You wouldn't get odds on that, actual impossibility.
3
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 18
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 1
- Red cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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Better than Lindelof.
It might be true that Smalling prefers to play on the right but AlexUtd you're treating it as if it's gospel truth. Smalling has not come out in public saying he prefers to play on the right or that he has a preference to play with Lindelof (Scholes said this on tv though, about Smalling preferring Lindelof based on a private conversation they had).
I'm glad he's back. I really like the lad and his passion.
Must be given a run now from start. Must be allowed to settle in and he'll come good. Hope he stears clear of injuries as that seems to be a problem with him. Reminds me of Andy Cole with his physique. Both true athletes. Maybe Lukaku can take a lesson in how you should prepare yourself.
I haven't been able to watch United as much recently. I remember when he first arrived I was concerned with his aerial ability. Has this improved?
He could have started against Fulham if only he didn't decide to go back to his favourite hunting ground and I don't really expect him to stay out of there anytime soon. Even he he manages to, then he'd still have Smalling and Jones in his way because he can't and won't be starting ahead of center backs that are superior to him.
He's been frozen out of the squad for a while now, so it's hard to say..
No doubting his ability, just hope his defensive IQ improves.
Truth be told he's pretty much the same as he was when he arrived. Injuries and a couple of horror shows have kept him from getting a consistent run in the team.
He's going to be a great defender, he really has it in him. Give him time to mature, iron out his mistakes and he is going to be our Koulibaly in a couple of years, i am absolutely convinced
Valencia 2:1 Man Utd
It's so bad. Every game there's a player through on goal because of a mistake from him. Just look at his defensive work for the Jones OG. What a mess that was.
I think he's comfortably the worst out of our 5 CBs although that's not saying a lot.
That was Jones’ man. Bailly pushed up on his to press them away from our box. Jones should have but didn’t track his properly, and to accentuate it, scored an OG
You're just wrong. When Bailly makes a run forward he's the one closest to Batshuayi. He goes out of defense, leaving a huge gap, to press a man that's facing away from goal but he doesn't even get close because that guy was always going to pass it pack for a quick 1-2. What's even worse is the "recovery" from the pressure. His turn back is bizarre, opens up the path even more and takes him further away from his position than if he simply would stop and run back immediately like footballers train every fecking training and already do multiple times each match.
Jones did track properly. He was ahead of Batshuayi and honestly should have gotten a free kick. He goes down like that because he's tugged and he expects to get it but clumsily tackles the ball instead which is his fault because you should play to the whistle.
What? It was on the half way line. Parejo was just inside our half when a pass comes into him, in behind our midfield with Fred running back to try to get to him. Bailly sees the pass going into him and Bailly runs a good 10 yards towards him. Parejo simply passes the ball back and Bailly is no longer in the defensive line
Valencia is then playing the striker onside for no reason as theres no Valencia player near him that requires Valencia dropping deep and Jones is left on his own to try and deal with the player bursting through
Jones actually does well to get goalside of Batshuayi and hold him off after Batshuayi got a goalside run on him thanks to Valencia playing him onside
Yes obviously Jones makes a mess of dealing with it, big mistake from him there but his teammates let him down putting him in that situation in the first place. Theres also the keeper rushing out when Jones had it covered. But Jones should still clear that out of play
I have no issue with Bailly going forward, but the issue is the lack of communication all over. If Bailly goes forward then the other should cover. Valencia (player) being as deep as he is and not tucked in makes absolutely no sense. You either get in line or push forward. The player out wide (on their left) is not the immediate danger.
And then Jones passing back (into the middle of the goal without looking just added to the comedy).
Bailly is rash and needs a leader next to him. If Bailly is pushing up he needs to let Jones know (and that needs to be part of the overall plan). If hes just doing it when he feels like it its daft.
And then Jones passing back (into the middle of the goal without looking just added to the comedy).
Bailly is rash and needs a leader next to him. If Bailly is pushing up he needs to let Jones know (and that needs to be part of the overall plan). If hes just doing it when he feels like it its daft.
Our defensive shape is as bad as our attacking. Wonder what we are training everyday ?
This has little to do with the players more to do with our setup.
This has little to do with the players more to do with our setup.
@Snow @Ekeke
initially i didn't think he was wrong in pressing early, but fair enough, i went to rewatch it and he was closest to Batshuayi because Jones was on the other dude on the left (for some reason young gave him acres) then valencia is on no man's land too. It was an all around mess and I don't think he should be pinpointed as sole culprit.
initially i didn't think he was wrong in pressing early, but fair enough, i went to rewatch it and he was closest to Batshuayi because Jones was on the other dude on the left (for some reason young gave him acres) then valencia is on no man's land too. It was an all around mess and I don't think he should be pinpointed as sole culprit.
agreed
It was a mess, and this is my biggest issue with Bailly. It is a mess and still he decides to make it even more difficult by leaving his position and take a chance to put pressure on a player 50 meters away from goal. It must be really hard to be the other CB when he makes decisions like that.
I reallllly want him to break through as I really like him. But I'm just not sure if its gonna happen. Maybe if he was partnered every week with a world class,composed,intelligent CB
I didn't point him out as a sole culprit for the goal, after all Jones had recovered the position and could well have cleared the ball despite the small foul. I just pointed it out as something we see every match from Bailly and it's a really poor trait for a defender to have. It reminds me a bit of David Luiz who's got a lot of good qualities as a footballer but as a CB in a back 4 line he's got this same kind of inclination to do something stupid which gives the opposition a great chance to score.
The thing about defending is that you don't really need the best individual players to defend well. You just need your players to form a cohesive link. This season United has a lot of broken link in its defense. I've started to wonder if Mourinho was right about the type of football he was playing last season because the team hasn't shown that it's capable of defending well when it's focusing on attacking more, it's not particularily good at keeping the ball.
Yep. There's zero organization in the defensive phase. You don't need four world class defenders to have a good defence. rui faria was the brain behind our organization. .he left this summer and took the defence with him . Jose has been left exposed. at both ends of the pitch there's no cohesion
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Exactly, Jose seems to have forgotten how to defend and attack..
if only managers had the responsibility of coaching. besides, we are not exactly playing swashbuckling attacking football
He got great pace & tackle, he got the tools but problem is he’s just a defender with zero IQ defending. I thought he should have done better for the Jones’s own goal and that wasn’t the first or even third time I watched him being clueless not knowing where he needs to be and what he needs to do, I have seen it too many times. His positioning, awareness and man marking are just poor.
Liverpool 3:1 Man Utd
Think he did alright considering he wasn't even supposed to be playing.
Was decent, the deflected goal is the downside of the style of defender he is lunging in from distance because he wasnt initially in the best of positions. Other than that his contributions were mostly good and he worked hard
He's too hotheaded and rash for my liking, and sometimes he puts the team under unnecessary pressure. Has a way to go before he can be considered a first team defender for us.
I think he did alright.. wasnt perfect but for someone who came in last moment it was okay. It did scare me when he landed hard, i thought he would go off injured but he stayed on so that saved us from a Phil Jones appearance which is a better contribution to todays match than the likes of Lingard and Lukaku had.
The only defender who played well today.
Not good enough to be a starter but fine as a squad option for me.
When we find him the right partner I still believe he can be a top player, I thought the last minute move for Godin could have been a brilliant transfer had he actually been attainable, not just because of him actually being a top centre half but Bailly spending a season or two next to a world class defender who's skill set is based around intelligence would compliment him perfectly and do wonders for him as a footballing education.
Played well
Think he played well but made some poor decisions sometimes when he took off to put pressure further up the pitch.
Played well, cant really fault most of the players for effort.
He's dire, looks like he can make mistake at any given moment. Creates a panic all the time.
Best of the three CB's today even if he does look a bit low on confidence.
Great match yesterday. Was all over the place trying to compensate the (lack of) midfield protection.
Thought he had a great game, showed some real composure at times.
He's a modern CB who's at his best when the balls on the floor.
He's a modern CB who's at his best when the balls on the floor.
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