Bharath Rammr
Manchester United’s season is going in the wrong direction after a fine start, and the club’s 4-0 loss against archrivals Chelsea is a new low for the club and manager José Mourinho. One of the few positives for United this season has been the form of Eric Bailly. The defender was brought in from Valencia for £30 million and he has played in every minute of the league campaign so far. Still only 22, the player has the capability to emulate the achievements of players like Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.
United will certainly miss his contribution over the coming weeks after manager José Mourinho confirmed that the 22-year-old has suffered a serious knee injury. Bailly performed a trip on Eden Hazard in the second half in order to prevent the Belgian international from running into a space in the penalty box. Hazard was in a very dangerous position and would have been capable of scoring in the kind of form he is right now. Bailly took the risk of tripping the winger although being aware that he was on a yellow card.
Bailly had already received a final warning from the referee after his yellow card at that point. Eden Hazard went down into the box, but his protests for a penalty were waved away by referee Martin Atkinson. Bailly seems to have suffered a major injury as a result of taking the brunt of the challenge on his knee. Mourinho said after the heavy loss that Bailly’s assessment does not look good. According to ESPN, he said:
“He is injured and I am afraid he is badly injured.
“In his knee, in the ligament area. He feels that it is really bad.”
The initial prognosis of a ligament issue is of a major concern. A knee ligament tear would rule out a player for anywhere between 6 to 9 months. It would effectively mean the end of the campaign for Bailly, who is rated at €31.1 Million by the CIES Football Observatory. However, there is still hope within United that the player will be back in a couple of weeks rather than almost a year.
José Mourinho was unhappy with the defensive mistakes made by his team in the 4-0 loss against Chelsea. His conceded after just 30 seconds after not even touching the ball once in the game. Such a lack of concentration is something not associated with Mourinho teams, but it also shows the scale of problems facing the Portuguese. Despite spending more than £150 million in the summer, he has to come up with answers for why his team have achieved a five points lower than the tally by Louis van Gaal’s team at a similar stage last season.
Looking devoid of ideas, United will have to come up with something special against Manchester City in the League Cup.
