Sorry I didn't get this?
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He's blaming Maguire for not covering Lindelof after he put in that poor attempt at a header
And rightly so.
Shouldn’t this be closed
The way some people bang on about Smalling you'd think he was this elite defender who never made a mistake. He had 10 years and still had question marks over his quality which says it all.
I’m curious to see how he gets on in Italy to be honest, him (and Sanchez) are still technically United players.
Maguire should have covered yes, thats a mistake after Lindelof's first mistake. So no Maguire isnt to blame. They both are but Lindelof made the mistake first
Im blaming them both
Every goal we concede for the whole season will now be analysed in the Smalling thread as to how he would have stopped the opposition scoring despite how shite he was when he was here.
I'm willing to bet that he won't even get on the pitch very often for Roma. His followers will keep this thread going though for sure.
Don't even rate Victor that much but all of a sudden people have forgotten how bad smalling was. Comments on here would suggest he's been great for us but in reality he wasn't that much better than the other trash we have.
As a pure out and out defender Smalling is miles better than Lindlof. Surely that's not still up for debate?
You could argue Lindlof ads more to the team with his passing etc or even his personality (I don't agree on these points but I can see why people would think it) but saying Victor isn't a much worse defender?
So before Maguire came along, who was our best CB if not him?
Tuanzebe.
The guy on loan in the championship...
Whats more likely, lots of experienced first team managers picking Smalling because he's a good CB or you, some guy on the internet who wants to pretend Smalling isnt a good CB is being an idiot?
I'll go with the latter.
Smalling was a disaster waiting to happen with VAR, Mr Tickle I call him as he always loses his man at set pieces then resorts to pulling shirt. If we can sell in summer for a decent price then let him go.
Lindelof challenged for a header. That’s not a mistake. It’s weak and he certainly doesn’t cover himself in glory, but the mistake is in not covering for someone who is challenging in the air. I think Maguire at least thought initially that Lindelof had a free header so didn’t tuck in and just reacted far too late, while Wan-Bissaka was most at fault as his man went up for the challenge and he didn’t react at all.
This has turned into a weird thread i was always critical of Smalling but 90% seemed to back him. Now it's as if 90% always hated him.
He was a good defender and very good in the air it was the only rest of his play that made him ill suited.
He was a good defender and very good in the air it was the only rest of his play that made him ill suited.
The mistake is challenging for a header you arent even trying to win. If he wants to try and win the header he has to do a lot better. And if he thinks he cant win it despite being against someone shorter than him, at the very least he can hold his ground and make it hard for him the make the header where he wants it.
That mistake leads to Maguire's mistake, which is also bad.
This.
I don't think its to outrageous to say if smalling could play ball like maguire could he would be one of the best defenders in the league, possibly the world, because he can defend.
He was just shite on the ball.
If Lindelof does his job it never gets to that. Just win the simple header against a midget. Not difficult
It's absolutely outrageous because Smalling while being decent defender is no where near great defensively as some of the posters including you like to believe.
I don't disagree, but he should still be covering. You always cover your other CB
Hope he never comes back.
Jeez, can't even make an innocent joke playing on the hype slowly building around Tuanzebe without you riding in to defend Smalling.
He’s the gatekeeper of all things Chris Smalling. It’s like a sixth sense for him he can sniff out Smalling criticism in any thread.
Turns out jokes need to be funny. Happy to help
It clearly wasn't a good joke, but it was an obvious one. It's pretty funny that you immediately jumped to the defense of Smalling, though. You must really care for him.
Not hard in the Chris Smalling thread though I guess.
He isn't going to beat Vestergaard either if he were in Lindelof position so i am not sure what the fuss. You can argue about how he is the better defender based on being stronger and faster but Lindelof is still the better footballer anyway which is why Ole prefer him.
I haven't said anything like that bold part, was just laughing at the overrating of smalling.... as you said 10 times the defender
.Maybe 10 times is a bit too much but when you want to make an opponents striker disappear i think Smalling would be a better choice than Lindelof.
Smalling would have won that header against Crystal Palace 99.9% of the time and wpulf have had a much bigger chance to win that header against that Southampton giant than Lindelof.
Lindelof has other qualities than just pure defending and those on the ball and positional qualities are becoming more and more important for a modern defender. However ideally you want a defender with those qualities combined with Smalling his defending qualities instead of combining them with Lindelof his defending qualities.
Does a defender like that exist? Yes but he plays for Liverpool...
Smalling would have won that header against Crystal Palace 99.9% of the time and wpulf have had a much bigger chance to win that header against that Southampton giant than Lindelof.
Lindelof has other qualities than just pure defending and those on the ball and positional qualities are becoming more and more important for a modern defender. However ideally you want a defender with those qualities combined with Smalling his defending qualities instead of combining them with Lindelof his defending qualities.
Does a defender like that exist? Yes but he plays for Liverpool...
I was defending reason itself. A player playing for a championship club obviously wasnt our best CB. That doesnt mean that Smalling was
Hey there, no not at all, be my guest and check out the multiple other threads where he talks about Smalling. HTH
I would have let Phil Jones go instead of him. Smalling was our most reliable CB in the past 6 seasons.
Yes. He shat his pants sometimes but still the most reliable. Which brings us back to the question We all know - What the feck Were We doing?
Yes. He shat his pants sometimes but still the most reliable. Which brings us back to the question We all know - What the feck Were We doing?
Other clubs have also seen that.. why would they try to get Phil Jones if they can get a much more reliable player in Chris Smalling?
Clubs want Smalling.. nobody wants Phil 'perma injured and brainfart waiting to happen' Jones
Its a weird decision. Ole picked him last season over several players that are still here. He defends well.
I feel like he's been pressurised to get a CB off the wage book. Just doesnt make sense otherwise when he's clearly better than Jones, Bailly and Rojo.
Serious question, are you a Roma fan now?
Nah, more a case that nobody wanted Rojo and Jones and the fact that we apparently priced Rojo out of a move. Smalling is definitely the best of an extremely shite bunch so naturally there was actual interest in him.
The weird decision was renewing Jones contract. We always needed someone off the books, probably 2 tbh when Maguire came in and we can only move on players who other clubs are interested in.
Is he injured? Wasn't in the squad.
Muscle injury. Wouldn't have started anyway.
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