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2015-16 Performances

View full 2015-16 profile

6.3 Season Average Rating
Appearances
55
Clean sheets
24
Goals
2
Assists
1
Yellow cards
13
Red cards
1
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He's an excellent defender, and has been since he's been here. There has been no mythical 'post City' turning point, he was excellent just the week before against Chelsea for instance.

He is as good as any centre half in the league, and virtually unbeatable one on one .
 
Gerrard in Paris said:
His demeanour gives the impression he's not as good on the ball as he is. He's not Nesta but he's very capable with the ball at his feet.
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Its not an illusion. Although not awful, he is uncomfortable in possesion when under pressure. His technique is far from fluid and he definitley doesnt have natural ability on the ball.

Of course being a CH his footwork doesnt have to be brilliant. Im glad we have him. Good character, good athlete, fecking strong and most importantly a great defender who's getting better all the time with his peak in front of him.

On the other hand if im being completely honest I do feel his potential has its limits and there will always be small group of CHs who are a level above him. We will need to find someone from this group if we are to acheive anything great in the near future in my opinion.
 
Interesting choice to name him third captain, I'd have thought if De Gea leaves, Mata would get it.
 
Smalling's one of those guys that most people who don't support United think is sh!t.

I'm sure we've been through similar scenarios at one time or another with the likes of Ferdinand, Carrick, Rafael etc.

Eventually it'll just be accepted that he is pretty decent, like with Carrick, and for all but pure ABU's Rio!
 
I'd be so impressed if he came out for the Spurs game with 'Mike' on the back of his shirt. :D
 
So, back to being third choice behind Jones and Blind? :lol:
 
He's such a strong defender and I think at Chelsea he'd be nailed on to start, but he is not very good on the ball and I think that will see him in and out under LvG.
 
Nah im pretty sure he's just in the 2nd team so we can play the kids and not have Barcelona score a hatful. Remember he said he's 3rd choice captain
 
Smalling will start against Spurs, he is currently our best defender.
 
I genuinely think LvG sees Jones and a 'LCB' ahead of him.
 
Ekeke said:
Nah im pretty sure he's just in the 2nd team so we can play the kids and not have Barcelona score a hatful. Remember he said he's 3rd choice captain
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I think so too. And Herrera was in the second team with the same reason. Imagine midfield with Mata and Fellaini against Barca... As i said in other threads this "first 11" is not the one which will play against Spurs.

Smalling is class, better with every game. Saying that Jones was good too, i just hope they can stay injury free this season.
 
Ekeke said:
Nah im pretty sure he's just in the 2nd team so we can play the kids and not have Barcelona score a hatful. Remember he said he's 3rd choice captain
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Let's hope this is the case.
 
I assume he played Smalling because he was the third captain and our 2nd team needed a captain and leader. In addition, just to play youngsters at the back could have ended badly for us so they had a senior defender in there. Well, that's just my optimistic theory. I think Smalling will start most of our games if fit
 
He's our best "defender", but not as good on the ball, he can improve that and I think he will become 1st choice again very quickly.
 
Gerrard in Istanbul said:
Wouldn't really make sense to call Smalling his third captain though, don't you think? To me, that's an indication he's his first choice CB (and rightly so).
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Fletcher was third choice last season though, and he never played.
 
ZDwyr said:
Fletcher was third choice last season though, and he never played.
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That's a good point, though I would put forward that the context was different and that Van Gaal didn't have the benefit of a whole season behind him (and Fletcher looked ok in pre season last year, and I think was initially meant to be a starter until we realized he couldn't handle the pace of the league anymore). In this case, Chris is in this position with the benefit of 12 months under Van Gaal's management and I don't think he'd name him 'third captain' if he didn't view him as a starter.
 
Man Utd 1:0 Tottenham
Glad Mike started. One of our better players this half.
 
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