Rate our centre backs

[Snafu17]

Why has Bailly been labelled as injury prone all of a sudden. He had one injury last year and one long term injury this year. He's not exactly Jones.

 

[Camilo]

Jones is our best defender by a mile. Good on the ball, physical, committed, young, massively experienced and English (if it's a team of foreigners, it's all a bit "who gives a shit" in my eyes).

Out of the rest of them... Smalling is probably the best "defender" defender we have - he'd look sensational at West Ham or Stoke - but as a footballer he's poor and hampers us as a team. Top teams need 11 footballers, not 8 footballers, a couple of defenders and a keeper.

Bailly is still an unknown. I like him, he's got good qualities, but I've still not really seen enough. Could be great, could be chaos.

Same with Lindelof - I began to enjoy watching him play, and then he disappeared. Nice footballer, potentially a good player I thought, but again I've not really seen enough.

Rojo is vastly overrated on here I think. He's a half decent footballer with an arse for a brain. He's the least of our centre backs.


Jones


Bailly/Smalling
Lindelof

Rojo

 

[senorgregster]

The second VAR comes into play Smalling becomes our worst CB.

I'd struggle to pick an order before that. Not massive differences when you consider ability, injury record etc.

 

[OK777]

Jones the best we have by far.

Rojo decent on the ball but seems to knock a long ball too often, but very very clumsy defensively, looks unstable.

Still unsure of Bailly, has potential to be class but still a bit too early to call.

Lindelof early days.

Smalling has been at the same level since SAF retired.

Tuanzebe deserves to start getting a run...

 

[Mr Smith]

Do you mean rank?

1. Bailly
2. Jones
3. Rojo
4. Smalling
5. Lindelof

Personally I think with the injury records' of some of these players, we shouldn't be in a hurry to offload any of them. Smalling for instance is a perfectly adequate CB for your average league game, as long as you're not relying on him as your first choice. He's a good stop-gap and has a long history with the club. Rojo is similar. At his best he's a beast, and while he's not always at his best, he's still a good defender who can fill in for a long run of games if we have injuries. Then there's Lindelof, who for me the jury is still out on. I really hope he fulfils his potential and I'm prepared to bear with him for another season or two to find out, but I have my doubts. Far too early to offload though.

I think we have a good collection of central defenders. Great blend of talent, potential and experience. Two are genuinely high-level who could yet become world-class, two are solid options who can fill in whenever necessary, and one is young but could still achieve great things.

 

[Member 5225]

Bailly
Jones
Rojo
Smalling
Lindelof

 

[diarm]

I think Lindelof will be a fine player for us. He had a shaky start but many a great defender have taken a small while to settle at this club and I've seen enough from him to suggest he'll do well here.

Bailly and Jones are our first choice by a distance. A fit Jones is a massively underrated centre back and a top quality player. Smalling is ok, he has some good attributes but he has too many mistakes in him to be top class. I always thought Rio had this ability to switch off sometimes - take things a bit too casually. Smalling has the same issue but unlike Ferdinand, he doesn't have the pace, reflexes and athleticism to get himself out of those holes.

I'd like to see us keep Bailly, Jones and Lindelof with Fosu-Mensah and Tuanzebe coming up behind. Let Rojo go this summer and make a serious push for Alderweireld - if we can land him, Smalling can go as well.

 

[In Rainbows]

Think Bailly is the best. Jones is currently on a good run of form so this is why many are putting him at the top. He, Rojo, and Smalling all have periods where they're really good and make you think they're the better CB. We saw that last year with Rojo and the season before? with Smalling. Currently it's Jones.

When Bailly comes back people will start to remember him as our best defender. Still needs to improve though. He needs to get better at heading and tone down the rashness, but still keep that mean streak if that makes sense.

 

[Ødegaard]

Does no one else feel that Bailly is slightly overrated on here? I mean he's good but he is prone to rushes of blood to the head. Just me then.

No.
Underrated by anyone having any but Jones above or beside him.

 

[Raoul]

Impossible task as various players gain and lose form all the time to where its pointless to establish a pecking order.

 

[Doracle]

Jones is our best CB by a distance - on this year’s form, he’s arguably the best CB in the league.

Bailly and Smalling are similar level but Bailly has potential to be better. Both are clearly United standard.

Rojo looked decent last season but is a red card waiting to happen even when in good form. He’s been very poor lost injury.

Lindelof would currently be bottom of this list but its early days and there is clearly potential there.

In short, despite the fact we always have at least one injured, it’s a decent group of CBS - easily our strongest outfield position.

 

[Bastian]

Impossible task as various players gain and lose form all the time to where it pointless to establish a pecking order.

Therein lies the problem. Plus the injuries. Bailly is the most consistent one. Also think he's suffered the fewest injuries. If we had another one, we'd have a settled back four. With great squad options.

 

[diarm]

Think Bailly is the best. Jones is currently on a good run of form so this is why many are putting him at the top. He, Rojo, and Smalling all have periods where they're really good and make you think they're the better CB. We saw that last year with Rojo and the season before? with Smalling. Currently it's Jones.

When Bailly comes back people will start to remember him as our best defender. Still needs to improve though. He needs to get better at heading and tone down the rashness, but still keep that mean streak if that makes sense.

I agree that Bailly is our best defender but it's a long time since I remember Jones having a period of poor form that wasn't injury related. His issue is fitness, not ability.

 

[Jaybomb]

Bailly
Rojo
Lindelof
Jones
Smalling

Lindelof hasn’t shown much yet but I think his ceiling is much higher than that of Smalling and Jones. We need reinforcements in this area though, regardless of what the stats say. We need star quality at the back and right now we don’t have it.

I would be happy to sell most of our CBs and give Tuanzebe and Mensah to get a shot next season. They’re ready.

 

[manunited1919]

I see many people here don’t rate Smalling at all. Strange that Jose Mourinho, who is well known for building up teams from the back with great defenses, has him as captain and seems to play him over our other defenders. Just saying.

 

[DdeGoat]

Smalling = Jones
Bailly (Potential, but erratic and injury prone currently. Goes chasing after the ball too much for my liking & takes unnecessary risks. Needs to mature)

Rest are crap, imo.

 

[Bobski]

Jones, Bailly and Smalling are comfortably clear of the next 2.

Really do not understand the faith that some have in Rojo. He has been at Utd for 3 and a half years and for how much of that time has he performed at an acceptable level? 6 months?

 

[roseguy64]

Bailly, Smalling and Jones are all around the same level. Each have their little weaknesses.

Rojo has talent clearly but far too rash and wasteful.

Lindelof has been more terrible than good for us so not fair to rate him but he needs to do a lot next season to break into the starting XI regularly.

 

[roonster09]

Smalling, Jones, Bailly, Rojo (when fully fit)

when any of them play I don't see big drop in performance level, so hard to rate who is the best.

Jones looks more complete player though, he doesn't have any weakness in his game.

 

[Stretch]

When fit:

1. Jones
2. Bailly
3. Smalling
4. Rojo
5. Lindelof

 

[Ballache]

I really like our CB options, I think we have a solid diverse bunch.
For me it's:
Jones
Bailly
Smalling
Rojo
VNL

Not much difference between them IMO in terms of talent but I feel Bailly is the only one that can eventually become world class. Jones could have been but he gets injured too often.

 

[JeffBoomTetris]

1 Bailly
2 Jones
3 Rojo
4 Smalling

As for Lindelöf, it's still too early to pass judgement. He's been good, he's been shite. But, unlike the others he is yet to enjoy a run of games in the first team.

 

[Gythio]

Poor ball playing abilities in our backline are the fundamental reason to our struggles creating goals, and no amount of attacking talent will change that.
When put under even a tiny bit of pressure, every single one of our defenders tends to panic and hoof it up, or pass it back to De Gea who in turn does the same. Despite our strong aerial presence, we lose the majority of those clearences, and the ball is back at our opponents feet.
We will never see a free-flowing attack playing this way, no matter how many Sanchéz type of creators we add.

What we need is players in the backline who are brave and talented enough to hold the ball under pressure, and release it in the right moment to bypass the first line of pressure from our opponents. Jones, Bailly and Shaw have shown glimpses of that, but that’s not nearly enough. Tuanzebe seems to have all of that and more in his locker, but he’s not getting gametime. We desperately need players like that in order to be a fully functioning team, technically weak defenders like Smalling and Valencia severely limit the whole team.

My ranking:
1. Jones
2. Bailly
3. Tuanzebe
...
4. Rojo
5. Lindelöf
6. Smalling

 

[poleglass red]

I see many people here don’t rate Smalling at all. Strange that Jose Mourinho, who is well known for building up teams from the back with great defenses, has him as captain and seems to play him over our other defenders. Just saying.

Valencia has been captain.

 

[manunited1919]

Valencia has been captain.

Smalling has also been captain many times.

 

[devil in me]

Jones
Rojo Bailly
Smalling
Lindelof

 

[poleglass red]

Smalling has also been captain many times.

in the past, your point was Jose "who is well known for building up teams from the back with great defenses, has him as captain and seems to play him over our other defenders. Just saying."
My point is he isn't captain, and he's only playing because Bailly is injured, just saying.

 

[manunited1919]

in the past, your point was Jose "who is well known for building up teams from the back with great defenses, has him as captain and seems to play him over our other defenders. Just saying."
My point is he isn't captain, and he's only playing because Bailly is injured, just saying.

Google it

“In the absence of Antonio Valencia, who left this dull affair with a hamstring injury, I can't think of a more likeable or committed player to give the armband to.
All credit to manager Jose Mourinho - he does like to give the armband to those who don't crave the limelight.”


I know it’s Daily Star, but they are quoting BBC sports Garth Crooks.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.da...-Sport-Garth-Crooks-West-Brom-Gossip-News/amp

 

[Kag]

At defending, I think it's as follows:

Smalling
Jones
Bailly
Rojo
Lindelof

I'd argue that Tuanzebe is inherently better at defending than Lindelof, too. I think the latter is fairly horrible, to be honest, and I don't really need to see much more if not for a huge, unexpected turnaround.

You can throw a blanket over Smalling, Bailly and Jones, although Jones this season has been the standout performer.

On the whole, Smalling and Jones are awfully underappreciated and somewhat unfortunate to have followed on from Vidic and Ferdinand.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Bailly
Rojo
Jones
Mike
Linda
Blind

That

 

[Foxbatt]

I would say Jones and Smallin now. Smelling has gone a long way back to regaining his form under LVG. Jones and Smalling know how to play as a team but Bailly does not yet. He may be brilliant individually than all of them but as a team he is not. He plays to himself and switches off while the others normally do not. Yes they all have a mistake in them all the time.

 

[J_Red 11]

If this thread is created every season, the order will be changed every season. Our top 2 in LVG's 1st season was Smalling & Jones, LVG's 2nd season Smalling & Blind, last season was Rojo and Bailly/Jones & now Jones & Smalling.

There is just no consistency, mainly because they are just bunch of talented defender but never mature to be top class centre back who can command the defense. Ironically, with our current centre back, we can still win the league since basically our centre back are pretty much on similar level with other centre back in top 5 teams. The only ones that I consider above are Vertonghen & Kompany (when he's fit). Van Dijk is currently not on par with Vertonghen IMO, but he has the highest full potential though.

 

[Social Madworks]

Smalling - it seems Jose has a unique way of deploying him, at least in a back 3. While other coach use a defender who is good with ball as the middle def in a back 3 to distribute, Jose deploy Smalling in the middle of a back 3 to do heading. It seems that work quite well.

Bailly - I would like to see him be more intelligent. He rellies too much on his physicality and his pace.