Patrick Rees
After a man of the match performance in the Community Shield game against the Premier League champions Leicester City, many footballing experts praised the Manchester United’s new arrival, Eric Bailly. Yes, it was Jesse Lingard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic who stole the show with their wonderful goals, but Eric Bailly presented a sheer master class sitting at the back line of the team and received applauds from some of the top footballing pundits.
Well, it was Bailly’s very first competitive game for the Devils and the manager, as well as the fans, was pleased to see him settling well in the English Premier League. The 22-year-old Ivorian professional was commanding the backline all by himself and the most amazing thing was the composure he kept while tackling the players like Jamie Vardy.
The manager, Jose Mourinho was really very impressed with the 22-year-old’s performance and was even happy to see how he formed a brilliant partnership with Daley Blind and coped with the pressure from Leicester City’s attack:
“I think Bailly was the perfect opponent for that because he is as fast as they are. I know the player he is, but you always have a question mark when a player comes to a new level,” he told BT Sport.
“But to come to Manchester United and play your first official match at Wembley with these responsibilities, without [Chris] Smalling – he was really good. But I have to say that Daley gave him the stability he also needs because I think defensively we were very OK.”
After his series of wonderful performances, many believe that United have finally found the perfect replacement for Nemanja Vidic and even we are pretty confident that Smalling and Bailly could really work wonders for the team in the upcoming season. United had a great defensive record last season, but they really missed a player who could really control the game from the back, just like Vidic did, and now with Bailly’s arrival, we believe that the void has finally been filled. So, here we give you three reason, why Bailly has the potential to become the next Vidic for United:
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A Powerful Centre Back:
The African players have always been praised for their brilliant work rate in the game and we still have many examples of it in the Premier League. Standing at 6ft 1in, Bailly isn’t the tallest personnel on the field, but he indeed is one of the most physical defenders in the squad. Yes, he did receive a booking for a foul on Vardy, but for the rest of the game, he kept his head cool and gave a wonderful display of his skills.
As stated earlier, United had a great defensive record last season, but the flair was missing. Smalling was the only defender, who played his role firmly and now with Bailly at his side, the Englishman would have the liberty to play his natural game from the spot.
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Bailly; Smalling = Vidic; Ferdinand: Partnership Matters
This is no secret that Manchester United had one of the deadliest defensive partnerships in the history of the sport in the form of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. You need to trust your partner to claim the success and that’s what the Serbian-English pair did.
Well, we could simply observe the same pattern between Smalling and Bailly. Yes, they will take some time to understand their games, but working constantly would only help their cause and who knows, they might form one of the most lethal defensive partnership in the sport. They both have the attitude and both have the desire to be the best, and working under Mourinho will only make them better than ever.
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Already a First Choice defender:
When under van Gaal, United faced some major injury crisis and eventually a left back was made to play as a centre-back, but the tables have turned and United now have the services of all the players, including Phil Jones, Marcus Rojo, and Paddy Mcnair, but the manager went ahead and bought Bailly earliar in the transfer window.
The Ivorian impressed during the pre-season games and eventually cemented his place in the first team ahead of Jones, Rojo, and McNair, and now it is understood that he will be the first choice player for the Portuguese in the Premier League games as well.
