Which makes you wonder why we bought him in the first place. Bad scouting I guess.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
Which makes you wonder why we bought him in the first place. Bad scouting I guess.
You've lost all credibility for me with that statement. Good God.
I was just about to quote that one line. To be fair to RedSky, he see's Smalling as a squad player but no way can you defend Smalling's lack of ball playing ability.
It's not if he can or can not make a 10 yard pass, it's his whole mentality and ability on it that makes him a bad footballer.
When you turn your back on the ball, shield yourself behind an opposition player and/or are not comfortable receiving it to feet, you have 1 less option to pass to. That's a passenger and I don't care how good the rest of your team is, at this level, that's a liability and the weakest link when you have the ball. Think about it logically, we have the ball most of the time and we want the ball most of the time, how the hell does having one player, who's not comfortable on it make sense? That's what people are criticising about.
Obviously it's not just him and ultimate blame should go to Mourinho for the lack of coaching/organisation we're seeing but you simply cannot ignore this and say 'it's fine cause he's a good defender'.
He's not a great passer but the funny thing is, if we actually were a high pressing team, Smalling's deficiency here could be massively made up for. He'd be winning the ball with his impressive athletic ability and passing to players within those 5-10 pockets of space HIGHER up the pitch. Being touch tight reduces those areas where he had to pass over 15-20 yards and make decisions on whether to bring the ball out further (spoiler: basically he doesn't).
Yeah, seeing him as a squad player is fine. But I don't buy into the fact he's that good of a defender. He's prone to mistakes so often. Just look at the Newcastle game, he was shambolic. Even their main chance the other day came when his positioning was all over the place.
As for his ball playing ability, it's pathetic. I'm so sick of seeing him getting the ball, turning, and passing it back to De Gea. He has zero courage, and like you say, he hides behind players rather than making space to get it back. I won't be horrified if he's sold at the end of this season. But he better not be 1st choice come next year.
Feel sorry looking at de gea there after conceding , guy has 15 clean sheets this season , imagine how many he would had if he had top defender in front of him.
If i were him i won't renew contract till we dump both smalling & jones , that's absolute condition the club have to meet if they want my signature
You feel sorry for the keeper with the most clean sheets in the league and the least conceded goals? He has 15 in the league, 4 in the champions league so whats a total of 19 for the season. Jones and Smalling played most of those games. Smalling himself has helped the team get 19 clean sheets as well (4 with Romero). You should stop posting bs
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It's not that Smalling have poor passing range nor passing accuracy - his capability in those are just fine for a defender, not spectacular yet not bad, just ok enough.
It's his decision making with the ball where he's often clueless not sure what to do which is the problem, additionally his poor positioning and movement to receive passes from team mates making spaces and creating better angles especially receiving passes from our keeper. Plus, no composure and hesitancy when holding the ball.
Ball playing ability = passing skills + positioning/movement skills (on and off the ball) + decision making skills + mental skills (i.e. composure)
Phil Nev and some posters are spot on.
To compensate not having this, Smalling HAVE TO/MUST be partnered with a CB that is good at this i.e. Blind, Rojo, Bailly and Lindelof. Unfortunately Jones have the same problem. Playing them both together will be a mess at the back ~ disorganized, no structure, no composure at the back, keeper have lack of support and hence often always under pressure, etc.
It's his decision making with the ball where he's often clueless not sure what to do which is the problem, additionally his poor positioning and movement to receive passes from team mates making spaces and creating better angles especially receiving passes from our keeper. Plus, no composure and hesitancy when holding the ball.
Ball playing ability = passing skills + positioning/movement skills (on and off the ball) + decision making skills + mental skills (i.e. composure)
Phil Nev and some posters are spot on.
To compensate not having this, Smalling HAVE TO/MUST be partnered with a CB that is good at this i.e. Blind, Rojo, Bailly and Lindelof. Unfortunately Jones have the same problem. Playing them both together will be a mess at the back ~ disorganized, no structure, no composure at the back, keeper have lack of support and hence often always under pressure, etc.
Lots want us to be City 2.0, but our midfield isn't good enough to have defenders who can't really defend that well. Get a Scholes clone in th midfield and all that crap about defenders carrying the ball out goes away. Our midfielders are too scared to carry the ball. Matic had a purple patch where he was consistently doing so, now not so much, so our play is patchy to say the least.
If we want to win the league, Chris needs to leave.
If we want to fight for top four every season, then he'll be fine.
If we want to fight for top four every season, then he'll be fine.
Yeah, because letting your currently best performing CB leave will automatically win you the league. Even if you believe Bailly will reach his potential soon rather than later and that we will buy a CB in the summer that will help win us the league, surely a CB deemed fit for a top four fight would be a quality option to have over a long season alongside Bailly and a new saviour of a CB while challenging for the league? The logic in those 2 sentences is flawed, imo.
Huth and Morgan weren't better than Smalling.
Smaling is prone to the occasional brain fart but who is not. As many have said, he's currently our best center half and is very much capable of forming a title winning partnership with baily at the center of our defense.
Our biggest problem (and weakness) is that we don't have a leader in the backline, Smalling is the oldest and most experienced, but hasnt shown any ability to lead, and should therefore be replaced.
Smalling does look good when looked at in isolation because his physical traits mean he will do a lot of interceptions and clearances, but the unit as whole looks a total shambles when he is playing. Not that any of the others are great leaders either, but there seems to be a bit more cohesion and working as a unit when Rojo is playing.
Smalling does look good when looked at in isolation because his physical traits mean he will do a lot of interceptions and clearances, but the unit as whole looks a total shambles when he is playing. Not that any of the others are great leaders either, but there seems to be a bit more cohesion and working as a unit when Rojo is playing.
Okay I'll rephrase.
If we want to win the league, Smalling can't start for us unless there are injuries.
If we want to fight for top four, then he's fine.
They were in the season they won the league, I'm pretty sure when Leicester went to City and everyone thought they were gonna lose and fall away, Huth or Morgan scored a vital goal and both played brilliantly. They were much better than Smalling.
You can't take a fluke season as a rule.
I agree with Smalling being not suitable as a starter for a title winning team. Good squad option since he rarely gets injured, but he has too many flaws to be a main CB of a team that always gets pressed and attacked. He's suitable for box defending, while big teams tend to press higher and use their CBs to build the attack. Mourinho's style of zone defending suits him, but can't imagine him starting for a team like City, or even Liverpool. You can say Laporte or Stones aren't good defensively, but they offer the team much more than just box defending.
Phil Neville’s video is actually spot on.
Smalling looks scared of the ball. Jones used to be more comfortable on it in years gone by but doesn’t look the same player anymore.
Smalling might of been ok in the 80s as a defender, but the game has changed.
Smalling looks scared of the ball. Jones used to be more comfortable on it in years gone by but doesn’t look the same player anymore.
Smalling might of been ok in the 80s as a defender, but the game has changed.
Man Utd 2:1 Chelsea
That was poor.
Was a peach of a cross in fairness
Dogshit. Thought this for a a long time but am drawing the line now. Need rid off asap.
Players that stand out from that Leicester team were Kante, Vardy, and Mahrez. No one was thinking, eh.. maybe one of their CB is United quality and worth a bid. That's kind of weird if they were much better than Smalling, as those quality of CB don't grow on tree and available all the time.
Saved our asses
Aye, for the most part been alright today.
Both him and Lindelof have been very good today. Better than majority of our team, hopefully they keep it until the end.
Sold himself that time morata got through his only mistake. He's won the ball back in high positions quite a bit
Aye, had his dodgy moments but considering he's not been great for large parts of this season today's been one of his more solid performances.
How would you rate our other defenders if he wasn't great for large parts?
Best defender by a mile in a team that has the best defensive record in a league - he's not been great for large part of the season. Rubbish.
DDG's saved our arse on plenty of occasions. He's been okay at times but far from remarkable and has had plenty of poor performances.
He's redeemed himself since my post, but is capable of doing something incredibly shit as he is of capable of doing something great. I'd rather something more stable at CB personally.
Aye, would say that's a close to perfect description of him. Solid at times but with an error in him - fortunately been more towards the former today and improved massively as the game's gone on.
That he has tbf today.
Mostly brilliant today. Contained Morata very well and was on the front foot. Great game!
I’m sure this thread will be quiet this week.
That run out from defence towards the end of the match was amazing
That run out from defence towards the end of the match was amazing
Always tries to defend on the front foot and it worked well today.
Made a lot of tackles to break up Chelsea attacks. He doesnt normally play that aggressively, but always seemed to win the ball today. Our CBs probably looked the best part of the team today.
Played well today. Against the classic number 9 striker he normally does well.
Improved massively in the second half despite falling over.
this post looks really silly now
Fortunately I covered my was with a follow up post
Stand by my view of needing to get rid though. Real talk yo.
- Status