Whats the next level?
He was our best CB in a season where we finished 2nd not even a year ago.
To win the league instead of City? To win the champions league?
Yeah probably not good enough. To get back to being the 2nd best team in the league? Well thats already been proven that hes good enough
The next level right is
at least challenging. But again, youre making an argument for something to show your love for Smalling (which I get) but is missing the point of what im saying:
-Do I think hes our best defender? Sure.
-Do I think hes a good leader? No
-Do I think hes a good passer of the ball? No
-Do I think we need to upgrade on him (as well as our other defenders) to challenge for the league- of course.
He was our best defender when we came second sounds great, but we all watched the matches. Most of our clean sheets came from DDG not due to our defence being rock solid with him at the heart of it. And we challenged for the league last season the same as we have challenged this season.
He wants an upgrade on all our defenders. But unless we sign two (and they both work out), one of our current defenders are going to have to play. He'll give the others the opportunity, but from what we've seen over the last few years it's more than likely going to end up being Smalling and the new guy. So it's not really accurate to say that he's trying to upgrade on Smalling in particular. On the other hand, it's also not accurate to say that he's actively looking for somebody to partner Smalling. All of them would get the opportunity, but Smalling is the most likely to ultimately win that spot.
Possibly but again, I have a feeling (based on the evidence weve seen when a new season starts) that Jose would not want to start with Smalling (but again by default he does).
If we sign a defender who is a leader (lets say Godin as an example) and the player is suited as a RCB, then we have three options:
-Move that new signing to LCB to accommodate Smalling
or
-Move Smalling to LCB (where he has shown hes not capable)
or
-Play somebody who is better suited for LCB to be lead by the new signing.
The last few months of last season we had them all fit for a while. Every match we just played Smalling plus another and they rotated around him. It's not just about fitness - it's about reliability in pretty much all aspects.
And then when it came to the new season, he didnt start Smalling. He started Bailly/Lindelof and started Smalling on the bench.
I dont get why this is being disputed. The end of last season look who our CB options were:
-Lindelof (who was in and out the team)
-Bailly (he didnt play at all cos he wasnt going WC apparently)
-Jones (going to the WC)
Rojo (wasnt he injured?)
Again, this may seem like im posting for the sake of bashing Smalling. im not, I have no issues with him as a squad player.
But all im saying is that all evidence weve seen so far is that Smalling becomes our defender by default (whether its others arent good enough, Smalling is the only one that stays fit, and yes, even sometimes by performances).
However our current manager clearly doesnt seem him as good enough to take United to the next level.
If Jose goes end of the season and we bring an attacking manager in, it will be interesting to see what happens with Smalling, given the (correct) justification of why he didnt go to the world cup with England (and why hes not in Southgates plans)