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2014-15 Performances

View full 2014-15 profile

6.0 Season Average Rating
Appearances
29
Clean sheets
8
Goals
4
Assists
0
Yellow cards
3
Red cards
1
Sylar said:
Hes also building confidence in terms of running out with the ball into the space. Started last match and hes picking out some good passes. Long may that continue (something Rio offered when he first joined us). Smalling on the defensive side looked solid as ever and I never thought we would concede from a cross or a long ball near the end due to him being there (helped we also have Jones and Fellaini who are strong in the air)
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He has been doing it for the better part of a month. He no longer looks like a deer in headlights now that he has internalized what he is supposed to do when in possession.

He is looking imperious at the back now that he has seemingly come to grips with LVG's expectations for the position (interceptions>tackles). I'm not sure if it is due to him playing as the more proactive center back in the pairing or if it is due to developing comfort with the system, but it is working very well.
 
He's been fabulous these last few matches. Please let him stay healthy!
 
Smalling has come of age in this past month. These games against City and Chelsea could be defining moments for him and Jones in terms of cementing a partnership that will perhaps give LVG a bit of a re-think in the summer. In my opinion we will still need a top class centre back but with Rojo, McNair, Evans and Blackett as back up numbers wont be the issue - just the quality that might be questionable.
 
There's a small part of me that doesn't want him to start for England because he always seems to get injured when he plays for England :lol:
 
I have been critical of him this season and don't think he has been nearly as good as a lot do reading over the last few pages but he was brilliant yesterday. So dominant and good on the ball, felt like I was watching Smalling of 2011. Just hope he can stay fit for the rest of the season now
 
Beast of a performance yesterday. Keep him fit and this is the level he should perform at week in week out.
 
Thought he was brilliant, one of the best CB displays Ive seen for a while in a Utd shirt. Really top class, lets hope that continues, looks like he did when first joined, committed, good positioning, great decision making. I like also the fact he's trying to step out of defence even if not always executing his final ball well, but he beats the first man really well. He even hit 2 good switch of plays.

Defensively though he was excellent. Hoping Jones can step up to match this. Thought Jones was alright just looked a little rash still, i.e the yellow, few fouls, nutmeg, deflection getting beat to easy. But he had a good game in other aspects.
 
I still can't quite get over how underrated this guy is, especially by opposition fans. I remember last week having a discussion with my friends and they were all saying that he is our worst CB, that Jones, Evans and Rojo are all better than him.
 
I've had that experience too. I think fans of other clubs view him as an O'Shea type utility player because of all the games he spent at right back. When in reality he is a a pure centre back and should have been played there far more often.

It reminds me of Carragher when he was a young defender always being played at left back. I thought he was as average as they come and couldn't understand why Liverpool fans rated him. It was only when he played his natural position full time that I realised they were right and he was a very good player.
 
In his last two games, Smalling has played against both Kane and Sturridge - two of England's strikers - and gave them pretty much nothing... yet (other) people will still question his inclusion in the England squad... it's daft.
 
Defensively he doesn't have any real weaknesses, his positioning has improved massively, he's an absolute monster in the air and is incredibly quick for a centre back, when's he's one on one he just doesn't get beat. His obvious weakness has been on the ball but whatever LVG and his team has done to his confidence is really showing now. He seems so much more confident on the ball now because he's realised if his passing avenues have been cut off he's more than capable of stepping forward with the ball without fecking it up.
 
ivaldo said:
Defensively he doesn't have any real weaknesses, his positioning has improved massively, he's an absolute monster in the air and is incredibly quick for a centre back, when's he's one on one he just doesn't get beat. His obvious weakness has been on the ball but whatever LVG and his team has done to his confidence is really showing now. He seems so much more confident on the ball now because he's realised if his passing avenues have been cut off he's more than capable of stepping forward with the ball without fecking it up.
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That has definitely been the biggest addition to his game that I have noticed recently (stepping out with the ball). The last few games he has had a habit of making drives forwards with the ball, and normally he is actually quite successful.

I think Smalling's technique and ability is quite underrated. There is one particular moment I remember which was a couple of years ago when he played for England, he received the ball from the GK (I think) and was facing our own goal, with two opponents charging him down from behind. He did the most beautiful cruyff turn between the two attackers just as they got near him, completely skinned the pair of them. It was fantastic to watch but I have never seen the clip since :(
 
Get him a top class partner. Jones is his backup/competition (and can develop at his own rate) while Rojo is the LCB backup/competition (and likewise can develop with less pressure).

He has enormous potential I really think there's a personality factor involved though. You get the feeling he's a bit of an introvert compared to Rio and while Rio had this swagger and arrogant confidence naturally, you only see that in small moments with Chris. He does outrageous things occasionally, breaks down a seemingly certain goal with his pace and timing and then sprays it 40 yards.

He just needs someone to keep bigging him up and making him believe he is as good as he is.
 
He's having to react less than used to. Now he's reading the game and adjusting to situations before they are problems. Much improved.
 
Our best centre back by a mile! Get him an experienced partner like a Hummels and we will have a very solid base.
 
beergod said:
He has been doing it for the better part of a month. He no longer looks like a deer in headlights now that he has internalized what he is supposed to do when in possession.

He is looking imperious at the back now that he has seemingly come to grips with LVG's expectations for the position (interceptions>tackles). I'm not sure if it is due to him playing as the more proactive center back in the pairing or if it is due to developing comfort with the system, but it is working very well.
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hes been going forward, but then not sure what to do. The Arsenal match, I remember commenting, because he went into space the first half, then just booted it out of play and everybody in the stadium was like "WTF?".
Last game against Liverpool he drove forward twice which worried them which was great.
 
I'd have absolutely no problem going into next season with him as our first choice defender. I've been seeing all over that we need to replace 3 of our 4 first choice defenders, but it seems this narrative has been built on basically one game against Leicester and the fact that De Gea has been great.

Whilst De Gea has been great our defence as a unit has been one of the best in the league and Smalling is a key part of that. It's certainly not in need of the major surgery that is all over the tabloids and the subject of every pre-match pundit predicting a thumping (how many times have we heard "if they can get at the United defence, it's proven to be shaky" yet we haven't conceded more than 2 goals at any point except Leicester).

Fun fact: we've only conceded 2 or more goals in three Premier League games this season, two of which were before November (West Brom, Leicester & Swansea).
 
finneh said:
I'd have absolutely no problem going into next season with him as our first choice defender. I've been seeing all over that we need to replace 3 of our 4 first choice defenders, but it seems this narrative has been built on basically one game against Leicester and the fact that De Gea has been great.

Whilst De Gea has been great our defence as a unit has been one of the best in the league and Smalling is a key part of that. It's certainly not in need of the major surgery that is all over the tabloids and the subject of every pre-match pundit predicting a thumping (how many times have we heard "if they can get at the United defence, it's proven to be shaky" yet we haven't conceded more than 2 goals at any point except Leicester).

Fun fact: we've only conceded 2+ goals in three Premier League games this season, two of which were before November (West Brom, Leicester & Swansea).
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We've conceded 27 - 2 more than Chelsea, 1 less than City, 4 less than Arsenal and 5 less than Liverpool. We have the second best defensive recording league - only behind S'hampton who have done wonderfully and just conceded 21. The last 10 games we've conceded less than Chelsea too.
 
Annahnomoss said:
We've conceded 27 - 2 more than Chelsea, 1 less than City, 4 less than Arsenal and 5 less than Liverpool. We have the second best defensive recording league - only behind S'hampton who have done wonderfully and just conceded 21. The last 10 games we've conceded less than Chelsea too.
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Exactly. The narrative seems to be that we'd have conceded 30% more times this season if not for De Gea. Whilst I accept he's had a great season the majority of his saves are ones that you'd expect one of the world's best keepers to make.

The fact that Smalling & Rojo have been great overall; whilst Valencia, Jones and Shaw have looked pretty solid seems to get lost in the "dodgy defence" story line that's been perpetuated regardless of our results since the Leicester game.

I certainly don't think a back 4 containing any of Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Rojo & Shaw is any worse than the likes of City, Arsenal, Liverpool etc. It's one great player away from a very good back 4 in my opinion.
 
finneh said:
Exactly. The narrative seems to be that we'd have conceded 30% more times this season if not for De Gea. Whilst I accept he's had a great season the majority of his saves are ones that you'd expect one of the world's best keepers to make.

The fact that Smalling & Rojo have been great overall; whilst Valencia, Jones and Shaw have looked pretty solid seems to get lost in the "dodgy defence" story line that's been perpetuated regardless of our results since the Leicester game.

I certainly don't think a back 4 containing any of Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Rojo & Shaw is any worse than the likes of City, Arsenal, Liverpool etc. It's one great player away from a very good back 4 in my opinion.
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I think DDG has made plenty of excellent saves but the goalkeeper is part of the defense. We started off being shaky and since then the media has just gone with that story, not much to get upset about that is their job. Create the most dramatic angle on everything and repeat it until it is true.

I think that an Smalling-Jones-Shaw makes for a great British back-bone for a great team and they will not peak in a few years yet. I would love for Rafael who is a homegrown to also succeed but his injuries seems to have got the best of him. If we upgrade Valencia with Clyne that would be a great business, four English defenders who has the potential to end up playing together for England and it would really promote English football.

With Cleverley, Fletcher, Giggs, Ferdinand, Zaha and Welbeck gone and Carrick is at the very end of his career and Evans has been pushed down to reserve material we are left with almost no English/British players.
 
Annahnomoss said:
With Cleverley, Fletcher, Giggs, Ferdinand, Zaha and Welbeck gone and Carrick is at the very end of his career and Evans has been pushed down to reserve material we are left with almost no English/British players.
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We brought in Mcnair, Blackett, Shaw and Wilson, though.
 
I thought he had a very very good game, but its becoming quite obvious that he needs someone experienced next to him, just to settle him down when things get a bit nervy. He has a tendency to panic when things start to go wrong, and he loses all composure. I'd love for us to bring in an experienced head and pair them together next season.
 
While our goals conceded maybe one one of the lowest, our defense has been quite shaky for a large part of the season. That's because of all the chopping and changing both of personnel and systems. Earlier, Rojo looked to be one of our more solid defenders, probably in large part due to playing most of the games and same goes with Valencia, solid for the most part. Smalling now having got a run of games is looking quite the defender.

While outside of the club people might still question if Smalling is good enough, I think a lot of United fans have always thought he is a very gifted natural defender but, his fitness issues made many question if we should be depending on him long term. He's been colossal recently and cross fingers fitness woes are all in the past because he certainly be good enough for starting XI for United.
 
JPRouve said:
We brought in Mcnair, Blackett, Shaw and Wilson, though.
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Don't think youth prospects are comparable to having home-grown or at least "national" first team starters. We had one more British starter than Real Madrid has Spanish starters, they had four Spanish substitutes as well while we had zero British substitutes. It doesn't look too great considering Carrick is soon gone and Young is likely to be replaced in the coming window.

City/Chelsea had slightly less British players in the squad in the last game and being close to their proximity in those regards isn't positive.
 
Love his size and physicality. Looks to have progressed the most this season compared to Evans and Jones. Happy for him.
 
Fair to say our top 5 best individual CB displays have all come from Smalling?

1. Arsenal away
2. Hull home
3. Chelsea home
4. Spurs home
5. Liverpool away

Sunderland home might have been better than the Liverpool one. Rojo against Stoke home, McNair at West Ham home and Jones Sunderland away also deserve a shout.
 
Telegraph yesterday, The Times today. Hopefully we sort out his contract ASAP.
 
I don't want to rain all over the Smalling circle jerk but do you realise this thread just keeps going in cycles? Smalling wank fest after a couple of good displays followed by the "he's useless & will never learn" posters (me included) after his usual run of poor performances.
I'll hold my hands up if he puts in a good run of games between now & the end of the season & looks to have turned a corner but I still can't ever see him turning into a reliable defender.
 
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