As summer signing Eric Bailly trudged off the pitch shortly after the restart at Stamford Bridge during weekend’s encounter, Manchester United fans could sense trouble a miles away. Upon his untimely exit, the Red Devils defence fell apart, and 2 more goals were added by Chelsea to further heap on the visitors’ woes.
The Ivory Coast international has been United’s best summer signing by far, and his steel-like defending has helped the team a lot of time since the start of 2016-17. Not even Mourinho would have quite figured out how his rearguard will fare without Bailly, and with the African Cup of Nations starting in January, he is bound to be missed sorely when the 2nd half of the season gets underway.
But before then, everybody’s worst fears have been confirmed already. Eric Bailly, Manchester United’s most reliable defender is set to miss 2 months of action after injuring his knee ligament during a clash with Eden Hazard in the 4-nil thrashing. Now, the big question is how can Manchester United cope without Bailly?
Pair Blind with Smalling
While Jose might have his reservations for Daley Blind’s ability as a centre-half, the performances of the Netherlands international continues to prove he is perhaps a better choice to Smalling in the role. Despite primarily being a defensive midfielder, his intelligence and ball-playing abilities have seen his slot seamlessly into a centre defence role.
Last season, Blind made more tackles (95) than his teammates in the Premier League and he was definitely a better defender than Smalling for many other reasons. While this isn’t an attempt to compare and contrast the 2, highlighting Blind’s ability as a centre back makes that inevitable.
And with Bailly probably gone until the end of February as he will still have to go through rehabilitation and recuperation upon full fitness in 2 months, returning to a Blind-Smalling partnership is Mourinho’s best bet.
Phil Jones is yet to play since forever, Rojo is best left as a backup full-back and Fosu-Mensah still has a lot of learning to do. While these other options boast of superior physicality and speed, they aren’t as intellectually sound as Blind in reading the game and defending with ease.
Play a 3-man defence
Perhaps, it’s time for Mourinho to take a page from his predecessor’s book and deploy a 3-man defence. That it was an epic fail under LVG doesn’t mean it doesn’t or won’t work. It’s working for Chelsea and Watford, why not Manchester United? Jose is as rigid as they come with his 4-2-3-1 (and seldom 4-3-3) formation, but with his most valuable asset gone till February, it could be time to for a shift in an initiative.
A 3-4-3, 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 could be key to unlocking the potentials that lie waste in Manchester United’s midfield and bench. With the major concern being how to cope without Bailly in the short-term, and not how to get the best out of his players (even if that’s ultimately paramount), those to deploy in defence could be a big headache for Jose if the thought ever crossed his mind.
Smalling will be at the heart of the defence, with Blind and Rojo playing either side of him. This leaves Valencia and Luke Shaw as the wing backs, and the duo can’t be questioned when it comes to defensive and equally superb offensive abilities. In a sense, it’s a 5-man defence with 2 full-backs disguising as supporting wingers.
It’s a system that will add more verve to both United’s defence and attack, and it could sustain the team until Bailly’s return. In the likelihood of a success, it could just become what they build much-needed success on this season. They have lost a defensive stalwart in the African star, but there won’t be any excuse if they fail to cope without him. The options are right above.