With Ivory Coast international Eric Bailly returning to Manchester from the Africa Cup of Nations this week, Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has a problem on his hands – who starts at centre-back?

Whilst the two upcoming cup games will likely see rest and rotation in the squad, Mourinho will need to work out what his best central defensive pairing is ahead of the return of Premier League action next week.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Sport

Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have played well together as a pairing, but Bailly is thought by many to be the best centre-back in United’s ranks – and Chris Smalling has to be considered too.

Using Squawka’s player comparison matrix, we’ve taken a look at who the statistics say should be United’s first choice pair at the heart of defence. All stats are per 90 minutes played in the Premier League this season.

Defensive attributes

Tackles won, % aerial duels won, blocks, interceptions, defensive errors

cbs-defence-squawka

Eric Bailly has won more more tackles per 90 mintues than any of his central-defensive partners – with Phil Jones winning the highest percentage of his aerial duels.

We can take from the above image that Bailly is the best of the four at reading the game, as he makes significantly more interceptions than the others, at more than three per ninety minutes played.

Chris Smalling is the only one of the four to have made a defensive error in the league so far this season.

Best pairing on these stats: Bailly-Jones (most tackles won, best aerial duel % and most interceptions between this pair)

Ball-playing attributes

Total forward passes, successful passes, pass completion %, average pass length, successful take-ons %

ball-playing-squawka

It is very clear here that in the ball-playing department, Marcos Rojo is the best of United’s four centre-backs. The Argentinian has made more forward passes and more successful passes than his team-mates, as well as boasting the highest average pass length.

Eric Bailly and Phil Jones are both impressive here too, with high pass completion percentages and over 35 successful passes per 90 minutes each.

Smalling shares the highest pass completion percentage with Jones, but is disappointing in the other categories, with the least forward passes per 90 minutes, and the least successful passes per 90 minutes too.

Best pairing on these stats: Rojo-Jones (both have good ball-playing stats)

Attacking attributes

Goals scored, total shots, shot accuracy, fouls suffered

cbs-attacking-squawka

This area sees a bit of redemption for Chris Smalling – He’s the only one of the four with a Premier League goal to his name so far this season, and has had the most shots too – however, it is Jones who is the most accurate in front of goal, with a shot accuracy 25% higher than Smalling’s and 33% higher than that of Marcos Rojo.

Bailly is yet to get a shot away – which tells us that he’s the man who is more focused on preventing a counter-attack than scoring the goals himself.

Jones draws the most fouls from opponents, at 0.91 per 90 minutes played, whereas Rojo and Smalling are both fouled only once every two-and-a-bit to three games.

Best pairing on these stats: Smalling-Bailly (one attacks, one defends)

Discipline

Fouls committed, yellow cards, card specifications

cbs-discipline

Rather unsurprisingly, given his enthusiastic style of play, Eric Bailly is the worst of the four for discipline – he has committed the most fouls per 90 minutes played and has the joint most yellow cards with three – all for bad tackles.

One of Rojo’s three yellow cards was for verbal abuse (towards a referee), with the other two being for bad tackles.

Phil Jones commits the least fouls, with less than one per 180 minutes. Both he and Chris Smalling are yet to be booked in the league this season.

Best pairing on these stats: Jones-Smalling (very well-disciplined)

Conclusion

With Jones having been part of the best pairing in three of the above four categories, he is firmly United’s best centre-back so far this season, according to the statistics.

Next best is a close call between Bailly and Rojo – given that one of Smalling’s two appearances in the best pairings above is for attacking, which is not as crucial.

With Jones boasting solid ball-playing statistics, Rojo’s ability in the same department is not as crucial – and Squawka’s stats show that Bailly is the best defender of the four when it comes to duties such as tackles and interceptions.

Therefore, it can be concluded that Manchester United’s statistically-best centre-back pairing is: Phil Jones and Eric Bailly

Next best: Phil Jones & Marcos Rojo
Least effective: Rojo & Smalling

 

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