by that age.
Jesus are people still pining for the Jones-Rojo combo. They had a decent run of about 10 games 2 years ago thats it. Whenever the universe aligns once every few years and they both somehow manage to be fit at the same time, theres still the fact neither player is anything special.
In my opinion both of them should consider themselves very lucky to still be at the club. Rojo was gone if we had managed to sign a new CB & Jones should have followed him out the door.
In my opinion both of them should consider themselves very lucky to still be at the club. Rojo was gone if we had managed to sign a new CB & Jones should have followed him out the door.
I don't think we we need a pairing, we should play 3 CB's Bailly - Smalling - Lindelof, it would help us get the best from the existing squad by relying on wing-backs to give us natural width.
Thats like finding the loch ness monster being ridden by big foot.
Smalling and Bailly for me.
Smalling is good in the air, and probably has the best sense of positioning out of our current defenders. Bailly is okay as an aggressive, front-foot centreback. While he clearly struggles with the team's more reactive style of defending, the same is true of the other candidates, and he might be able to get out of trouble once or twice more than the rest because of his pace, agility and (this is obviously very subjective) tackling accuracy.
This pairing won't be very good at playing from the back. Unfortunately, our attack at the moment really needs someone who can play accurate and incisive early passes. Lindelof has shown this ability elsewhere, but not yet at United, which is hardly a surprise: being a defensive liability does not bode well for one's confidence.
Both Bailly and Lindelof have some improvements to make, and they will need game time to do so. However, I feel that Bailly's shortcomings are more decision-making and lapses-in-concentration, with which game time can help, whereas Lindelof still has some work to do off the pitch. It's a harsh assessment, and I hope I'm wrong and that his time at the World Cup is a more accurate reflection of his current abilities.
Smalling is good in the air, and probably has the best sense of positioning out of our current defenders. Bailly is okay as an aggressive, front-foot centreback. While he clearly struggles with the team's more reactive style of defending, the same is true of the other candidates, and he might be able to get out of trouble once or twice more than the rest because of his pace, agility and (this is obviously very subjective) tackling accuracy.
This pairing won't be very good at playing from the back. Unfortunately, our attack at the moment really needs someone who can play accurate and incisive early passes. Lindelof has shown this ability elsewhere, but not yet at United, which is hardly a surprise: being a defensive liability does not bode well for one's confidence.
Both Bailly and Lindelof have some improvements to make, and they will need game time to do so. However, I feel that Bailly's shortcomings are more decision-making and lapses-in-concentration, with which game time can help, whereas Lindelof still has some work to do off the pitch. It's a harsh assessment, and I hope I'm wrong and that his time at the World Cup is a more accurate reflection of his current abilities.
Agree with this. They are probably the most balanced combination given our current options. But Mourinho's reluctance to field wing-backs against back-four formations is a decision that makes sense within his tactical framework, so I doubt we will see it.
Not applicable to be honest, that's the real answer
Smalling plays like a lower league player having the game of their life and yet he's probably been our best defender over the last few years - that's how bad it is
If pushed, I'd probably put Smalling alongside Lindelof. Would maybe be Smalling Jones if Jones could stay fit for 10 minutes
Smalling plays like a lower league player having the game of their life and yet he's probably been our best defender over the last few years - that's how bad it is
If pushed, I'd probably put Smalling alongside Lindelof. Would maybe be Smalling Jones if Jones could stay fit for 10 minutes
3 CBs, with 2 aging wing backs. Got it. How many CMs then, 2 or 3? Where's the actual goal-scoring threat going to come from for our team?
Some people talk like our biggest problem has been defence and not actually creating chances. We went 45 mins in that second half against Brighton without laying a glove on them. We had the 2nd lowest goals scored out of the top 6 (only Chelsea were worse, who played 3 at the back) last season. I'm not sure how piling more defenders on the pitch will fix that.
3-5-2 in particular would be overly defensive for a team that has problems creating chances and scoring. Especially as we like to sit very deep all too often, which means that our defensive shape will be 5-3-2 and the team would struggle to break away on the counter due to being very defence heavy. Ergo, more hoofball and more negative football. Teams with 3 CBs more often play with 2 CMs, but our transfer strategy seems to have been aimed towards playing with 3 CMs.
no doubt he is vastly over-rated on here but I actually thought he did well in the first game and was hoping maybe this would be the season he would flourish. Still early days but he makes silly, unneeded tackles, that penalty giveaway was schoolboy defending. I'd happily sell all our central defenders (not gonna happen of course), I don't think any are good enough. I think if we did bring in one steady defender, who must be good in the air and who can organise, I think Bailly would probably be the best candidate to benefit from that. He's strong, quick enough and decent on the ball. His positional sense is poor, he's rash and is terrible in the air. I feel an experienced head alongside him could talk him through games. As much as I'd love 2 new centre backs, I don't think we are getting that. I'd happily take 1 new and hope that we can work with Bailly. I think that one new defender would benefit all our current central defenders as they are all quite rash. I just think Bailly has the raw materials to become a quality defender with the correct guidance. The others I don't see getting to the level we need to succeed.
I've watched us play the last 30 seasons.
Lindelof has some qualities but just absolutely no presence or aggression. The kind of player who would be excellent in the Portuguese League but struggle in the Premier League. Then, again if he got a run of games he could really adjust and improve but Mouriniho drops him after a bad game. No doubt he will be out the team for Monday also.
Smalling plus one. Other options are equally bad.
I think so. Same for Bailly. Unfortunately he'll be droped this Monday. It's not easy to adapt to english game .
Even more when the team is in doubt and there is no stability and results. Remebrer De Gea 1st season! A lot of people said he'll never be a world class GK.
Watch us play this season or last season. If you think Bailly is our best CB, or Rojo is one of our 2 best CBs then you're crazy
Bailly has had time to adapt already. Its not a premier league thing, its a concentration and rashness thing. But hes not alone there are plenty of CBs who play for long periods in the premier league and never quite lose that rashness and trying to be too aggressive - Jones would be an example.
I was talking more about Lindelof there.
Comprehension is not a strong suit with you. You may get your facts right before you start calling people names. I clearly stated I think Bailly is rubbish. Jones and Rojo are my preferred partnership (the only one I thought looked decent when they played together 2/3 seasons ago).
Learn to accept that people have different opinions before throwing insults.
The question was what is the best partnership you dimwit.
Smalling and potential wise, Bailly. But Lindelof deserves his chance, after Bailly's Brighton horror show.
Saying all that, Bailly & Lindelof should have the chance to form a relationship. This is the pairing Jose saw at the beginning of the season, so he should persevere with it.
Saying all that, Bailly & Lindelof should have the chance to form a relationship. This is the pairing Jose saw at the beginning of the season, so he should persevere with it.
Without the benefit of hindsight, you would think that against Brighton was a decent enough opportunity for them to build confidence together after an okay game against Leicester.