He was excellent today, as is normally the case. I still don't get this notion of some sort of turning point last season or whenever it supposedly was though, he's been outstanding since his first.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 55
- Clean sheets
- 24
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 13
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
Don't know. Arsenal away last 2 seasons and Chelsea home was more impressive considering the level of opposition.
Fantastic again today, continuing on with his last seasons form. Utterly baffling how he prefers Jones, I'm actually thankful Jones gets injured so much or he would never have started.
Hopefully that performance has given LVG a reminder that in the premier league defenders need to defend first, and play later.
Hopefully that performance has given LVG a reminder that in the premier league defenders need to defend first, and play later.
Some absolute Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime on TalkShite was discussing Richards playing at CB for Villa and how Roy should be including him in the England team/squad. He said "most people don't watch all the games to see these sort of players shine" then, i'm not kidding, he went on to discuss how he should be above Jones/Smalling, saying both of them haven't looked promising for United and don't look comfortable in the positions they are being played in....??!?!? I mean, fair enough you can argue Jones plays CDM, RB & CB ad hasn't nailed down his position yet but Smalling is an out and out CB who's currently hitting great form.
But yeah, enough of that shite, he played great today. Hard to decide who was better between him and Darmian but both were wonderful.
But yeah, enough of that shite, he played great today. Hard to decide who was better between him and Darmian but both were wonderful.
I think it may have more to do with last season being the first season where he played every one of his games at CB, which highlighted his consistency. He had some pretty awful games at right back, but I agree that his sporadic appearances in his actual position prior to last season have been good since the beginning.
I never understood why Fergie, Moyes and Hodgson opted to play him at RB so often. Other than having pace, he wasn't suited to that position at all.
Glad he's starting to shut up his critics though, even some non-United fans are starting to notice him now.
Towering performance against Kane today. Thought he was clearly the best player on the pitch which was reassuring and disconcerting all at once.
Another outstanding performance from the best CB at the club. Puzzling that Jones started over Smalling in preseason but better late than never I suppose.
He's nearly as good as Vidic 1v1, with the additional advantage of speed
Robbed this from facebook 
Chris Smalling in Numbers:
- 4 Tackles
- 3 Interceptions
- 7 Clearances
- 1 Blocked Shot
Chris Smalling in Numbers:
- 4 Tackles
- 3 Interceptions
- 7 Clearances
- 1 Blocked Shot
Great as always.
He's better than Vidic 1v1 IMO. He never gets beat for speed even against the really pacy players like Willian and Welbeck last season for instance. Torres and a few others punished Vidic more than once
Yeah, like I said, his speed is a massive advantage over Vidic. Vidic did it against the best of the world over quite a significant period of time though, so I'm not sure we can say Smalling is better yet.
To be fair, Kane was a top forward last season.
Smalling is better than Vidic was 1v 1. He also, like Vidic, has proven it against the best over a long period, in that he’s been here almost 5 years and never been given the run around by any centre forward. He's had one off incidents where they may have gotten the better, but never has a striker 'had him' in a particular game, and that includes Tevez, Aguero, Van Persie, amongst other big performances in Europe.
He is virtually unbeatable 1 v 1, in the air or on the deck for that matter.
Agreed. We messed around with Smalling for far too long.
Up until that City game I couldn't even remember his last bad game.
He is easily our best defender.
He is easily one of the better defenders in the league. Needs a stable partner and to remain fit himself.
Sure but i'm talking about established elite strikers like Aguero, Costa and the equivalent of those guys in the rest of Europe.
With hindsight it looks as though he was played in the weaker sides in pre-season to shore things up for them at the back.
Yeah, fair enough then. Have no doubt he'll handle Costa and Aguero just as well.
He's handled top strikers before. It's not as if he's an untested centre back.
This. He was bloody good when he came in 2011, just got to stay fit.
He's not comparable to vidic, who is among the best the club has seen.
I think smalling is excellent. In pure defensive terms, he's one of the most talented around, and when you combine that with his physical attributes then it makes for a beast of a defender.
But he has a long long way to go to match someone like vidic.
Was our best player yesterday imo. Needs a partner to really fly and build an understanding with his GK.
Has to be the first CB picked when his fit doesnt he?
A great display from Smalling yet again. He again showed how good he is and that he have a talent to be one of the best defenders in the league. It is testament how good he and similar Jones can be if they overcome injuries, hope Jones will do it to.
Or Jones is injured so he got into the team by default. Still think LVG sees Jones as his number 1 CB
If Smalling repeats what he does in the champions league and for a second straight season, it would be fair to label him World Class no?
He has a long way to go before he can be labeled World Class
Jones was terrible vs PSG, like committed a foul every minute he was on the pitch and right after it Ogden wrote an article suggesting Smalling was moved to first X1 in 11 on 11 practice games.
He's outstanding, but I'm not surprised. He just has to stay injury free, that's been his biggest problem for sometime now.
Explain.
He is nowhere near World Class level, he's not even first choice for his Country.
Vidic, Foulkes, Rio, Stam, Pallister, McGrath etc were all World Class, Smalling is not on that level.
Watching the game back and I still think LVG will have his reservations. He had to resort to hoof early on a couple of times early in because of poor control and he killed a break by failing to execute a relatively simple lofted pass. I really think it is those moments that fail to endear him to LVG.
And this is where LVG needs to get his head out of the clouds because if he doesn't it will cost us points. Smalling + Rojo are our 2 better CBs and are balanced (right foot - Left foot), have played well together and have a decent understanding. Choosing CB/CM that are more comfortable on the ball rather than being the better defenders is suicidal.
Are you trying to wind me up?
First of all, Smalling is first choice for his country. Ever since he stepped it up and stayed injury free he has always been on the team sheet. Second of all, I said give me your reasons to why Smalling has a long way to go before he reaches world class, not repeat the same thing again.
For me, Smalling needs to go another season or two and this champions league displaying what he has readily has been showing. He also has to show some more consistency and quickness in his passing.
Smalling has showed that :
he is great 1 v 1.
Very reliable player to break up counter attacks and dangerous situations
A Damn good long range passer
A goal scoring threat in set pieces
Really.good.positioning
Kept very good strikers in the game quiet
Smalling needs to show that he can keep this high level of play over a longer period of time to prove that it is not some lucky run of form while making small improvements to his game to justify World class status.
Pretty obvious, but can you say that smalling has has one season of being among the top 3 defenders in the world, and staying injury free throughout, and won big titles as well? Granted it's a tougher phase for the club but that's where this current lot has to prove themselves capable of being mentioned alongside players from 06-09 and more recently.
- Status