Eric Bailly - English players were favoured

[Adisa]

Who else does it apply too? Who where AWB and Shaw alternatives last year?

Dalot and Telles. He also hasn't said he is only talking about last season.

 

[USREDEVIL]

He's right, or at least as to how it was going previously. One problem was the cost of the English players, which put a bit of pressure on them to be starters.

 

[NotQuiteManc]

He’s obviously referring to Ole and Maguire, particularly him starting Maguire against Leicester last season with question marks over his fitness, only for Maguire to go and subsequently embarrass himself and the team.

A lot of reports that Bailly and other players were unhappy with that decision.

Yeah, that was one of the worst decision Ole have made and quite puzzling considering he played under SAF. SAF slowly introduced players coming back from injury, even if the players were considered automatic first 11. He gave those players probably 3 or more games before they would play full 90 minute games.

I can understand Bailly's POV, but at the same time he is not reliable enough despite some good moments. He should play at least more minutes than Maguire in that Leicester game though.

 

[kelvinwong2026]

While I think Bailly should bear the largest responsibilities for not having games, what he said is not wrong. This has been so obvious in the Ole era.

 

[We need an rvn]

He might've been another Henderson in the dressing room last season but he also deserved to feature more when Maguire was making mistakes almost every game.

True, but he most likely wasn't fit for most of those occasions either

 

[united_99]

Just shut up and try to stay fit for more than 2,5 games for once. Then you might even play.
I remember in one of the rare games under Ole when he rested Maguire, Bailly got injured already in the first half and Maguire had to come on.

 

[Adisa]

There was a leak about Maguire before the City game last year, can anyone remember what it was?

 

[Levi1]

He's 100% right. Maguire was rushed back and that ended our season and Ole's career. We started shipping goals and Maguire continued to play despite being half fit and playing terribly. Everyman and his dog could see it and we were all hoping g he'd be dropped, but nope..

Bailly is a good player but needs a run of games and a coach who believes in him.

 

[Relevated]

Sorry, but the caf is pathetic. The man is providing insight into an issue that many of us saw and agree with, but is being called out on something he doesn't have control over - his injuries. It's not like he was getting injured for a laugh, but everytime he was fit he wasn't preferred.

Instead of making fun of someone or trying to score one against them, maybe you should all accept the fact that we were shambolic due to Oles bad management.

 

[Relevated]

People will hold his condition against him, but it definitely doesn't seem like he is wrong. It was also reported that Ole's "cultural reset" gave priority to English talents, thus Wan-Bissaka. Remains to be seen if this changes under Ten Hag regarding the preferential treatment.

It's already changed man

 

[VanDeBank]

Bailly is wrong. Maguire kept starting because Ole wasn't capable of admitting a mistake.

He feared benching his 80m signing or stripping him of his captaincy, would reflect poorly on himself.

Its obvious nationality played a role in how Harry "fake it till you make it" Maguire got to be Man United captain/overpromoted. That would never have happened with a non-british or non-white player. Even if you disregard the xenophobic element, the English bias in the media is evident.

With regards to the other English players. Their XI spot was justified if you look at it from an Oleball angle and it's a small sample size anyway.

• Shaw had no real competition, Telles is shit
• Ole doesn't value what Dalot brings to the table compared to AWB
• Rashford is good at Oleball and scores loads of goals.
• McTominay, like Shaw no proper competition.

And it's good to point out Dave did start.
Having said all this, some have rightly pointed out Eric was behind Lindalove in the pecking order. He should be looking in the mirror.

 

[justsomebloke]

You don't have to bring his injury record to the mix. Think his point is very valid - we were a mess last year. Maguire always played even with injuries . Noone had balls to bench that underperforming defence which included Maguire, Shaw, AWB .

Could he have been the replacement? Probably not - as he himself has been very underperforming for very long time. But the point stands.

Actually, Shaw and AWB both lost their place in the starting XI.

 

[devil99]

Sorry, but the caf is pathetic. The man is providing insight into an issue that many of us saw and agree with, but is being called out on something he doesn't have control over - his injuries. It's not like he was getting injured for a laugh, but everytime he was fit he wasn't preferred.

Instead of making fun of someone or trying to score one against them, maybe you should all accept the fact that we were shambolic due to Oles bad management.

Feel the same. Because Bailly was not stayed fit for long time , whatever he says is wrong or sour grapes as per caf

 

[mu4c_20le]

Bailly is wrong. Maguire kept starting because Ole wasn't capable of admitting a mistake.

He feared benching his 80m signing or stripping him of his captaincy, would reflect poorly on himself.

Its obvious nationality played a role in how Harry "fake it till you make it" Maguire got to be Man United captain/overpromoted. That would never have happened with a non-british or non-white player. Even if you disregard the xenophobic element, the English bias in the media is evident.

With regards to the other English players. Their XI spot was justified if you look at it from an Oleball angle and it's a small sample size anyway.

• Shaw had no real competition, Telles is shit
• Ole doesn't value what Dalot brings to the table compared to AWB
• Rashford is good at Oleball and scores loads of goals.
• McTominay, like Shaw no proper competition.

And it's good to point out Dave did start.
Having said all this, some have rightly pointed out Eric was behind Lindalove in the pecking order. He should be looking in the mirror.

First of all, Maguire isn't as bad as some of you are making him out to be. Solid in his first season, but I've always said he was never the same after the Greek incident. So ole did what he thought fergie would've done which is probably to stand by your player and keep playing him back to form.

 

[Al-T]

I guess Henderson might not share the view that English players were favoured.....

 

[LoneStar]

Seems more like a jab at Maguire than nationality to me. It seems like Maguire isn't a popular figure with the fanbase or with the dressing room (purely based on reports).

I think the fact that we signed him for mega money forced Ole to play him every game. He worked decent under Ole when we say back tbh. But if we had plans to be a team which plays on the front foot, signing Maguire was a really bad idea. And the guy doesn't deserve the captaincy as well, the pressure seems to get to him quite often.

Anyway, glad he's benched now. Varane and Martinez are a level above him. He should earn his place on merit if he can.

 

[Ramshock]

he is right but his timing is shit as he can clearly see ETH isnt doing the same

 

[VP89]

Ole's fault!

 

[Adisa]

Bailly is wrong. Maguire kept starting because Ole wasn't capable of admitting a mistake.

He feared benching his 80m signing or stripping him of his captaincy, would reflect poorly on himself.

Its obvious nationality played a role in how Harry "fake it till you make it" Maguire got to be Man United captain/overpromoted. That would never have happened with a non-british or non-white player. Even if you disregard the xenophobic element, the English bias in the media is evident.

With regards to the other English players. Their XI spot was justified if you look at it from an Oleball angle and it's a small sample size anyway.

• Shaw had no real competition, Telles is shit
• Ole doesn't value what Dalot brings to the table compared to AWB
• Rashford is good at Oleball and scores loads of goals.
• McTominay, like Shaw no proper competition.

And it's good to point out Dave did start.
Having said all this, some have rightly pointed out Eric was behind Lindalove in the pecking order. He should be looking in the mirror.

The simplest explanation is often the right one. Ole played Maguire probably because he trusted him.
I do agree that Telles is/was not good enough and probably thought the same about Dalot but players don't see it that way. You often hear players say they need a run of games. Telles and Dalot would probably feel they were never given a fair chance to prove they were either good enough or not good enough bacuse that run of games never came( I am just using this as an example. But the likes of Shaw, AWB and Maguire were constantly played to get them in form. Players naturally see that as unfair.
I

 

[Mickeza]

The fact that Bailly is injury prone and also not very good doesn't mean he's wrong imo

Shaw, Maguire, Wan Bissaka and Rashford all got prolonged starts in the side despite not performing and other options waiting in the wings

When? They were all rightly first choice during the year we finished 2nd and all of them played well (Maguire and Shaw especially) aside from rashford latter part of the season but he still put in the numbers. So you basically only have the 2 month period from the Everton game and Ole being sacked where this could be true. The reason Bailly doesn’t play is perfectly simple and has zilch to do with nationality - he’s injury prone and ranges from absolutely shit to incredible over the course of any spell he’s fit enough to play back to back games - you can’t trust him.

 

[OL29]

Shouldn’t Henderson have got his position back then?

Not to be rude but did you actually read what he said? He said English players receive favourable treatment, not that they start games simply because of their nationality or that the club only wants to play British players.

I’m surprised that so many are acting like it’s inconceivable, especially when you consider that people routinely list being English/ British as a positive trait when discussing transfer speculation. It’s hardly a shock that the coaches follow a similar mindset. Wasn’t Mike Phelan said to be a big advocate of maintaining a British core? I think there’s some truth to what Bailly said.

 

[Ekeke]

I think he's somewhat right, and might not just be about Maguire but perhaps Jones in the past. You could add Smalling but I would suggest he defended better than Bailly so I wouldnt take that excuse personally.

But

1) Thats the club and you should realize that before coming here and

2) I think he's wrong and theres been plenty of that at other clubs. Lampard's Chelsea for example stuck a bunch of young English players in. I think City does it with Walker, so they dont have to worry about people complaining about not having English players in the other positions. Obviously Foden makes that less of a thing.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Stay fit and don't be a liability babe xx

If you weren't made of butter cookie you would've been favoured too sunshine.

"Man who can't get into the team cries favouritism"

This is all there is to it.

Literally a 27-year-old (now 28) center back who had made 100 top-division league appearances in his entire career heading into last season, had 4 separate injury absences the season before that, and missed 5 months the season before that, struggling to understand why he wasn't trusted to play after finally managing to keep himself fit enough to be available for selection for a few weeks at a stretch.

Seen a lot of comments here about Maguire being rushed back half-fit when we lost to Leicester last season, and that being a legit example of Bailly being shafted. But again, let's go back to the end of 20/21 and the last time Maguire was injured, and we lost back-to-back home games against Leicester and Liverpool with Bailly and Lindelof getting run ragged together. Those games will almost certainly have played a part in Solskjaer deciding he'd rather have a half-fit Maguire than trust Bailly (who wasn't even match-fit and hadn't played a minute of football for us at the time). I think he was completely justified.

Worth noting that Bailly's first two appearances when he did get on the pitch last season were:

- CL game against Atalanta where the second goal came from a simple ball in behind him after he charged out of position for no reason (in fairness, he did pull off a great flying last-ditch tackle earlier in this game, which is in keeping with the Bailly brand)
- home league game against City where he scored a calamitous own goal in the first ten minutes (very similar to the one he pulled off against Liverpool a few years ago)

Not exactly giving the managers (plural, because Rangnick didn't rate him either) a headache.

 

[acnumber9]

He was incredibly hard done by not being selected ahead of that famous British player Victor Lindelof the one time every other month he was fit.

 

[davidmichael]

If Bailly could stay fit for more than two consecutive games and hadn’t just been moved on I could maybe take what he’s saying but the reality is that Maguire for all his faults has one massive positive in his game which is he’s fit 99.9% of the time.

This is the problem we’ve had at the club for some time as everyone is always complaining they’re not picked or others are favoured instead of putting the work in to win a place. I don’t remember Hennig Berg or David May complaining about Stam or Ronny Johnsen or any of Jones, Evans, Smalling or Pique complaining about Rio or Vidic.

Players should concentrate on playing, keeping fit and fighting to keep their spot rather than crying over the fact they didn’t get handed a starting spot. Hopefully any more complainers in the squad get moved on by ETH and we see over the next year or two replaced by hungry players with fight in them to win their spot and fight to keep it.

 

[OL29]

He was incredibly hard done by not being selected ahead of that famous British player Victor Lindelof the one time every other month he was fit.

This argument is equivalent to ‘I’m not racist, one of my friends is black’.

 

[Nevilles.Wear.Prada]

Don't remember him being match fit and didn't start for a more than 2-3 matches in a row. You are never fit and not really better than lindeloff, lord baelish.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

how much more shite about Oles reign is there still yet to come out

 

[Giggsy13]

Comical assessment by Bailly when you consider our starting 11 now. At the time we had Ole who was tied to his mega and quite frankly disgraceful signings and then rangnick who was handcuffed with them as well.

 

[TOKUGAWA-X]

I am so glad Bailly left, he is an injury-prone and it seems he cant stand english players.

Bye and never return, United are an english team and we will always have local players in our squad.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Presume he means Maguire was picked over him. But he wasn't ever fit and Maguire always was. Maybe he can't face that his career is a mess due to his fitness issues.

 

[ExoduS]

We are one step away from someone calling him McChoir.

He hasn't earned my time to learn proper spelling of his last name.

 

[Leftback99]

He didn't play because he was useless and injury prone.

 

[ExoduS]

Because top managers are not idiots. Unfortunately ETH is the first top manager we've had since 2013.

Sour grapes or not Bailly is undeniably right about Maguire being favoured. So what's wrong with him saying it?

It's wrong because he wasn't that much better than Harry. He had plenty of chances to prove himself and he didn't. If he was that good we might have not even went to buy Maguire. He also could have fought for the starting spot against Lindelof. He had plenty of chances and sadly didn't produce consistently. Had amazing defensive plays but also some incredible brain farts - just like English dude he is complaining played unjustifiably.

 

[Son]

I’m sorry but Maguire for a couple of years was an absolute beast for us. He was captain too so when the form dropped everyone knows on his day he had more to his game than Bailly.

Bailly on the ball is a liability and can’t stay fit long enough to pick up any form.

 

[Jezpeza]

Bailly is a twat. Spent most of his time here getting paid to sit on the treatment table. Bemoaned his lack of games then signed a new contract.

he was never picked because you arent going to build a defence around someone with a weetabix body. He always got injured if he played a handful of games in a row. Maguire was always fit even if in bad form. Lindelof isn't English so why was he always ahead of him?

disgruntled idiot talking nonsense. Bit like Henderson - never good enough to get in the team and now bemoaning it out on loan like he would have been an answer to anything

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Bailly is wrong. Maguire kept starting because Ole wasn't capable of admitting a mistake.

He feared benching his 80m signing or stripping him of his captaincy, would reflect poorly on himself.

Its obvious nationality played a role in how Harry "fake it till you make it" Maguire got to be Man United captain/overpromoted. That would never have happened with a non-british or non-white player. Even if you disregard the xenophobic element, the English bias in the media is evident.

With regards to the other English players. Their XI spot was justified if you look at it from an Oleball angle and it's a small sample size anyway.

• Shaw had no real competition, Telles is shit
• Ole doesn't value what Dalot brings to the table compared to AWB
• Rashford is good at Oleball and scores loads of goals.
• McTominay, like Shaw no proper competition.

And it's good to point out Dave did start.
Having said all this, some have rightly pointed out Eric was behind Lindalove in the pecking order. He should be looking in the mirror.

That'd be genius is mourinho and the club hadn't chased Maguire for a year before ole arrived. So with that fact it is complete rubbish

 

[ExoduS]

So in the same post you say it's sour grapes and then you admit Maguire was favoured? What is your point then

Not sure if you are playing being stupid or you just are. I am saying he was favored for a different reason possibly - being expensive, not being English.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

He was incredibly hard done by not being selected ahead of that famous British player Victor Lindelof the one time every other month he was fit.

After reading this comment, I think this thread should be closed. Pretty much game, set, and match.

 

[Slevs]

Bailly talking shit.
Maguire started most of the time and we were finally relieved we had a CB that stayed fit for an entire season, instead of alternating between the crocks we had and playing midfielders in defense most seasons.

Then Varane came and was injured most of the season. Starting CBs were Maguire and Lindelof with Bailly/Varane/Jones (lol) all being injured most of the time and Tuanzebe not being good.

Then maguire lost his place to Varane and alternated with Lindelof when one of them hit a rough patch.

Maguire was (might still be) our only reliable CB in terms of not being a fecking sick note, which is a great feature to have if you're trying to find a settled CBs pairing (you know, the only parternship in the team that you shouldn't feck around with every 2 weeks).
Maybe if Bailly wasn't an injury prone sicknote he'd have taken Maguire's spot once or twice when Maguire was dropped/having a rough patch and had made it permanently his. This is forgetting the fact he's rash and batshit insane, which you don't want in CBs of all people.