I assume you wanted to have him sold as if we are keeping him and buying a CB there will be competition. I see no reason to buy a CB similar to Smalling if he is not good on the ball as well, so depending on who comes in it might as well be Lindelof who get less minutes, I wouldn't say we are trying to replace him either.
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A CB who is both good on the ball and good in the air should be signed. We dont need Smalling starting after that. He is still a useful player though, like he showed today.
That would be amazing. These things are very hard though, to find that one special CB. Far and few between these days it seems. Depending on who we play against, unless Lindelof improves even beyond this level he has established now, I would always have Smalling as an option. I trust him as a main CB, so to have him rightly play as an option rather than a necessity would mean we have transcended as a club.
Smalling to me is similar to Herrera. They have a few extreme qualities that makes them almost invaluable in the right set up, highly dependable but lacks a few qualities that takes them into the top bracket. They both under the radar, but they are there doing what others can't.
He's back.
Not normally a fan but he was excellent today
When will people learn when it comes to Smalling? Smalling is going to rack more minutes than any of our CBs from here on to the end of the season, even more than Lindelof. I'd put money on that.
Defending wise, he's better than Ramos.
He is not, lets not get carried away. He is nowhere near best in Europe
They are about the same level to me. I think if Ramos removed some of his crazyness that gives him that edge and fame, and instead played more safe focusing on his defending he wouldn't make as much mistakes. He is rated as one of the best so whatever he does clearly works for him, but I think talent wise, his defensive side is underrated because he lets a lot of dumb shit happen, but that is the cost of being an extravagant defender. He would probably be better than Smalling defensively if he stopped with the bullshit, but rated less. I think, maybe not. Both great defenders in their own right, but yeah, Smalling is a lot more focused on his defending so he should be better at that.
Not making individual errors leading to chances and goals is one of the very most important parts of being a CB.
I'd argue that whoever makes the least individual errors leading to chances is probably automatically one of the best CBs in the world. Regardless of how good they are on the ball, or their other skills.
Yeah it is. No doubts about that. It is all about safety if you are going to avoid goals, from errors point blank. It is the boring defensive side of the game, but very much a part of the game in my eyes. Not sure you can statistically prove someone to be the best CB in the same way, or even less than how you could say the best striker is the one with the most goals. It should be that simple in a way, but not sure about that one.
Overall as player, Ramos is better of course. Can't deny it. But yeh, you're right. It's part of Ramos show to be a leader, i guess.
Absolute rock last night, only outshined by Herrera and Pogba IMO. Doesn't look like he's missed a game, I'd be tempted to keep him and Lindelof there for the rest of the season now, but with Liverpool next anything can happen. No doubt one of Salah or Mane could give him huge trouble on Sunday, but realistically if they're at it they could embarrass any of our defenders anyway.
He looked really solid yesterday.
I know he has a habit of grabbing at people in the box, but I think it's over exaggerated.
That instance with Rudiger was laughable when VAR showed it, he should've been booked for simulation.
Anyway, really good performance by Smalling, not sure about the haircut though.
I know he has a habit of grabbing at people in the box, but I think it's over exaggerated.
That instance with Rudiger was laughable when VAR showed it, he should've been booked for simulation.
Anyway, really good performance by Smalling, not sure about the haircut though.
We can't judge everything from what Salah gets.
He was immense last night. Looked very sharp.
Very good performance from Mike, but he still has that moments of dumbness when he's holding and tugging on the opposition player inside the 16 yard box.
The way he was forcing Higuain to receive the ball on the half line by pressuring the hell out of him was great to see.
The way he was forcing Higuain to receive the ball on the half line by pressuring the hell out of him was great to see.
Mike Smalling is and always was our best CB. He's 1 of the best in the league also if you can forget about his arm antics.
Yes his passing can always be better but recently it's not been that bad.
The difference in composure with him in our defence or Jones is night and day difference.
Yes his passing can always be better but recently it's not been that bad.
The difference in composure with him in our defence or Jones is night and day difference.
Smaldini
Our best defender - shame he can't pass the ball to save his life
It is really good to have such a wonderful defender back in the team. CB should not be a priority, and we can relax and strength other positions knowing that we are in such good hands at the back.
Smalling is a good PL defender. Shocking, right?
Sure Smalling is our best defender, he's an absolute beast in the air and on the ground and is rapid quick. I like Smalling, he's our best defender but there is a reason this thread is so up and down after each performance. He's doesn't have the awareness to read a quick passing/inter changing game (i.e vs Liverpool or City). In those games he gets exposed and we're back to square one in this thread of whether he's good or not.
Luckily for us (and Smalling), we don't face a Liverpool or City team every game. Smalling is suited to 90% of the games he plays.
Huge option to have on the bench or in an injury case. But we need to upgrade or at least get a world class leader beside him.
Sure Smalling is our best defender, he's an absolute beast in the air and on the ground and is rapid quick. I like Smalling, he's our best defender but there is a reason this thread is so up and down after each performance. He's doesn't have the awareness to read a quick passing/inter changing game (i.e vs Liverpool or City). In those games he gets exposed and we're back to square one in this thread of whether he's good or not.
Luckily for us (and Smalling), we don't face a Liverpool or City team every game. Smalling is suited to 90% of the games he plays.
Huge option to have on the bench or in an injury case. But we need to upgrade or at least get a world class leader beside him.
I'm a big fan of him, but I still believe we need one more rock solid CB.
Lindelof has come good and constantly improving, and Smalling is a very solid option.
Beyond those are 3 question marks. Bailly could be excellent if he could learn how to header the ball. Jones has spells of being pretty good and then spells being dumb and/or injured. I'm not sure if Marcos Rojo still exists, if he does, he's probably two-footing someone as we speak, the lunatic.
Between Bailly and Jones, there is a fair bit of quality, but it's inconsistent and rather unpredictable. I'd be happy to see one very good centre back come in and oust Rojo out of the squad.
One major minus with Smalling is that he seems to need to play to the right. That lack of flexibility stops Lindelof from playing to the right. Lindelof is more flexible but still we have seen big differences in Lindelofs attacking football when to the right.
Think I'd start him ahead of Bailly for Liverpool.
The only reason I'd be sceptical is because one shirt pull and they will fall like flies.
Other than that, he has to start.
Lindeloff is playing brilliantly from the left.
Recurring theme on here:
Bailly & Smalling are too limited because they want to play on the right, which means Lindeloff needs to play on the left... and he needs to play on the right.
Ole said before the game that it would suit him and he was spot on. Top performance.
Smalling is probably the most physical out of our CB's. Monster performance last night and kept the Chelsea forwards quiet. Happy for him to get the nod ahead of Bailey and Jones.
He played well, he was in to combat Higuain as their target man and he did it well. It's clear Lindelof is our first choice CB now and i expect we will see Smalling play when we face similar lone target men, and Bailly will play against the rest.
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Definitely has to play against Liverpool can't imagine any of our other players try to mark Van dijk during at set plays
Lindelof is good on the left and from a defensive POV there are no issues. But 8 out of his 10 best attacking moves have come from the few matches he played to the right. That’s why it’s a big minus that Smalling can’t play other than right CB.
I think he has to after that performance. Both him and Lindelof looked good next to each other.
People speak a lot about Koulibaly, but for me, if he were signed, a Koulibaly/Smalling partnership is the one that I suspect will be our strongest partnership. I’m a huge fan of Lindelöf now, while I didn’t rate him at all before. But Smalling and Koulibaly would be a rapid, strong partnership with aerial dominance and Koulibaly providing composure and ability to play out.
That said, I think with the form Lindelöf is showing, I think full back is more important than centre half. Smalling and Lindelöf are good enough I think. While Ashley Young was a disgrace to himself (again) last night.
That said, I think with the form Lindelöf is showing, I think full back is more important than centre half. Smalling and Lindelöf are good enough I think. While Ashley Young was a disgrace to himself (again) last night.
Two good performances now since he is back. He play on the line of what is accepted though. Need to reduce those dirty tricks cause he is strong enough to deal with strikers without them.
I'd prefer signing a top class CB and letting Smalling, Lindelof, Bailly and new CB fight it out. Win-win scenario and get rid of Rojo. Jones too if we want Tuanzebe here next season. Keep Jones if we intend to loan him out again.
We need him at the back... not only is he a good defender, but he's the only one in our team with proper authority in the air.
We definitely need a LCB. Smalling should never be played on the left.
Rudiger was throwing himself to the ground. The Luiz one was worse (shirt rip), no justification for that
Strong performance though
Pretty sure Rudiger was also holding Smalling's shirt at the same time in fairness, so I don't see how they could give a penalty when they're both "at it"
But yeah, even still, he needs to calm it down a bit with VAR coming into the PL
Yea, that’s fair m, but it’s still important to establish the current state of affairs. If things are not as dire as advertised, perhaps we can afford to get Milenkovic for £40m to add to the rotation instead of whoever for £100m. Makes a huge difference. Milenkovic can come in and compete with what we have currently. But if the defence isn’t fit for purpose, we may need to get a top drawer CB for VVD money.
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