Ah, a sensible poster here, and some more other posters.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 34
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
You're acting like Rio never gave away penalties or made costly decisions even in his pomp. Do you remember his slump in 2009? He gave away sloppy goals playing for England and he was terrible against City when we beat them 4-3 at OT. Bellamy was all over his sloppiness. When was the last time Smalling lunged into a tackle like that? Its very uncharacteristic of him.
Made a mistake, glad it didnt cost us. It showed in is reaction, he knew it straight away. Still our best and his partnership with Victor is progressing very well. He wont be affected and will still be our main man back there
Keep him in there with Lindelof because the others are worse anyway. Smalling made a mistake but he had a decent game other than that.
Reckon he'll learn from that. Even with his age. He'll know it could've been very costly.
I hope you are not saying that because he conceded a penalty.
I think people in here being overreact way too much with that sliding tackle. Sure we conceded because of that but it wasn't as silly as what Jones normally did or how Mensah did in the weekend. Jones & Mensah did silly sliding tackle knowing that the player already hold the ball, while Smalling made the slide before Richarlison even got the ball.
Before the tackle made Smalling knew he won't get the ball by just using pace against Richarlison, so he made that tackle to get it first before Richarlison. Smalling's aim was to clear the ball not trying take the ball from the player's feet by sliding. Unfortunately, Richarlison was just too quick and able to get the ball first before Smalling.
Before the tackle made Smalling knew he won't get the ball by just using pace against Richarlison, so he made that tackle to get it first before Richarlison. Smalling's aim was to clear the ball not trying take the ball from the player's feet by sliding. Unfortunately, Richarlison was just too quick and able to get the ball first before Smalling.
Some posters have agenda's against certain players. You can see the ones in the Pogba thread, Lukaku thread etc. Knives come out as soon as a mistake happens.
I actually think a lot of posters here haven't played football apart from kick abouts down the park. Being a CB is bloody difficult. Strikers can miss 5 shots and score a tap in and they are hailed as a hero. CB's can have a immense match but make 1 mistake and they're a villain.
We know Smalling has his limitations but he's still a great defender. I was pretty surprised he did the slide as he did the hard work making up the ground.
Stupid tackle, but that’s been covered. Shouldn’t have gone to ground in that area and you block certain angles to make it easier for the goalkeeper. (Yes I’ve played football before)
That said, thought he was solid and has been solid and easily our best center back this season and is still our best centerback at the club.
I hate that it’s been suggested that he could have been sent off for it - both he and Gaia went for the ball (Gaia actually got the ball) and was clumbsy or mistimed - it’s a foul - it’s not a yellow card.
That said, thought he was solid and has been solid and easily our best center back this season and is still our best centerback at the club.
I hate that it’s been suggested that he could have been sent off for it - both he and Gaia went for the ball (Gaia actually got the ball) and was clumbsy or mistimed - it’s a foul - it’s not a yellow card.
Its a foul that took a player out from having a chance on goal. Thats easily a booking most of the time.
Tbf to Rio, that's around when his back went. He was in and out of the team, and his pace (which was a huge strength of his) dropped off a cliff.
That has always been my opinion.
At the moment I will be looking to upgrade his partner as Smalling is hardly a problem. However, if we decide to upgrade on him later on when we have an overall better team, it won't be as hard as some think it will be.
Very good defender, best of the bunch we have but not world class.
Meh, shit happens. He has been our only reliable CB this season, and has created a good partnership with Lindeloff.
Odd tackle from him last night but he's consistently still our best CB .Granted not alot of fans are particularly happy with that ,and I'm one of them to varying degrees, but until he's replaced in the starting 11 he'll always been one of the first names on the teamsheet.
His hair is still silly though.
His hair is still silly though.
Smalling didn't need to slide at all, he was neck and neck with him. Should have stayed on his feet.
Cracking game that aside though, vital for us right now.
How has he been reliable?
I see people say this quite a lot. “He’s consistent”, “He’s reliable.”
How is he either of those things? We’ve been shite this season! We’ve been dropping points to shit team after shit team and this fool is always at the center piece of it along with his buddies Jones and Young.
Unless you mean “consistently shit”, then Smalling hasn’t been consistent at all. He’s a weakness in the squad. I fancy any striker in the league to score against a defence that has Smalling, Jones or Young in it.
How the feck he didn't get a second yellow for that chalelnge is beyond me
Something shit here and it ain't Smalling.
Look at his competition in the team and you would understand.
Bailly and Lindelöf have higher ceilings. Rojo is also a better defender. So I don’t understand why he’s first choice. It’s not like we haven’t been letting goals in.
Disagree. Rojo is a terrible defender overall.
Smalling and Lindelof have been far from perfect but that's got a lot to do with our full backs as well and they're not exactly getting much help from Matic either, it's not just one person at fault for our defensive issues.
In what way? If you are going to talk about how good they could potentially be, you have to do the same for Smalling. Neither of them, nor any of our other options, have come remotely close to how good Smalling was in 15/16. I don't think either have shown the potential to do so either.
Same for Rojo. He had one three month period where he was very good (and even then he should have seen two certain red cards). But that one good period wasn't as good as Smalling's best period, and Smalling's average outside of that time is miles better than Rojo's
In other words, Smalling's best is better than any of our other options have ever shown. And it's blatantly obvious that his average is far better and has been for years.
He’s got a big mistake in him every game, I just don’t trust him. Feel that he’s the best of a bad bunch right now.
I don't know what he was thinking sliding in like that. Expected better from an experienced and usually reliable defender like him.
Would disagree with everything. Bailly and Lindelof have not shown bigger ceilings than Smalling. And let us not even get to Rojo who is suffering from mysterious injuries.
I think our defense is more or less on same level. All have their brain feck moments now and then. It is only a matter of who does it less often, or who does things that we could get away with.
Is it possible that people review performances based solely on what they read in here? Are there posters, do you think, that have never actually watched United play? I sometimes feel like that. How anyone can have watched us since Fergie said adios and identified Smalling as the fool in our tragi-comic current incarnation is beyond me.
It depends on how you view or class players. The thing is, there are not many center backs better than Smalling. If he is not world class, then that means there is not many world class CBs.
Relative to other center backs in the Europe though, Smalling is class.
That's rewriting history somewhat. Smalling was very good in 2016 but people talk in this thread like he was Franco Baresi. He worked very well with Blind but lets not pretend the two weren't covering each others glaring deficiencies. Blind used superior awareness and ball playing ability to cover Smalling, and Smalling covered Blind in aerial battles and recovery pace. We were also set up with two sitting midfielders to doubly protect the whole back line.
What is certain at this point is that we have seen the best from Smalling, and its not enough. Have we seen the best of Bailly or Lindelof? I hope not.
A proper myth if there was ever one.
That's probably one of the most overrating I have ever seen for one of our players here but ok, if you believe so.
We haven't been letting goals in since the Moyes season and Smalling has played way more than the rest of the CBs. Rojo is a joke of a centerback, a talented footballer who'll never get it together long enough to make a real lasting impression and a case to be a dead cert starter.
I'd like to know how he is blaming Jones for our poor season when he's played about 50 minutes in the league.
Really surprised at what Smalling did to be honest, he has decent pace and regularly makes good blocks in these situations. I think he got played by Richarlison who was waiting and slowed down just enough to get contact. He's very good at waiting to make challenges but he channelled his inner Jones there.
There's no reason why I would try to hype up Smalling. He is not exactly young nor flashy. What I'm saying is what it is. Grass doesn't always have to be greener on the other side. The times of Maldini, Nesta, Rio, Vidic are gone and football has evolved. Smalling might be or might not be great, but right now, he's among the best of the best in the league and one of the best in Europe too - at actual defending that is.
Do people watch the goals that other teams concede? Or are some people deluded enough to think that only our defenders make mistakes?
I rate our players at what they're. He's very good but not world class. If you're rating him highly and you think he's one of the best in Europe, there's really nothing I can do I believe as it's your assessment. Just wonder which non United supporters will have a similar opinion, I guess not many.
95% of the goal is POgba's responsability. Smalling was caught by surprised and he actually did a good job by reaching a player that started to make the forward run earlier than him, but eventually commited the PK by tackling to hit the ball instead of tackling for the block-shot.
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