[Djemba-Djemba]

The rest of our centre backs are absolutely no threat going forward at all.

Rojo has 2 in 4 years? Bailly has 1, Lindelof hasn't scored yet and Jones hasn't scored since Moyes was manager.

 

[RedSky]

The ball was running towards the corner flag when Benteke picked it up...Smalling has one job to do, he needs to close down space between him and Benteke and force him out wide to isolate him. It's a half arsed attempt where he leaves enough space for Benteke to shift right and move inwards. It's poor defending.

And as i've already said, it doesn't excuse what our midfielders or Valencia is doing.

But claiming that Smalling is doing a fine job there. Lord have mercy...

Are you sure? From the angle i've seen on youtube (will check sky recording in a bit) it looks like the ball was heading for the edge of the penalty area? Smalling slows him down to prevent Benteke getting a shot off, gets Benteke to switch his body and face away from goal. He's stopped the initial danger at that point. The problem is that Townsend is in acres of space on the edge of our box (he's not even on the edge of our box, about 6 yards out when Benteke spots him). Pogba realises he's fecked up once Benteke releases the pass as he suddenly accelerates to Townsend but it's too late (and a great finish from Townsend too).

From my perspective, he's stopped the initial danger and got Benteke to turn away from goal. Thats his job done. If he was doing fine defending he'd have taken the ball of him. It was good defending, but not brilliant etc. You may think it's poor. But don't see you posting about him in his thread. You just come in here, like you did last week.

Personally, i'll agree with Jose and say he had a fine game.

 

[Ekeke]

You're pretty much making up random stuff to suit your view, rather than looking at the actual replay.

Smalling has just got his hand down from complaining about the decision when Crystal Palace take the freekick.

Again, it's pretty simple, they have to fall off to close the gap between defence and De Gea because there's no way any of them are playing anyone offside. It's all on Valencia and Smalling

Talk about being a hypocrite.

Smalling waves his hand at the foul then is ready to react when the quick freekick comes.

Matic not looking at the ball, complaining to the referee.

Freekick taken quickly, Lindelof deepest playing the attacker onside. Would have been offside otherwise.

2 seconds later Smalling is appealing for offside before reacting and trying to get back to the attacker.

Again, Smalling shouldnt be doing this. Ideally he'd just play to the whistle. But if Lindelof was in line with the rest of the defence his offside appeal would be correct.

It wasnt correct because of Lindelof's error. Valencia gets back slower, Matic is the one who has made a huge blunder you wouldnt expect from one of our most senior players taking himself out of the move completely when its his job to help the defence.

So yes, Smalling is still closest to doing exactly what he should do but it isnt great defending. Would have been pretty good if his partner hadnt made a mistake though. So Smalling being singled out is laughable.

 

[MThomas]

Talk about being a hypocrite.

Smalling waves his hand at the foul then is ready to react when the quick freekick comes.

Matic not looking at the ball, complaining to the referee.

Freekick taken quickly, Lindelof deepest playing the attacker onside. Would have been offside otherwise.

2 seconds later Smalling is appealing for offside before reacting and trying to get back to the attacker.

Again, Smalling shouldnt be doing this. Ideally he'd just play to the whistle. But if Lindelof was in line with the rest of the defence his offside appeal would be correct.

It wasnt correct because of Lindelof's error. Valencia gets back slower, Matic is the one who has made a huge blunder you wouldnt expect from one of our most senior players taking himself out of the move completely when its his job to help the defence.

So yes, Smalling is still closest to doing exactly what he should do but it isnt great defending. Would have been pretty good if his partner hadnt made a mistake though. So Smalling being singled out is laughable.

Why are you lying ?

I've already shown you the screen grab from when the ball is played, trying to take a screenshots several seconds afterwards when the ball has reached the player to try to make it out as Lindelof is playing him onside is fecking pathetic.

When the ball is played, is on the right side of the line, including Smalling. So no, even if the other players were level with Smalling, it still wouldn't have been offside.

Again, please stop lying....It's 2018, getting screen grabs is pretty easy

 

[Ultimate Grib]

Was poor in the first half but majestic in the second! He even looked more comfortable than usual on the ball. Our highest scoring CB

I came here just to say it was a tale of two halves with him today and he was poor for the second goal and somewhat the first but took his goal well and did better towards the end of the game.

But then I read stuff like this and I don’t understand why this obsession with you to put him on a pedestal? Considering he’s been here the longest and the other defenders bar Jones who rarely goes in the box, have been here 1-2-3 years respectively why is that even relevant? So weird the way you need to somehow show his worth with irrelevant crap like it’s dependant on his tenure. Are you related or something?

Also do one of you @Rossa and @Ekeke take turns in defending his errors? I see it’s the latters turn this week

 

[RedSky]

I came here just to say it was a tale of two halves with him today and he was poor for the second goal and somewhat the first but took his goal well and did better towards the end of the game.

But then I read stuff like this and I don’t understand why this obsession with you to put him on a pedestal? Considering he’s been here the longest and the other defenders bar Jones who rarely goes in the box, have been here 1-2-3 years respectively why is that even relevant? So weird the way you need to somehow show his worth with irrelevant crap like it’s dependant on his tenure. Are you related or something?

It's probably just the constant negative posts that some posters churn out. For example, you've both praised and critised him (that's fair, I did the same). Yet you have other posters who have ignored his goal and great 2nd half and concentrated on breaking down every aspect of every goal against us (sometimes not even a goal) and try to pin the blame on him.

I'm reaching the point of having to put those posters on ignore because it happens after every fecking game.

 

[Ekeke]

Why are you lying ?

I've already shown you the screen grab from when the ball is played, trying to take a screenshots several seconds afterwards when the ball has reached the player to try to make it out as Lindelof is playing him onside is fecking pathetic.

When the ball is played, is on the right side of the line, including Smalling. So no, even if the other players were level with Smalling, it still wouldn't have been offside.

Again, please stop lying....It's 2018, getting screen grabs is pretty easy

Are you are career hypocrite or something? Is that your gimmick?

His knee is very clearly beyond Smalling but behind Lindelof. Perhaps Young is playing him onside in truth. But here you are trying to single out Chris Smalling and lying about where he is, whilst complaining about lying.

Anyway I've had enough of your attention seeking performance for now and I'll will be removing it from my screen from now on.

 

[MikeKing]

For me this is pretty clear: See picture below. When the ball is played out towards Benteke it's rolling towards the corner flag, Smalling needs to move in closer and cut off the option for Benteke to bring it over to his right and into the danger area.

I actually missed that very early action but I see from those pictures that it is a counter-attack. 2 vs 2 with several players coming late. You don't sell yourself in these situations.

Benteke is almost at the edge of the box vs Smalling, while Sørloth is storming into the box vs Lindelof. Benteke is obviously looking for that early cross into the big Norwegian for an easy goal from a quick counter. Smalling keeps a bit distance to make sure his body is in a position to block a potential cross. So, that goal didn't happen. The next options Benteke has, if he is to capitalise on the 2vs2, is to either run past Smalling on the outside to cross, or stop and turn to cross with his good foot. Eventually he tries to dribble past him and take a shot. Not one of those attacking-plays come to fruition, because of actual good defending.

When Benteke makes the pass, the immediate threat of the 2 initial players is over, and we have (almost) enough people around the area to prevent a goal from that attack.

The best way to defend a counter-attack after the fact, with players running back like that, is to suspend the attack while handling the immediate threat. Smalling does exactly that in this situation.
Yeah, maybe he could have pushed him way out wide to the corner-flag but doing that would be a risk, because while going to action early might have stopped the counter entirely, you also run the risk of being left behind in a 2vs1 situation.

The way Smalling handled it was seasoned.

I'm not sure why anyone would describe this as fine defending.

Amusingly enough, Valencia is hardly doing a fine job defending here either. He runs in far past Smalling and just keeps his distance

At least Valencia and Matic is quick when running back into a defensive position. Use the picture to compare the distance with those players and Pogba, and it's clear to see who is the main culprit for that goal. I feel alone because I actually rate Pogba's defensive capabilities, but his defensive awareness is terrible there, really poor and just lazy.
Usually all this wouldn't even be a discussion, because these sorts of situations happens all the time and with all the players we have around the box, shit gets cleared quickly, probably straight up in the air tho.

 

[RedSky]

At least Valencia and Matic is quick when running back into a defensive position. Use the picture to compare the distance with those players and Pogba, and it's clear to see who is the main culprit for that goal. I feel alone because I actually rate Pogba's defensive capabilities, but his defensive awareness is terrible there, really poor and just lazy.
Usually all this wouldn't even be a discussion, because these sorts of situations happens all the time and with all the players we have around the box, shit gets cleared quickly, probably straight up in the air tho.

Pogba was ball watching for a lot of that goal. Don't think he really took in Townsends position and movement until it was too late. Just very sloppy.

 

[MikeKing]

Pogba was ball watching for a lot of that goal. Don't think he really took in Townsends position and movement until it was too late. Just very sloppy.

Yupp! And i just realised i was beating a dead horse with my last post, as it was mostly already said in here.

Mourinho's soldiers

 

[manunited1919]

Yupp! And i just realised i was beating a dead horse with my last post, as it was mostly already said in here.

Mourinho's soldiers

Well deserved MOTM called by the boss. Smalling’s goal and attitude helped fire up the team.

 

[Loublaze]

I came here just to say it was a tale of two halves with him today and he was poor for the second goal and somewhat the first but took his goal well and did better towards the end of the game.

But then I read stuff like this and I don’t understand why this obsession with you to put him on a pedestal? Considering he’s been here the longest and the other defenders bar Jones who rarely goes in the box, have been here 1-2-3 years respectively why is that even relevant? So weird the way you need to somehow show his worth with irrelevant crap like it’s dependant on his tenure. Are you related or something?

Also do one of you @Rossa and @Ekeke take turns in defending his errors? I see it’s the latters turn this week

Seriously dude if you don't have anything relevant to add you should sometimes just learn to shut the hell up

 

[langster]

Seriously dude if you don't have anything relevant to add you should sometimes just learn to shut the hell up

Well said. Smalling deserved his man of the match award as he had a decent match. Haters just want to hate I guess and some just always think they know better than everyone else no matter what the subject is.

I'm happy for Chris, It's not been the easiest season for him. I hope his confidence grows from this as I think he often gets a lot of unfair stick, especially when it was only a couple of seasons ago he was considered to be United's best centre back and people were going insane at the thought of him possibly going to Arsenal.

 

[Loublaze]

Well said. Smalling deserved his man of the match award as he had a decent match. Haters just want to hate I guess and some just always think they know better than everyone else no matter what the subject is.

I'm happy for Chris, It's not been the easiest season for him. I hope his confidence grows from this as I think he often gets a lot of unfair stick, especially when it was only a couple of seasons ago he was considered to be United's best centre back and people were going insane at the thought of him possibly going to Arsenal.

This. Its like you can't even give him any kind of praise without haters like @Ultimate Grib spewing some verbal diarrhea, its pathetic. As long as Smalling stays fit Mourinho will continue to pick him much to the chagrin of his detractors.

 

[Snow]

Because Smalling is our only goalthreat from CB.

For some reason I forgot about Rojo. He has 3. So thats 10 goals between Rojo, Bailly, Lindelof and Jones and 11 from Smalling.

So both offensively and defensively Smalling contributes more and yet is usually the one singled out as not being enough. Funny

I'm not just talking about goals here, also when he heads the wall in defense. Every game there will an open man to his right and he'll head it forward. He often just gives the other team possession again.

As for attacking he's wasteful. None of the other defenders get the amount of chances he gets. He should be scoring more than what he has. With the others there's nothing to comment on.

 

[caid]

Pogba was ball watching for a lot of that goal. Don't think he really took in Townsends position and movement until it was too late. Just very sloppy.

I thought Young should have picked him up tbh. Bit of both i guess

 

[Ashley R1+O]

Superb again, thought the whole team struggled in the first half and the assault that Benteke and Sørloth were putting on them all night was immense. No idea how he can be blamed for either of the goals if I am being honest, starting to understand why Valencia being an absolute trainwreck of a fullback defensively has gone under the radar for so long (Smalling being microblamed for everything no matter what). Valencia was miles out of position for both goals and ran back with the entire play developing in front of him for the first goal after dropping Smalling a bag of shit to deal with, knowing what was happening in the play and not running to the ball and covering the inside pass, he essentially ran back deep into the line to create an extra man that essentially marked nobody in the end while it was a 5 on 4 with Valencia stood miles away doing nothing with his hands behind his back (I mean, what?... Why?..). The second goal Valencia switches off his man and then after his man has run clean through on goal just stops.. I mean stops about 40 yards from goal and watches his man smash it in. Some captain eh?

We sort the fullbacks at the end of the season and I think Smalling can be a vital pin in a Smalling-Lindelof or Smalling-Bailly partnership going forward. I think the partnership will eventially make way for a Bailly Lindelof partnership but Lindelof needs time and patience to setlle, obviously.

 

[berbatrick]

The second goal - it's crystal clear van Aanholt was Valencia's man, no way Smalling could have cut him off, especially since he didn't know if they were going to take a quick free kick and had to organise for anything.

1st goal - I think he was right to show him inside since Benteke is left-footed, and if you show him outside, he has the pace and the power to get off a dangerous shot. It is up to the rest of the defence (Lindelof/Valencia?) to get tighter. The entire situation started when Smalling had to go wide to cover for Valencia, who got back well enough but didn't do anything once he reached. And Lindelof's block was terrible.

Edit - rewatched it. There's a messup between Valencia, Matic, and Pogba, since the 3 of them are together marking 1 person.

 

[manunited1919]

Haters are like...WTF did Mourinho award him MOTM?

 

[roonster09]

Quick free kick and people are moaning about Smalling playing a player onside.

He wasn't at fault for any of the goals, he kept his position against Benteke and it's not a good idea to for tackle considering smallest of mistake would have eneded up in penalty, also others failed to track the runners. Second goal, not even sure why he is even in discussion.

Also people assume there is a perfect CB who never concedes any goal scoring chances to opponents. Teams attack and create goal scoring chances no matter who is playing as CBs. Even the great Rio and Vidic were embarrassed so many times. This micro analysis of every little move is just pathetic.

 

[Welbeckham]

I think he was right to show him inside since Benteke is left-footed, and if you show him outside, he has the pace and the power to get off a dangerous shot.

Benteke is right-footed. Smalling does not dare to tackle him because he'd always bully him with his strenght.

He could've done better for the first one, but he's not to fault too much personally as I don't think we seem confident as a defensive unit. Lindelöf is a soft, weak, scared defender and Valencia and Young did not have their best game positionally. Even De Gea has always been scared to come off his line which often affects the whole defence.

 

[berbatrick]

Benteke is right-footed. Smalling does not dare to tackle him because he'd always bully him with his strenght.

He could've done better for the first one, but he's not to fault too much personally as I don't think we seem confident as a defensive unit. Lindelöf is a soft, weak, scared defender and Valencia and Young did not have their best game positionally. Even De Gea has always been scared to come off his line which often affects the whole defence.

Oh, I was 100% sure he was left-footed and thought the commentator said it too...Was he referring to the other big striker Palace had?

 

[Ultimate Grib]

It's probably just the constant negative posts that some posters churn out. For example, you've both praised and critised him (that's fair, I did the same). Yet you have other posters who have ignored his goal and great 2nd half and concentrated on breaking down every aspect of every goal against us (sometimes not even a goal) and try to pin the blame on him.

I'm reaching the point of having to put those posters on ignore because it happens after every fecking game.

You have those that see the negative and those that are unable to do so. Both as bad as each other at exaggeration. Both unrealistic in their views.

Seriously dude if you don't have anything relevant to add you should sometimes just learn to shut the hell up

Chris is the tallest defender we have.

This. Its like you can't even give him any kind of praise without haters like @Ultimate Grib spewing some verbal diarrhea, its pathetic. As long as Smalling stays fit Mourinho will continue to pick him much to the chagrin of his detractors.

You need help reading other peoples posts. Try google reader.

 

[arnie_ni]

Don't show the player on the inside.
It's basic stuff.

He showed him were we had the support to deal with it. Townsend had three people around him. He shouldn't have got a shot away if either young or lindeloff pushed him or pogba tracked him

 

[SteveW]

Wins Man of the match. Gets ripped apart by United supporters online. Just another day in the life of a perma-scapegoat.

 

[Denis79]

Shaky in the first half like the rest of the team, solid second half. Doesn't seem to work well with Lindelöf.

 

[BlahRules]

Apart from the goal he was rubbish. If it was not for De God we would be spouting even more shit across his name.

 

[arnie_ni]

Apart from the goal he was rubbish. If it was not for De God we would be spouting even more shit across his name.

Our manager says otherwise. Gave him motm

 

[11101]

This thread is amazing. To some he was awful v Palace, to others he was Franco Baresi.

Today was about as average as it's possible to be. He should have gotten closer to Benteke for the first goal and woken up for the second. He scored a goal himself. Otherwise he did his job reasonably well and nothing more, which made him one of the best of a bad bunch today. He wasn't particularly good or bad.

 

[devips]

Wins Man of the match. Gets ripped apart by United supporters online. Just another day in the life of a perma-scapegoat.

The way some members here micro-analyse every opponent goal-making or potentially goal-making move (after every match) to find fault with Smalling is hilarious. They need to acquire a life!

 

[Robbie Boy]

This thread with the wildly ott negative and positive posts never fails to amaze me

Thought he was grand. That's it really.

 

[Sultan]

I think defensively he's the best we have at the club. Wish he could be more intelligent and better on the ball. He just loses his head and seems to be scared even when he has so much space in front. Can't wait to give away the ball to a teammate. He's either mentally weak (fear) or just bad at playing football with his feet.

 

[P-Nut]

This thread is a mess

 

[Andycoleno9]

I guess either i don't understand what defender should do during the game or i have too big expectations from first choice Man Utd defender.
I think that he was bad yesterday( lindelof was worse but it is not excuse for mike). Yes, he won lots of headers but too often out of position, bullied by both of their attacker, should do better in both of their goals.
I am not saying that goals are only his fault , but i expect more from united level defender. In first goal he did the same as in leicester game; he didn't put pressure on attacker and allowed him space and time to pass the ball. The rest of that action was on our other players but he should do it better . In second goal, complete lack of focus( again not only his fault but still). He is solid defender. Nothing more nothing less. I stand with my opinion that he is not good enough for us and we must buy another defender.

 

[SteveW]

The way some members here micro-analyse every opponent goal-making or potentially goal-making move (after every match) to find fault with Smalling is hilarious. They need to acquire a life!

It's pathetic. What's worse however are those that just parrot some criticism they heard on twitter without even bothering to analyse his performances. He has bad days like everybody else but what I find ridiculous is often he gets the exact same level and type of criticism on his good days. There are plenty of games when he's absolutely superb and it doesn't seem to even register with the typical United supporter. It's as if the performances don't matter.

Many are almost at the stage where they pretend things like winning headers and tackles don't even matter for a CB. They are basically willing to redefine the role of a CB in order to criticise him as much as possible. Personally I think that when 3 of your back 4 are Valencia, Lindelof and Young, having a defender that is good in the air is absolutely essential. Not sure how people can fail to grasp that.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Benteke was on Lindelof. Even then Smalling managed to get over in time to put pressure on Benteke which may or may not have put him off enough to give De Gea the opportunity to make the save.


I love how Valencia can not only lose the man he is marking but deliberately run away from him and leave him in acres of space, and somehow it's completely on Smalling who had no chance of getting back in time to stop that goal. Don't get me wrong, he should have got back faster in case Van Anholt slowed down or De Gea managed to make a save, but as it was there was nothing Smalling could have done to stop that goal.

They are both at fault but this is the Mike smalling thread. Valencia has a shocker untill he executed a great pass for smalling to score a great header. Ironically they were both involved in getting us a foothold to get back into the game. But ultimately we would not be in these situations had they on this occasion and others been making so many mistakes and when they are not making mistakes they are not adding anything of the level we need.

 

[roonster09]

It's pathetic. What's worse however are those that just parrot some criticism they heard on twitter without even bothering to analyse his performances. He has bad days like everybody else but what I find ridiculous is often he gets the exact same level and type of criticism on his good days. There are plenty of games when he's absolutely superb and it doesn't seem to even register with the typical United supporter. It's as if the performances don't matter.

Many are almost at the stage where they pretend things like winning headers and tackles don't even matter for a CB. They are basically willing to redefine the role of a CB in order to criticise him as much as possible. Personally I think that when 3 of your back 4 are Valencia, Lindelof and Young, having a defender that is good in the air is absolutely essential. Not sure how people can fail to grasp that.

Also some have this opinion that other great CBs never gave away any chances for opponents. Was watching some West Ham show where West Ham player was talking about 2000s West Ham, they showed few wins against ManUtd, Rio was so poor losing tackles, his marker. But if we read Redcafe, past CBs never made mistakes, at least Rio and Vida never gave away any chances at all.

Not sure when will people come to terms with "opponents also attack and create chances, no matter how good your defenders are".

 

[SteveW]

Also some have this opinion that other great CBs never gave away any chances for opponents. Was watching some West Ham show where West Ham player was talking about 2000s West Ham, they showed few wins against ManUtd, Rio was so poor losing tackles, his marker. But if we read Redcafe, past CBs never made mistakes, at least Rio and Vida never gave away any chances at all.

Not sure when will people come to terms with "opponents also attack and create chances, no matter how good your defenders are".

People see what they want to see. For the last few seasons he's typically been partnered with converted wingers as full backs (or Darmian), CBs who are too fecking weak or slow (Blind and Lindelof) or can't stay fit (Jones, Rojo, Bailly). Yet over that time we've had an excellent defensive record. Dea Gea and Smalling have been the ones generally holding it all together. He deserves more praise for his part in that imo.

 

[roonster09]

People see what they want to see. For the last few seasons he's typically been partnered with converted wingers as full backs (or Darmian), CBs who are too fecking weak or slow (Blind and Lindelof) or can't stay fit (Jones, Rojo, Bailly). Yet over that time we've had an excellent defensive record. Dea Gea and Smalling have been the ones generally holding it all together. He deserves more praise for his part in that imo.

Exactly and good point. Partnerships in defence is very important and we have one CB rotating every week and LB no one knows who will play there.

Anyways the person whose opinion matters most gave him MOTM.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He was our best defender and took his goal well, but still didn't think he was great, and was bullied a bit by Benteke at times.

Also, feckin' put your hand down, play to the whistle and run after the ball... with his pace he'd have caught Van Anholt before he got his shot away if he wasn't feckin' around appealing for offside.

It's not just him though, most of our players do it... can remember from this game alone Pogba and Lingard stopping play to appeal for a decision when the ball was still there to be won near them.