De Gea is braking the record for most clean sheets this season and Mike has played in most of those games.. But he is shit apparently and couldn't do anything right atm.. This place is hillarious. He is our only defender who can head the ball and had great pace and positioning .. I agree he really looks like he cannot pass a ball to save his life but our beloved Rojo hoofs the ball out of play 9/10 so at least Smalling passes the ball to players who should know how to kick a ball ..
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
How about the numerous times this season Rojo and Lindelof warmed the bench or didn't even make the bench (while fully fit) while Smalling started?
Rojo is coming back from a long term injury and Lindelof started his United career off looking worse than Smalling (which is sayinbg something) To be absolutely clear I can't stand Smalling and think he's at best a mid table defender.
You cant stand him, thats fine. Doesn't really change that he has been first choice except for maybe just a few games this season, if that. I didn't think there was 1 united-fan that didn't expect him to start this game actually
How long will Rojo's injury be an excuse? Rojo made his comeback last November and since then Smalling has still played way more!
He'd be behind Bailly/Rojo and Jones and only plays because of injuries.
Don't think I've seen a professional footballer look quite so bad with the ball at his feet.
Had a good game. Gets slated for it. Just another day on the cafe
Again, Rojo made his comeback in the league on 17th November 2017 and has failed to usurp Smalling from his starting berth since then. In the same time Jones has been mostly fit too. Why is Smalling still the one getting all the minutes?
Thought him and Lindelof were ok but hard to say any of the defence played well when Sevilla had so many chances.
Corrected for you. Attributing De Gea's contribution to Smalling's performance really is pushing it!
Suggesting clean sheets are down to the goalkeeper alone is a lot worse
You can't take away from BOTH their contributions to getting the clean sheet. De Gea made one world class save and a few bread and butter saves, he did his job. Smalling made 6 blocks, four were blocked shots and three were inside the 18 (according to Squawka). Do you think the likes of Casillas, Schmiechel, Buffon and Neuer never had to make great saves even though they play(ed) with world class CBs (and no this is not me saying Smalling is world class)?
Well if it wasn't for his world class saves, it wouldn't have been a clean sheet, would it?
Did he make world class saves in all 19 of those games? Did the defenders do anything in those games? Clean sheets are a team effort, not just the keeper
I wasn't the one singling out Smalling with 19 clean sheets. Just adding a bit of perspective. And actually, yeah he's made quite a few saves which have saved us points this season.
Making out that Smalling is some world class defender that is at the heart of some impressive defence couldn't be any further from the truth. Yeah it's a team effort but the majority of those shutouts are down to De Gea and not the outfield players. If anyone doesn't acknowledge that they must be deluded.
I imagine it's similar to Shaw where Mourinho thinks the player will need 4/5 games to get up to speed and can't afford to give them to him with the current state of affairs. With everyone fit I'd bet my life on Smalling not starting.
Wow, talk about sticking your neck out. I don't think that's a certainty my friend. Smalling has proved himself a worthy player to Mourinho and I dont see him easily dropping him even when all are fit. He hasn't dropped him when Rojo, Jones and Lindelof have been fit so why does he have to wait for Bailly to do this? Seriously think about it. Smalling is the only CB who has partnered with the other CBs as well this season. Let's not forget he's also the only CB we have who dominates everything in the air. Jones and Rojo are average in this respect. Its possible Mourinho has changed his mind on Smalling's place in the pecking order.
Smalling began the season on the bench when Mourinho could choose Bailly and paired him with Jones, so those 2 are clearly ahead of him in the pecking order. Rojo is just back from a long term injury and Mourinho bought Lindelof himself. Smalling has paired with other CB's because of injury, when Bailly was fit it was Bailly/Jones but when he got injured it was Smalling/Jones but then Jones got injured so Lindelof came in for a few games.
Superb performance from Richard Ayoade.
So you don't think these things change? The only thing that's clear to me is that Mourinho sees Bailly plus one as his CB option. Also, Smalling missed the start of the season due to suspension carried over from last season, so who's to say he wouldn't have started if he wasn't suspended? I can easily say Jones wasn't ahead of either Rojo (who of course was injured at the start of the season) and Smalling, but took his chance and rightfully kept his place. You act as if Rojo only just got back from his long term injury, its been three months! You'll believe what you want but the fact remains Smalling has played more minutes than all our CBs including Bailly since Mourinho's arrival in the summer of 2016.
I think some are getting it the wrong way round. Smalling is not 'playing because others are injured', rather he is preferred because he can actually stay fit. Smalling is a known quanitity; you know what he brings to the table and what he is can't do. So you can build a team with him in it.
Couldn’t agree more. I can’t help but laugh at those people who believe we have one of the best defences in the league. The stats don’t tell the entire story and this is one of the biggest examples of it.
Let's agree to disagree. Time will tell but my money says Smalling is certainly not a starter next season.
We shall see, and i've seen this said every season since Fergie left.
I don't understand this argument as it seems De Gea would still keep a clean sheet even if all other players were taken off?
Smalling gets credit for the clean sheets as much as De Gea. He's been our most consistent defender this entire season.
Lets be honest here, if your boy Rojo played in those 19 clean sheet games instead of Smalling you'd be telling us how the Argentinian 'Sergio Ramos' is the best CB in the league.
A starter for West Brom or Arsenal, that's where my money is.
"suggesting golden boot winner are down to the goal scorer alone is lot worse when goal came from team work" is that what you wanted to say ?
clean sheets is a stat that has always been credited only to goalkeeper , that's why golden glove winner goes to keeper with the most clean sheets just like golden boot is only credited to player with the most goals , how many assist they got from other player and other player contribution to his goals is ignored in deciding who win golden boot
so crediting smalling , a CB for our clean sheets is non-applicable and never actually happens in this football world
Whats the golden boot and golden glove award got to do with anything? Have never anyone in the world of football ever talked about a defence keeping a clean sheet? Only the goalkeeper is allowed to be discussed and credited when mentioning clean sheets, not defenders. Got it
So you're saying clean sheets can only be solely credited to goalies because they get awards for them? That's laughable and frankly silly! Use your head man! So if a defender blocks a shot destined to go in or makes a goal line clearance he shouldn't take credit for it? John Terry got as much credit for Cech's clean sheet run in the Chelsea side as Rio, Vidic and Evans got for Van Der Saar's 14 game clean sheet run in 2008/09
Whats the golden boot and golden glove award got to do with anything? Have never anyone in the world of football ever talked about a defence keeping a clean sheet? Only the goalkeeper is allowed to be discussed and credited when mentioning clean sheets, not defenders. Got it
nope, the reality is clean sheets is a stats that only belong to the keeper on paper, it doesn't matter how good or how bad the defender is, they just don't claim clean sheets, defender don't get any award based on how much clean sheets his team had , it's the goalie who get it, FIFA rules, the logic is simple, because no team going to have a clean sheets if their keeper didn't save while the defender can have some brainfart moment during 90 minutes and still getting one thanks to the keeper
the fact de gea was 3 times our player of the year and considered as the best GK in world prove that he was the main man behind our clean sheets , he have the chuckle brothers in front of him for years ,it helps him to take all the spotlight
other football fans has always say how united has shite defender but world class GK, he also have one of the most number of saves in the league for years, if we had world class CB , he wouldn't need to save too many
stop trying to make smalling better than he actually is with clean sheets stats , it's getting embarrassing
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I don't think anyone has made the claim that Smalling should be getting the actual award that the goalkeepers gets for clean sheets. I see no other reason for you to post what you did other than to argue against a made up claim that defenders are now claiming keeper-awards. Why are you bringing this up? It's ridiculous man.
You're fvcking wrong because defenders do get credit for clean sheets even though they don't get them individually. During world cup qualification for 2006 Vidic and his defensive teammates with Serbia were dubbed the 'famous four' because they only conceded one goal. Just earlier this year John Terry was celebrated for his 225th clean sheet of his career. You just can't see yourself giving Smalling ANY kind of credit whatsover even though he's played more minutes than any other CB and United have the BEST defense in the league.
It is amazing the mental gymnastics some will perform to avoid giving Smalling credit.
1.because other CB was injured
2.because of de gea
his contribution is = more back pass and more pass to RB resulted in more hoof ball
1. Who gives a shit? You can't rely on injury prone CBs. If they are never there then do they matter? Smalling is always there and don't think Mourinho doesn't consider that.
2. No, its not only because of De Gea. He's a fantastic keeper who does his job but if Smalling wasn't dominating everything in the air you can bet your ass we'd have conceded more goals
3. Rojo is the worst CB we have when it comes to hoofball
Solid again, quality night for him.
I think that chance people were discussing on the earlier page really opens another eye to playing next to Valencia. That is the fourth time in as many weeks he's been caught standing looking at the whole line, miles out of position and not squeezing up with his CB to help out defensively at all. He must be the absolute pits to play with on the right, we know Smalling isn't the best communicator. I think it is interesting that a lot of people on here seem to think that Smalling has to be marshaled and babied but I don't see any other players doing that, Valencia at least as the captain should be giving him a bollocking, shouting at his man to stay home and/or marshaling him better? Right? Since he has been rated on here as one of the best RB's in the EPL?
I just find that really fascinating that (I also whole-heartedly don't agree that Valencia is anywhere near the level we need to be at, let alone close to the best fullbacks in the league...) Smalling has literally had to babysit Blind through his trainwreck of a season under Van Gaal and now he's still having to deal with Valencia routinely being a car-crash waiting to happen as his positioning is non-existent. Puts into perspective the job that Smalling has on his hands marshaling the right quadrant of defense.
But it goes to the heart of the whole issue that this whole defensive line has problems as a unit. There is obviously no clear leader and I still would prefer Smalling to be playing with a settled defense with two natural fullbacks to give Bailly and Lindelof the time to cement in properly in the next couple of seasons. Considering the level of performances that Smalling has delivered in the last few seasons being one of our most reliable defenders.
There are still pieces of the puzzle for Jose to solve next season.
I think that chance people were discussing on the earlier page really opens another eye to playing next to Valencia. That is the fourth time in as many weeks he's been caught standing looking at the whole line, miles out of position and not squeezing up with his CB to help out defensively at all. He must be the absolute pits to play with on the right, we know Smalling isn't the best communicator. I think it is interesting that a lot of people on here seem to think that Smalling has to be marshaled and babied but I don't see any other players doing that, Valencia at least as the captain should be giving him a bollocking, shouting at his man to stay home and/or marshaling him better? Right? Since he has been rated on here as one of the best RB's in the EPL?
I just find that really fascinating that (I also whole-heartedly don't agree that Valencia is anywhere near the level we need to be at, let alone close to the best fullbacks in the league...) Smalling has literally had to babysit Blind through his trainwreck of a season under Van Gaal and now he's still having to deal with Valencia routinely being a car-crash waiting to happen as his positioning is non-existent. Puts into perspective the job that Smalling has on his hands marshaling the right quadrant of defense.
But it goes to the heart of the whole issue that this whole defensive line has problems as a unit. There is obviously no clear leader and I still would prefer Smalling to be playing with a settled defense with two natural fullbacks to give Bailly and Lindelof the time to cement in properly in the next couple of seasons. Considering the level of performances that Smalling has delivered in the last few seasons being one of our most reliable defenders.
There are still pieces of the puzzle for Jose to solve next season.
He'll be 29 this year no? I say if other clubs came with decent offer we should sell him. He has reached his peak just quite unfortune that his peak is not on same level with our great CBs from the past.
That is such a dumb comment?? If De Gea had not made that save, we would not even be talking about a clean sheet for Smalling, or any other defender for that matter, so why should they get any credit. He was MOTM by a mile. That says it all. It's not rocket science.
- Status