Leon Bailey - signed

[AlexAlexCropley]

Bailey clearly has shitloads of pace so not sure what you're on about. Pretty much every goal he has scored for us has been him outpacing defenders before scoring.

Ah thought you'd pipe up.

[Ads]

His delivery was poor, but we've got to be smarter in the way we get the best out of him or alternatively, if they're going to swamp him with a 2 or 3 man press (which they did consistently) then plan to exploit that vacant space. Ramsey and McGinn aren't the midfielders to do that and Ash isn't the dynamic full back Cash is to help.

[johnc]

He needs the ball in front of to run on to. When he gets the ball to feet he overthinks things and loses the ball

[eamonn]

Bailey clearly has shitloads of pace so not sure what you're on about. Pretty much every goal he has scored for us has been him outpacing defenders before scoring.

Has he got King Arthur and Atlantis wrong too?

[Woody17]

Probably been said already but he’s one of of those instinctive types of player that is very quick footed but completely unravels when he has time has to think about his next move. We’ve had a few of those in recent years. Joachim and Gabby spring to mind.
There’s a very good player there I’m convinced.

[Risso]

I remain convinced that the German league must be easy mode for wingers. Bailey's got a decent shot on him, but his dribbling and beating a man in the Premier League has been non-existent.

[frank black]

I thought he looked good once he realised it’s not all about cutting inside. Good player

[Risso]

He was terrible against Southampton, very poor.

[PeterWithe]

No argument he was poor, very poor, consistently giving the ball away and then not making sufficient effort to get it back. That said he was getting the ball in good positions and drawing a number of players to him, he then needed someone going past him to make the most of the space opened up. He didnt get it, either through SGs conservative tactics, or Youngs age.

[Mister E]

His delivery was poor, but we've got to be smarter in the way we get the best out of him or alternatively, if they're going to swamp him with a 2 or 3 man press (which they did consistently) then plan to exploit that vacant space. Ramsey and McGinn aren't the midfielders to do that and Ash isn't the dynamic full back Cash is to help.

This.
Simple really, he's not particularly tricky and almost-always seems to look to cut in on his left peg - very easy to read. So, yes, put the ball into space and create a foot race, which he would usually win (you'd hope); or, other midfielders need to be closer to him for the first-time pass from him.

[Risso]

Coutinho's pass completion was 92% against Southampton. Bailey's was 42%. Slightly less than if you closed your eyes and just wellied it in a random direction.

[paul_e]

Apologies for the wall of text that's coming but how we're using Bailey, and how teams are handling it is a perfect microcosm of everything we're doing wrong right now.

I'd love to have access to all the footage from every camera from Friday. I think it'd be really easy to put together a package about Bailey showing both why he was poor and why the setup in midfield played a big part in that.

Without that I'll just have to rely on my memory.

We all know Bailey likes to cut in from the right. To combat that Southampton made sure that 1 of Armstrong, JWP and Diallo was always available as cover so Bailey was turning in to traffic (this is why the couple of times in the first half he went on his right he found the space to create things). A good manager would've swapped Bailey and Coutinho to force them to change tactic but instead we just carried on doing exactly the same things.

Aside from that the other problem was that the only option for a quick shift of the ball out to Bailey was coming from Coutinho and McGinn trying to playing eye of a needle 50 yard crossfield passes for him, none of which i remember coming off.

To fix that we should've had Bailey making 3 very specific runs:
one where he dropped deep and got the ball into feet looking to put Ramsey into space as Diallo/JWP moved across.
two where he started as if to drop deep and then spun to run in behind.
three where he started to drop deep and then cut straight across the field, with Ramsey pushing wide into the space he left.

You could coach that in a few hours and it would make him far more difficult to double up on, giving him the space he needs to do his thing. The key thing is the 'trigger' movement for all of these is always the same

[Beard82]

His dad said he was man of the match

[eamonn]

*groan* Did he now? All Daddys think their offspring rawk.

[ChicagoLion]

Good analysis Paul e.
There is no evidence of any coaching let alone the ability to change during the game.
But if SG can not see that Mcginn does not deserve his place or that Watkins and Ings does not work, it’s not surprising is it.