Has just signed a new contract.
Still don't believe he's United quality.
Still don't believe he's United quality.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 34
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
Who runs this club more dross performances from mr average. Thought will leave never going to happen.
Like it or not he's been the only CB at the club that has deserved a new contract. Still need new defenders but Chris has always been one to count on, even if he's got his clear limitations on the pitch.
decent option to have as a squad player. We need to elevate the level of players that are united quality!
Wow.
Good stuff.
I simply can't understand people who want him out of the club. Replaced in the starting 11? Sure. But he's far better and more reliable than any of our other current options so we need him as a squad player at the very least. Unless you want to keep players who are both extremely injury prone and extremely inconsistent (not one of the other; but both) ahead of him?
I simply can't understand people who want him out of the club. Replaced in the starting 11? Sure. But he's far better and more reliable than any of our other current options so we need him as a squad player at the very least. Unless you want to keep players who are both extremely injury prone and extremely inconsistent (not one of the other; but both) ahead of him?
Rewarding mediocrity as per usual these days
Can't wait for someone to come along and say 'But he's our best centre back!!!11' as if that's some sort of achievement
Can't wait for someone to come along and say 'But he's our best centre back!!!11' as if that's some sort of achievement
Can't wait to hear your plans for this club
So let our best go and keep the ones who are worse? Or sell all five of them and buy an entire new group in one go?
Lindelof imo is better than Smalling. Bailly has potential and should be given time to develop. Sell Jones, Rojo and Smalling, bring in Tuanzebe back from loan and buy a solid CB like Alderweireld. Then either bring in TFM as last choice CB or buy some kid with potential.
Smalling has never been and will never be good enough for a club with aspirations such as ours. I don't believe for 1 second that he's signed on for the next 5 years with the wages he's on to be a back up option either.
Lindelof has had 2 or 3 games this season where he performed better than Smalling, but that's nowhere near enough of a sample size to say he is the better player. His improvement since he first signed for us has been significant to his credit, but he needs to be doing it over a longer period of time. He also needs to learn how to not be piss-weak in the air.
Exactly this. We have had 5 years of trying to buy a better CB than Smalling, Rojo, Blind, Bailly, Lindelof and kept failing. Somehow we should be able to buy 4 better than him in one Summer? If Smalling is not good enough then Rojo, Jones and Bailly have to go as well(though I would keep Bailly for a better manager to work on)
Maybe, best case scenario, with enough money chucked out we could get 2, still need back up, Smalling in a back up role would be fine with Lindelof.
Unfit Smalling starting ahead of others. Ridiculous how dependable we are on him, we literally have no one even close dependable as him. Jones and Rojo not even on the bench, and Bailly on the bench who is behind Lindelof in the pecking order now by the looks of it.
And people wanted us to sell him before finding at least 2 very good replacements.
And people wanted us to sell him before finding at least 2 very good replacements.
We defo should get rid of Jones and rojo before him. Smalling should be a squad player at most.
But hes getting a testimonial soon. Thats gonna be a sad and hilarious one eh?
But hes getting a testimonial soon. Thats gonna be a sad and hilarious one eh?
Smalling is our best and only nailed on starter among our CB options. Its laughable that you think Lindelof is better. What has Lindelof shown at United to suggest this? Smalling shores him up with the actual defending whenever they play together. Lindelof is a glorified back up player who's too soft to ever fully assert himself. I don't see him ever being a leader or a regular first choice starter at the back for United.
It’s free to think whatever, but it is a bit strange to not be able to see him as a regular starter, as that is already happening. Even after weeks of injury, he jumped straight in to the starting 11 against Liverpool.
Mourinho doesn't seem to know his best CB pairing and right now its safe to say its Smalling plus one. If Mourinho got his dream CB signing I doubt Lindelof would get a look in in a settled starting 11
It seemed to me as if Smalling and Lindelof has been his first choice for some time now. For the future I believe it will be Lindelof/Bailly plus a new. Smalling was the best CB last season but I think he has higher ambitions than that for both Lindelof and Bailly.
When is he back?
Not a fan but would rather have him than jones.
Not a fan but would rather have him than jones.
Just think if jose was still manager, smalling with a fractured foot, would still be trying (forced) to play like he was in jose last game.
Been in the treatment room since jose was fired
Been in the treatment room since jose was fired
Good for him.
Yep. People to this day still bring up the Chelsea match a couple of years ago to criticise Smalling (by far his worst ever match for us). The reality is that he shouldn't have been playing that match because of injury but Jose kept pushing him to play through the pain.
Broken toe that game wasn't it? Could hardly move from what i recall
Yep, broken big toe. Kind of an important thing for a football player, and he was out for over a month after that match before he was fit again.
And your point is?
Probably that simplicity is often over looked.
Need this guy back before we meet a good team.
injured players shouldnt be playing, yet jose criticised injured players for not playing.
How can a player go from being named as a starter against liverpool with a fractured foot to being in the treatment room under a different manager? It boggles my mind he was asked to play with a fractured foot
I’ll welcome back his arial presence with open arms, any news on how long until he’s back?
Think its pretty clear we miss him massively from a defensive standpoint.
The question becomes do you gain more defensively compared to what you lose when we have the ball with him at cb?
I think you do
Need to get him back soon, but only when he's 100%.
None of this pressure to play when half injured that Jose had.
None of this pressure to play when half injured that Jose had.
He's slower, can barely win a header, and very weak physically.
In what way does that make him better than Smalling? Playing a few nice balls doesn't make up for the above.
Having said that, I hope he builds on this encouraging few games run.
Of course we do. He is not that bad on the ball.
Him and Lindelof would probably strengthen things up a bit for the remainder of the season. Bailly, Rojo and Jones are disasters waiting to happen.
Smailling was certainly our best defender under Jose. Am hoping his stability will help us when he's back.
Curious to see what happens when he comes back. Will his tendency to defend on the back foot and the requirement of our midfield to drop and pick the ball up kill our attacking play? We need solidity in the back somehow though.
We'll just have to rely on Lindelof to play it out from the back a bit more, he's been doing it well so far. Smalling isn't perfect at bringing it out but he's certainly competent.
Yes I’m not sure even when fit, if he would play in Ole’s team. Think he could be too much of a detriment to the building from the back. There were quite a few times today when our defenders played one touch triangles to get out from the back, not too sure I’d feel too comfortable with smalling trying that! As you say it will be interesting to see what happens.
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