[Rajma]

He is alright defensively but his inability on the ball hurts us more imo and completely offsets his strengths, especially in close encounters with teams pressing high. I would sell him.

 

[iKeano]

I don't feel like you watched the game. Out of him and Rojo he was the only one with any composure in his passing and he played some nice balls forward as well. But you know, don't let perception with your ocular devices get in the way of preconceived ideas.

Stratford End... how’s London?

 

[devips]

The agenda guys are back!

 

[MadMike]

Stratford End... how’s London?

London's fine, a bit snowy if anything. Though I was in Manchester for the CL only 5 days ago. But you know, if you can't perceive events with your eyes then do attack the individual that will get you far.

 

[E-mal]

He is a good defender but won't take us to where we should be. He is ppor on the ball.
I had suggest we look to sell and splash on someone like Van Dijk. People underestimate quality on the ball.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Such poor distribution. I dream of a world where he plays a pass in front of a player as opposed to playing it to the wide players back foot every. single. time.

José has spent £250m and we still rely on this fool as a centre back. The mind boggles. Wouldnt make any other top 10 teams defence and that’s saying something. Even Southgate has the measure of him.

He has his limitations, but he'd still get in to most sides in the league, barring Spurs and City if everyone is fit. You may be forgetting how awful Liverpool's centre backs are, and also that Leicester, Burnley, Watford and Everton are also in the top 10 currently.

 

[Viral United]

He is alright defensively but his inability on the ball hurts us more imo and completely offsets his strengths, especially in close encounters with teams pressing high. I would sell him.

I think its more to do with gameplan then its ability.
Jose like centerback to clear their line in tight situation than play tricky pass.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

He is a good defender but won't take us to where we should be. He is ppor on the ball.
I had suggest we look to sell and splash on someone like Van Dijk. People underestimate quality on the ball.

Sort of agree he isn’t at say the level of a truly top class CB but honestly I’d rather keep him and let Jones and Rojo go. Smalling would be a dependable squad player who you know you’ll get solid displays from. Replace the other two with dependable quality.

 

[Rajma]

I think its more to do with gameplan then its ability.
Jose like centerback to clear their line in tight situation than play tricky pass.

You couldn't be more wrong, his has no ability at all even when it comes to headers he never looks up for our player but aimlessly heads it without a second thought.

 

[Viral United]

You couldn't be more wrong, his has no ability at all even when it comes to headers he never looks up for our player but aimlessly heads it without a second thought.

It might also possible he is instructed to play safe, I know he is not good at ball but he is also not this bad, as every time he has to clear ball to corner its more look like instruction to clear the lines then play tricky pass.

 

[Frank Grimes]

The agenda guys are back!

I don't have an agenda but it is clear we need a better CB, his distribution is not of a high enough standard.

 

[ti vu]

I don't feel like you watched the game. Out of him and Rojo he was the only one with any composure in his passing and he played some nice balls forward as well. But you know, don't let perception with your ocular devices get in the way of preconceived ideas.

I agree with @iKeano about the distribution part. Distributing is not just pass completion, which Smalling ain't bad. When talking about Smalling distribution, it's about he plays the ball to his teammates in inconvenient position. The others try (pretty much under instructions) to play long ball behind and between City players for our players to challenge them in foot race then counter press thus passing completion ain't good. In this game, as prime example there was one instance in second half when Smalling was under no pressure, in central of the pitch thus ideal position to play the ball forward, even a long pass or short pass forward. He decided to play it to Lindelof who was being dragged toward right sided from previous City attack. Lindelof then being cornered without option to play the ball back centrally nor short forwardly, ended up playing the bad ball long forward and we ended our possession phase! That's distribution issue

As thing stand though, he is not our worst or urgent problem as his ability to defend clearly compensate for his flaw. The thing with us is our other competent CBs for one reason or another just not available for selection.

 

[RedSky]

You couldn't be more wrong, his has no ability at all even when it comes to headers he never looks up for our player but aimlessly heads it without a second thought.

No ability at all... ok. I know there's a lot of daft posts floating around today but you're certainly high up the ranking with that one.

 

[Rajma]

No ability at all... ok. I know there's a lot of daft posts floating around today but you're certainly high up the ranking with that one.

I mean the kind of ability you would expect from a non-league CB, but that is no ability in the PL though, you may choose to disagree with it but I just can't see how you can argue otherwise.

 

[Rajma]

Such poor distribution. I dream of a world where he plays a pass in front of a player as opposed to playing it to the wide players back foot every. single. time.

José has spent £250m and we still rely on this fool as a centre back. The mind boggles. Wouldnt make any other top 10 teams defence and that’s saying something. Even Southgate has the measure of him.

Very well said, we shouldn't be looking at our other shit on the ball defenders as a barometer too.

 

[iKeano]

London's fine, a bit snowy if anything. Though I was in Manchester for the CL only 5 days ago. But you know, if you can't perceive events with your eyes then do attack the individual that will get you far.

Cheers

 

[arthurka]

Smalling is fit when others aren't.. Bailly, Rojo and Jones have been missing but smalling is there.. We need to buy 20 CB to find some who can play 40 games p/season.. He is not good on the ball but he is there and defends well.. Plus he is by far the best header of the ball of our defenders..

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Thought he played well today again. Far from our problem today that was mainly due to tactics. Strange if people blame him, but it is no wonder. I guess Herrera, Lingard and Smalling are the scapegoats again after today.

 

[Sylar]

Played well defensively. But for matches like this, we defo need CBs with better distribution. City seemed to be letting him and Rojo have the ball and cutting off avenues for our midfield to take it off them. Thats where you need one of them to be able to drive forward or at least distribute better. Rojo was worse than him at it today, but it doesnt mean Smalling is good at all.

 

[Loublaze]

You couldn't be more wrong, his has no ability at all even when it comes to headers he never looks up for our player but aimlessly heads it without a second thought.

One of the dumbest things ive read today. Congrats

 

[Rajma]

One of the dumbest things ive read today. Congrats

You have Smalling as your highest rated player so I'm not surprised you're looking through rose colored glasses.

 

[Loublaze]

You have Smalling as your highest rated player so I'm not surprised you're looking through rose colored glasses.

He's been one of our most consistent players this season. Certainly our most consistent CB. All our other CBs have cost us goals with brainfarts at one point or another

 

[Rajma]

He's been one of our most consistent players this season. Certainly our most consistent CB. All our other CBs have cost us goals with brainfarts at one point or another

You should understand two things. Firstly, I'm not criticizing his defensive efforts as evident by my earlier post since I think he's among the best within our ranks at it. Secondly, I'm not comparing him against our other choices as I don't think they're a good barometer in a sense that only Bailly (pre injury) and Blind look composed on the ball from our selection. I merely highlighting his biggest flaw that top sides capitalising on when playing us, complete ineptitude when it comes to using the ball, passing range (when heading too) and his general composure to find the teammates under pressure is simply non-existent and in my honest opinion to unacceptable standard for a club of our stature, especially in the context of modern football.

I remember him being paired with Blind who would take care of the distribution aspect, it worked to an extent but we abondoned that partnership, while Rojo is probably the worst imaginable partner to him as he has good passing technique but lacks intelligence and composure to find our players and reverts to hoofing.

 

[Hammondo]

Probably our best player today. People mention his passing but our midfield and attacking players just ran away from our defence when they had the ball. Watch city where their players all fall back to give their defenders options. Our whole approach is so wrong with our players running away from the ball.

 

[Isotope]

He is alright defensively but his inability on the ball hurts us more imo and completely offsets his strengths, especially in close encounters with teams pressing high. I would sell him.

Rojo passing % is 60, while Smalling is 87%.

 

[breakout67]

I'm actually starting to prefer Lindeloff over Smalling. Lindeloff looked comfortable in the 2nd half and is very good with the ball.

 

[King_Cantona07]

Problem stems from lack of ability on ball from back and first person who need replacing to fix this is smalling. The moment ball goes to smalling you can see him panick and then he gives a pass either under of over hit which puts the receiver under pressure

 

[ti vu]

Probably our best player today. People mention his passing but our midfield and attacking players just ran away from our defence when they had the ball. Watch city where their players all fall back to give their defenders options. Our whole approach is so wrong with our players running away from the ball.

Our approach is to hit City in the space behind their defense. Ball playing defenders ain't all playing total football (City style). Throughout history, great ball playing defenders play in defensive team which as its name suggest there is big gap between the lines. The individual ability to be able to pick a right pass, in different circumstance is the key to assess. This is not a point to blame tactic/ approach of the whole team. I pointed out an instance in this game in an earlier post where Smalling made a bad distribution under no pressure for no reason. He could keep the ball for all we care and I doubt City would try to press him, but he didn't want to keep playing with the ball

 

[Hammondo]

Our approach is to hit City in the space behind their defense. Ball playing defenders ain't all playing total football (City style). Throughout history, great ball playing defenders play in defensive team which as its name suggest there is big gap between the lines. The individual ability to be able to pick a right pass, in different circumstance is the key to assess. This is not a point to blame tactic/ approach of the whole team. I pointed out an instance in this game in an earlier post where Smalling made a bad distribution under no pressure for no reason. He could keep the ball for all we care and I doubt City would try to press him, but he didn't want to keep playing with the ball

You cannot pass to players when the opposition is in the way, movement is needed to make those passes and we are so static.

 

[ti vu]

You cannot pass to players when the opposition is in the way, movement is needed to make those passes and we are so static.

Try to read please. There are many instances, which one I described where there were enough options and no pressure on Smalling, yet he picked a wrong option to pay the ball to.

Smalling distribution is not a new problem or only this game problem. Even in other game where it goes our way, we could say a defender with better ball playing ability would have contributed more in attack from the back.

So please read again. I am not saying Smalling is a big problem we have at this time nor he is at fault for our current defeat.

 

[Loublaze]

You should understand two things. Firstly, I'm not criticizing his defensive efforts as evident by my earlier post since I think he's among the best within our ranks at it. Secondly, I'm not comparing him against our other choices as I don't think they're a good barometer in a sense that only Bailly (pre injury) and Blind look composed on the ball from our selection. I merely highlighting his biggest flaw that top sides capitalising on when playing us, complete ineptitude when it comes to using the ball, passing range (when heading too) and his general composure to find the teammates under pressure is simply non-existent and in my honest opinion to unacceptable standard for a club of our stature, especially in the context of modern football.

I remember him being paired with Blind who would take care of the distribution aspect, it worked to an extent but we abondoned that partnership, while Rojo is probably the worst imaginable partner to him as he has good passing technique but lacks intelligence and composure to find our players and reverts to hoofing.

To be fair we don't have this type of CB at United at the moment. Bailly is probably the closest to it. You're nitpicking IMO.

 

[Rajma]

Problem stems from lack of ability on ball from back and first person who need replacing to fix this is smalling. The moment ball goes to smalling you can see him panick and then he gives a pass either under of over hit which puts the receiver under pressure

Not only that he takes ages to do that before he readjusts his whole body and makes a few steps forward to the said player, obviously by the time the ball reaches his teammate is under immense pressure from the opposition as they had plenty of time to close him down and only option becomes lumping long.

The outcome? Smalling records a successful pass under his stats while another player becomes guilty of losing the possession by the logic of some of his defenders on here.

 

[MadMike]

Not only that he takes ages to do that before he readjusts his whole body and makes a few steps forward to the said player, obviously by the time the ball reaches his teammate is under immense pressure from the opposition as they had plenty of time to close him down and only option becomes lumping long.

The outcome? Smalling records a successful pass under his stats while another player becomes guilty of losing the possession by the logic of some of his defenders on here.

Yet the team plays exactly the same way when Smalling is not in the team. But apparently Smalling is the problem. OK

 

[drdoityourself]

The amount of times he kicks it into the stands when a simple pass back or a pass to a player near him is also an option is way too high.
It results in another attack which could and should have been avoided.
He's also very ponderous when under no pressure, takes too long to move the ball and when he does his obvious passing option has been closed down to the point the target has no time on the ball.

 

[SirAF]

The amount of times he kicks it into the stands when a simple pass back or a pass to a player near him is also an option is way too high.
It results in another attack which could and should have been avoided.
He's also very ponderous when under no pressure, takes too long to move the ball and when he does his obvious passing option has been closed down to the point the target has no time on the ball.

Smalling is sound at defending, what I feel he has to do when in possession is to simply pass the ball asap. If he's playing with Lindelof it's easy, just give him the ball right away and stop fecking around.

 

[Agni]

Switched off a couple of times and still can’t pass the ball forward. The opposition don’t even bother pressing him as they know he’ll pass sideways.

 

[Bobski]

Switched off a couple of times and still can’t pass the ball forward. The opposition don’t even bother pressing him as they know he’ll pass sideways.

He was good until the last 5 mins, and as for his passing he actually found a few nice balls through the lines tonight. He looks much more comfortable on the ball playing RCB.

 

[Crackers]

Played pretty well defensively, but on the ball he still leaves a lot to be desired. His switching off nearly cost us a few times. Needs to cut it out.

 

[Devil may care]

Not his best game but he was ok for the most part.

 

[Nick7]

Honestly didn't know he was playing until the last ten minutes. I have no idea how I kissed that he was on the pitch.