[Cassidy]

There is an agenda against him. We seem to find a new player to hate on every season.

Last season Lukaku and Young

This season Lindelof and Lingard.

Lindelof has made one mistake costing a goal but every goal we concede seems to be Lindelof's fault on the caf.

He might not be perfect but Ole seems to like him and is very highly rated in Sweden.

Weird bunch.

He hasn't played well this season, of should I say kicked on from the promising displays last season. There is no agenda. I was actually one of those thinking he had a decent season last season.

Personally I think the main issue is that the partnership doesn't seem ideal with them both not being quick and Lindelof being a little timid.

Add to that the fact our keeper isn't dominant in the air one of the CBs also not being great in the air is also an issue.

It boils down to recruitment. If you keep Lindelof then Maguire isnt the right purchase. If Maguire is the purchase then player to keep doesnt seem to be Lindelof to me

 

[A-man]

He hasn't played well this season, of should I say kicked on from the promising displays last season. There is no agenda. I was actually one of those thinking he had a decent season last season.

Personally I think the main issue is that the partnership doesn't seem ideal with them both not being quick and Lindelof being a little timid.

Add to that the fact our keeper isn't dominant in the air one of the CBs also not being great in the air is also an issue.

It boils down to recruitment. If you keep Lindelof then Maguire isnt the right purchase. If Maguire is the purchase then player to keep doesnt seem to be Lindelof to me

I can understand the critique to them as a pair, that none of them has extraordinary speed. But they complement eachother well in other ways and both are good with their feet, which I personally think is important. One CB with good ball handling is kind of waste.
I agree that one of DDGs weaknesses is in the air, which means you could use more aerially dominant players at setpieces. Now when Smalling is not around anymore, there is only one dominant CB left, and it looks like the only possible competitor to Lindelof (Tuanzebe) is pretty weak in the air. On the other hand, I don’t see Smalling as a possible partner to Maguire.
In summary I believe that Maguire, Lindelof and hopefully Tuanzebe will all be good starting players for United as
1. United need three good CB
2. United have at least five other positions that are more urgent to strengthen

yes Lindelof is too timid sometimes. He should work on that.

 

[MikeKing]

Its obvious youre a big fan of the guy so Im not going to get caught up in a back and forth discussion about his ability.

Thanks, not much into the back and forth either. I usually prefer to tell my stories with memes and simply move on.

 

[MikeKing]

I don’t see Smalling as a possible partner to Maguire.
In summary I believe that Maguire, Lindelof and hopefully Tuanzebe will all be good starting players for United as
1. United need three good CB
2. United have at least five other positions that are more urgent to strengthen

I've liked your latest posts better. Anyhow, why don't you think Maguire and Smalling would make for a good partnership? You might be right, but to me it logically should be our best partnership since Rio and Vida. The balance is quite similar to that partnership. Everything that is logical doesn't happen though, there could be some unforeseen issues with communication etc, but I can't see any big reasons for why it wouldn't work.

We'll know by the end of the season if Tuanzebe and Lindelof is trustworthy going forward, and if not then we should just bring Smalling back. As you said, we have other positions more urgent to strengthen. We have to get rid of Jones, Bailly and Rojo as well and in that case there is very little back up and especially quality. Think we need to be ruthless much earlier with certain players who just haven't kicked on like we thought.

 

[A-man]

I've liked your latest posts better. Anyhow, why don't you think Maguire and Smalling would make for a good partnership? You might be right, but to me it logically should be our best partnership since Rio and Vida. The balance is quite similar to that partnership. Everything that is logical doesn't happen though, there could be some unforeseen issues with communication etc, but I can't see any big reasons for why it wouldn't work.

We'll know by the end of the season if Tuanzebe and Lindelof is trustworthy going forward, and if not then we should just bring Smalling back. As you said, we have other positions more urgent to strengthen. We have to get rid of Jones, Bailly and Rojo as well and in that case there is very little back up and especially quality. Think we need to be ruthless much earlier with certain players who just haven't kicked on like we thought.

Both Smalling and Maguire have the skills and desire to meet the ball high up and clear it with power. This is one reason why I don’t think it will work. Of course you can train Smalling to stay back and cover, like
Lindelof, but then you are not really playing Smalling’s strengths. With Lindelof it works well because he is not the defender who seek up those situations but he is good at seeing potential danger in other areas and position himself to cover. Also why I hesitate a little with Tuanzebe who is drawn to the ball like a magnet.

It sounds logical to have a fast defender next to Maguire because he is both slow and often caught on the wrong foot. But in reality I don’t think United have conceded many goals because of that. The goal they conceded when Maguire missed a header and wasn’t fast enough to recover: Lindelof was fast enough to recover and protect his side, Rojo was already positioned to cover but failed.
There have been situations where he is caught on the wrong foot, but I don’t think a fast partner would help in those situations.

I also think that they have built up a calmness at the back where they feel secure to pass around even under strong pressure. I don’t think this is possible with Smalling.

All that said, it is mostly feelings I have. I like the style Maguire and Lindelof have together and maybe that deludes my judgement. I really like Smalling however. He was one of the absolute best defenders in PL 2017/18 and it was a disgrace he was not picked for the WC.

 

[yardieUnited]

Personally i hope Roma buys Mr smalling, i dont even think we let him go because of his bad passing.
I think OGS saw something that most of the forum did not see which is Chris smallings lack of awareness and Positional sense.

Smalling during his time at united had a tendancy to get dragged out of position, i often saw him leave his position to follow an opponent(without the ball) who made none threatning runs like running.tje corner which often left gaps in the middle.

Mr smalling is also prone to playing his opponent onside by being the behind his line, which Atalanta saw when they played against Roma.

Atalanta would often play long ball or simple 1 2 to Duvan Zapata who would either try to score or lay it off to his teammate.

What Mr smalling Excells in is being close to his opponent because then he can touch and tussle.

During his time at the club i often times saw Mr smalling stick his arm out in the box to feel if opponent was close to him when the opponent put the ball in the box fromt the wing/corner.

In Serie A if you have decent speed you often time can make up for these things.

Koulibaly is a perfect example of that even with his sometimes shocking awareness.which is getting exposed now when albiol has left

 

[MikeKing]

Both Smalling and Maguire have the skills and desire to meet the ball high up and clear it with power. This is one reason why I don’t think it will work. Of course you can train Smalling to stay back and cover, like
Lindelof, but then you are not really playing Smalling’s strengths. With Lindelof it works well because he is not the defender who seek up those situations but he is good at seeing potential danger in other areas and position himself to cover. Also why I hesitate a little with Tuanzebe who is drawn to the ball like a magnet.

Fair enough. We can discuss for hours but only way would have known if it would have worked is if he had stayed. Even if he did stay you'd probably have a bunch of the same 'agenda guys' now blaming Lindelof for being bad on the ball blaming Smalling no matter what. Your best point is about the calmness on the ball in certain areas in the build up and even if I don't fully agree in the importance I have no way of disproving it. I think there is improvement in certain areas, at least a difference but to me it's not "better" overall. The package has been underwhelming so far to me, and it's a shame we never got to see Maguire and Chris.

 

[MadDogg]

We were good defensively but we need to put things into context.

1. DDG had a blinder of a season keeping things out that should have gone in.

2. Ultra defensive coach in charge where 1-0 is enough to win

3. Same back line last season.. look what happened.

Not even close to the same back line. Smalling was literally the only one who stayed in place between the two seasons. Young was also in both line-ups but swapped sides and performed much worse.

17/18
Valencia -- Smalling -- Jones -- Young

18/19
Young -- Smalling -- Lindelof -- Shaw

The goalkeeper behind them went from being arguably the best in the world in 17/18 to having a shocker in 18/19. The person ahead of them with the primary role of helping to protect the defence (Matic) went from being good/decent to terrible. The manager was publicly shaming the defence and for at least a couple of weeks early in the season seemed to be deliberately setting it up to fail to make a point (McTominay in defence).

 

[Stacks]

It is very weird why people dislike Lindelof so much. There are only three teams out of 20 who have better defensive record so far. Even City have worse defensive record this season. If you compare Lindelof to Maguire who is the most expensive CB in the history of football I would expect him to be the weaker of the two. That doesn’t mean he isnt good enough. He has been the main reason for 2-3 goals this season, just like Maguire. But CBs are often the main reason for a conceded goal. But overall the defence has one of the best records in the PL so far without DDG having to repeat his 2017/18 season superman skills.

There is an agenda against him. We seem to find a new player to hate on every season.

Last season Lukaku and Young

This season Lindelof and Lingard.

Lindelof has made one mistake costing a goal but every goal we concede seems to be Lindelof's fault on the caf.

He might not be perfect but Ole seems to like him and is very highly rated in Sweden.

Weird bunch.

It's not an agenda. His weakness creates goal scoring opportunities for opponents and it's clear to see. A CB who isn't a wall, should be playing for Arsenal. Standards have gone to absolute Shite out here.

 

[A-man]

It's not an agenda. His weakness creates goal scoring opportunities for opponents and it's clear to see. A CB who isn't a wall, should be playing for Arsenal. Standards have gone to absolute Shite out here.

I think someone showed that no other team has got as little goal scoring opportunities against them as United (in PL). United are also fourth best when it comes to conceded goals. So what you see as clear, is maybe not so clear as you think. The wall was maybe enough in the past, but now there are higher demands and a CB should not just be a wall where the ball can bounce back from, he should be able to handle the ball better than that.

 

[Cassidy]

I think someone showed that no other team has got as little goal scoring opportunities against them as United (in PL). United are also fourth best when it comes to conceded goals. So what you see as clear, is maybe not so clear as you think. The wall was maybe enough in the past, but now there are higher demands and a CB should not just be a wall where the ball can bounce back from, he should be able to handle the ball better than that.

Handling the ball pretty fine at Roma. The key differences being the tactical setup and the passing options available.

They are playing out from the back and he is doing just fine

 

[11101]

Handling the ball pretty fine at Roma. The key differences being the tactical setup and the passing options available.

They are playing out from the back and he is doing just fine

In a league that's about 20% slower than this one. Any defender in the top 5 leagues can pass the ball under no pressure but that doesn't happen in the PL.

 

[Renegade]

In a league that's about 20% slower than this one. Any defender in the top 5 leagues can pass the ball under no pressure but that doesn't happen in the PL.

Yet, everyone raves about Koulibaliy,Skrinear as defenders that are the best in the world and players we should sign.

 

[11101]

Yet, everyone raves about Koulibaliy,Skrinear as defenders that are the best in the world and players we should sign.

Most people dont watch them regularly. Skriniar is decent but under pressure makes mistakes, and Koulibaly frequent makes big errors. Thats becoming more obvious this season but Napoli fans have always known it.

 

[Cassidy]

In a league that's about 20% slower than this one. Any defender in the top 5 leagues can pass the ball under no pressure but that doesn't happen in the PL.

You made that up or you quantified that how?

The reason he is able to pass in the Roma side is the way the team is setup to provide passing options

 

[11101]

You made that up or you quantified that how?

The reason he is able to pass in the Roma side is the way the team is setup to provide passing options

Because i live in Italy and watch Serie A every week.

 

[roonster09]

You made that up or you quantified that how?

The reason he is able to pass in the Roma side is the way the team is setup to provide passing options

Not sure how he came up with number but Serie A is significantly slower league. It’s like watching Chess, everything is very measured and slower.

 

[Cassidy]

Because i live in Italy and watch Serie A every week.

So you made up the number. I know its slower I was just asking how you defined 20%
A number you wouldn't be able to guess by watching only you would need to have done some statical analysis

If you watch Roma you will also see the team shape provides passing options, and if you watched us last season you would see that those passing options were not there.

Not being comfortable on the ball under the press then becomes even more of an issue. The issue with playing from the back isn't just about the ability on the ball, but the ability on the ball comes through when the passing options are not that obvious and the player is able to deal with the pressure until it arises.

 

[11101]

So you made up the number. I know its slower I was just asking how you defined 20%
A number you wouldn't be able to guess by watching only you would need to have done some statical analysis

Of course i did. I doubt its even possible to quantify.

 

[A-man]

Handling the ball pretty fine at Roma. The key differences being the tactical setup and the passing options available.

They are playing out from the back and he is doing just fine

What do you mean when you say that Roma “are playing out from the back”?
I have only watched a little from Roma this season, but they didn’t strike me as playing out from the back. However I only watched them very little so I don’t really know.

I am not surprised if his passing is better in Italy. As one Roma supporter wrote here, Italian football suits him good because he gets more time on the ball compared to in PL where there is intense pressure on the CB.

 

[Ekeke]

What do you mean when you say that Roma “are playing out from the back”?
I have only watched a little from Roma this season, but they didn’t strike me as playing out from the back. However I only watched them very little so I don’t really know.

I am not surprised if his passing is better in Italy. As one Roma supporter wrote here, Italian football suits him good because he gets more time on the ball compared to in PL where there is intense pressure on the CB.

Mancini and Smalling have both made the most passes of Roma's players this season with 52 each per game. Roma have 52.1% possession

Maguire 60, Lindelof 58 so 6 or more passes for each with very slightly more possession for United with 52.8%

Interestingly Lindelof has 2.5 completed long passes per game, with 3.3 inaccurate ones. Smalling has 2.8 completed long passes per game, with 1.5 inaccurate ones.

This is what I've seen on the pitch too. Lindelof does go for a fair amount of long balls forward, but they are usually hopeful and dont find their man.

Maguire on the other hand has 4.6 accurate long passes with 2.9 inaccurate ones, so by far the best.

Mancini with 2.2 completed long passes and 2.1 inaccruate long passes.

Lindelof and Maguire have made 2 dribbles this season, 0 unsuccessful for Lindelof but 2 unsuccessful as well for Maguire. Smalling 1 successful dribble and 0 unsuccessful, Mancini 3 dribbles and 1 unsuccessful

 

[Champagne Football]

I feel Smalling, like Shaw, lacks a mental toughness to partner Maguire.

Smalling is a very talented defender. I'd happily see him back here as cover for Maguire and Tuanzebe, if Tuanzebe can stay injury free.

 

[Renegade]

I feel Smalling, like Shaw, lacks a mental toughness to partner Maguire.

Smalling is a very talented defender. I'd happily see him back here as cover for Maguire and Tuanzebe, if Tuanzebe can stay injury free.

How do you mean mental toughness? And what makes you so sure Tuanzebe has this same toughness you’re speaking off?

 

[Champagne Football]

How do you mean mental toughness? And what makes you so sure Tuanzebe has this same toughness you’re speaking off?

It's just that ever since Fergie quit, we've had an appalling defence, that leaked soft goals left, right and center. We've always looked fragile at the back when Smalling and Shaw are in the team.
That has finally changed this season. Maguire is clearly a massive upgrade. A lot of our problems this season when conceding goals has been a combination of Lindelof being shaky with defending headers, and a disjointed central midfield up until recently, along with the fact that we struggle to score if Martial is injured. But overall we look solid at the back for a change.
From what little I've seen of Tuanzebe when he's fit, it's better than anything I've ever seen of Smalling. His pace is frightening. He appears to be a leader, and appears to have a focus that doesn't switch off at times like some of our other defenders of the recent past and present.

 

[Renegade]

It's just that ever since Fergie quit, we've had an appalling defence, that leaked soft goals left, right and center. We've always looked fragile at the back when Smalling and Shaw are in the team.
That has finally changed this season. Maguire is clearly a massive upgrade. A lot of our problems this season when conceding goals has been a combination of Lindelof being shaky with defending headers, and a disjointed central midfield up until recently, along with the fact that we struggle to score if Martial is injured. But overall we look solid at the back for a change.
From what little I've seen of Tuanzebe when he's fit, it's better than anything I've ever seen of Smalling. His pace is frightening. He appears to be a leader, and appears to have a focus that doesn't switch off at times like some of our other defenders of the recent past and present.

Just seems abit harsh to pinpoint the poor defence on Smalling. I don’t recall Smalling making a blatant mistake like Tuanzebe did in that Arsenal game. Ultimately costing us 2 points. Just seems a bit early to say he never loses focus when he shown evidence in his first game.

 

[A-man]

Mancini and Smalling have both made the most passes of Roma's players this season with 52 each per game. Roma have 52.1% possession

Maguire 60, Lindelof 58 so 6 or more passes for each with very slightly more possession for United with 52.8%

Interestingly Lindelof has 2.5 completed long passes per game, with 3.3 inaccurate ones. Smalling has 2.8 completed long passes per game, with 1.5 inaccurate ones.

This is what I've seen on the pitch too. Lindelof does go for a fair amount of long balls forward, but they are usually hopeful and dont find their man.

Maguire on the other hand has 4.6 accurate long passes with 2.9 inaccurate ones, so by far the best.

Mancini with 2.2 completed long passes and 2.1 inaccruate long passes.

Lindelof and Maguire have made 2 dribbles this season, 0 unsuccessful for Lindelof but 2 unsuccessful as well for Maguire. Smalling 1 successful dribble and 0 unsuccessful, Mancini 3 dribbles and 1 unsuccessful

I am not sure what you mean with this? That Roma’s strategy is playing out from the back because the CBs have a certain minimum amount of passes and longballs? I’m not saying you’re wrong but maybe we have different definitions of what playing out from the back means.

If we look at the involvement from the CBs in the attacking part of football it could as example be:
Play through the line to open up the midfield
Play your way out of defence to start counter attacks
Participate in possession based football when you play around the ball
Etc

but it is hard to read stats and say a team is playing out from the back because the CB average 52 passes per match or 2.9 longballs.

 

[edcunited1878]

It's just that ever since Fergie quit, we've had an appalling defence, that leaked soft goals left, right and center. We've always looked fragile at the back when Smalling and Shaw are in the team.
That has finally changed this season. Maguire is clearly a massive upgrade. A lot of our problems this season when conceding goals has been a combination of Lindelof being shaky with defending headers, and a disjointed central midfield up until recently, along with the fact that we struggle to score if Martial is injured. But overall we look solid at the back for a change.
From what little I've seen of Tuanzebe when he's fit, it's better than anything I've ever seen of Smalling. His pace is frightening. He appears to be a leader, and appears to have a focus that doesn't switch off at times like some of our other defenders of the recent past and present.

What? United have had massive issues scoring goals. The defense has had poor RBs since Rafa da Silva's good few seasons, then Valencia replaced him admirably...but then finally fell off a cliff. Smalling has never had a partner that he could rely on, save for Daley Blind. And that CB partnership was arguably the best post-Fergie era.

Defending is the responsibility of the entire team in modern football. Shaw being consistently in and out of the team is on him and his replacements (e.g. Young) not being good enough and making the defense weaker. That's not all on or nothing on Smalling.

Tuanzebe is still very young, although if he supplants Lindelof, he has the benefit of Maguire. This was the same case for Smalling with Vidic and Smalling.

Tuanzebe has the raw skills, but it can't be improved if he's injured. And being a good player includes your availability. Smalling has good pace and strength, always has. His heading is very good and would rival Maguire as best on the team. He also has scored goals for United.

Tuanzebe needs to showcase himself for a couple of years before anybody can anoint him better than Smalling. Smalling isn't perfect, but it's an insult to compare him to Tuanzebe right now as he hasn't accomplished anything in PL football. Roma is a good team and one that is pretty much on par with United (CL qualifying team) and he's first choice. Tuanzebe isn't first choice right now and might not be for a couple of years or he plain and simply has to dislodge one of Maguire or Lindelof.

 

[Ekeke]

I am not sure what you mean with this? That Roma’s strategy is playing out from the back because the CBs have a certain minimum amount of passes and longballs? I’m not saying you’re wrong but maybe we have different definitions of what playing out from the back means.

If we look at the involvement from the CBs in the attacking part of football it could as example be:
Play through the line to open up the midfield
Play your way out of defence to start counter attacks
Participate in possession based football when you play around the ball
Etc

but it is hard to read stats and say a team is playing out from the back because the CB average 52 passes per match or 2.9 longballs.

If the CBs have most passes of the ball instead of the midfield, then they are starting attacks. Its not a midfielder like Veratti or Jorginho coming to get the ball off the CBs and dominating the ball from midfield. Or even Matic a couple of seasons ago.

 

[Red Keane]

Regardless of how poor Lindelof has been this season, none of Young, Smalling, Jones or Rojo are the answer to United's continued problems at the back.

Which also shows how much the club still need to invest in this area (At the very least another LB and another CB) alongside our midfield & attack.

 

[Zlaatan]

If the CBs have most passes of the ball instead of the midfield, then they are starting attacks. Its not a midfielder like Veratti or Jorginho coming to get the ball off the CBs and dominating the ball from midfield. Or even Matic a couple of seasons ago.

CB's in particular play a ton of sideway or backward passes just to move the ball around, to rest with the ball or to bring the tempo down, so to use the number of passes they make as a metric of how often they are starting an attack isn't really the best way to go about it.

Lindelöf has the 2nd most passes for United this season for example (behind Maguire), and I doubt you're going to start arguing anytime soon that he has started more attacks than any other player bar one.

 

[jem]

Personally i hope Roma buys Mr smalling, i dont even think we let him go because of his bad passing.
I think OGS saw something that most of the forum did not see which is Chris smallings lack of awareness and Positional sense.

Smalling during his time at united had a tendancy to get dragged out of position, i often saw him leave his position to follow an opponent(without the ball) who made none threatning runs like running.tje corner which often left gaps in the middle.

Mr smalling is also prone to playing his opponent onside by being the behind his line, which Atalanta saw when they played against Roma.

Atalanta would often play long ball or simple 1 2 to Duvan Zapata who would either try to score or lay it off to his teammate.

What Mr smalling Excells in is being close to his opponent because then he can touch and tussle.

During his time at the club i often times saw Mr smalling stick his arm out in the box to feel if opponent was close to him when the opponent put the ball in the box fromt the wing/corner.

In Serie A if you have decent speed you often time can make up for these things.

Koulibaly is a perfect example of that even with his sometimes shocking awareness.which is getting exposed now when albiol has left

What's with the Mr Smalling bit?

 

[ur2cdanger]

Personally i hope Roma buys Mr smalling, i dont even think we let him go because of his bad passing.
I think OGS saw something that most of the forum did not see which is Chris smallings lack of awareness and Positional sense.

Smalling during his time at united had a tendancy to get dragged out of position, i often saw him leave his position to follow an opponent(without the ball) who made none threatning runs like running.tje corner which often left gaps in the middle.

Mr smalling is also prone to playing his opponent onside by being the behind his line, which Atalanta saw when they played against Roma.

Atalanta would often play long ball or simple 1 2 to Duvan Zapata who would either try to score or lay it off to his teammate.

What Mr smalling Excells in is being close to his opponent because then he can touch and tussle.

During his time at the club i often times saw Mr smalling stick his arm out in the box to feel if opponent was close to him when the opponent put the ball in the box fromt the wing/corner.

In Serie A if you have decent speed you often time can make up for these things.

Koulibaly is a perfect example of that even with his sometimes shocking awareness.which is getting exposed now when albiol has left

Hello LVG. How are you doing?

 

[zenith]

In a league that's about 20% slower than this one. Any defender in the top 5 leagues can pass the ball under no pressure but that doesn't happen in the PL.

I think that's pretty bang on, the Italian league is played at a significantly slower pace than the English league and that's quite obvious to everyone. That 20% figure is ofcourse debatable but the core point is valid.

Smalling is not pressed enough and has the time to consider his options and pass accordingly. He is naturally a good header of the ball too.

In this league opponents frequently identified his weakness and pressed him, leading him to often hoof the ball up field and giving up possession. It clearly does not fit into ole's style of play.

Also, it's no wonder that he had one of his best seasons with lvg in charge, cause his brand of possession based football was best suited to Mike.

Mike ain't a bad defender at all but as with everyone, the stock keeps rising if they are not in the team.

 

[Ekeke]

CB's in particular play a ton of sideway or backward passes just to move the ball around, to rest with the ball or to bring the tempo down, so to use the number of passes they make as a metric of how often they are starting an attack isn't really the best way to go about it.

Lindelöf has the 2nd most passes for United this season for example (behind Maguire), and I doubt you're going to start arguing anytime soon that he has started more attacks than any other player bar one.

Even a pass to your teammate sideways can start an attack

 

[romufc]

It's not an agenda. His weakness creates goal scoring opportunities for opponents and it's clear to see. A CB who isn't a wall, should be playing for Arsenal. Standards have gone to absolute Shite out here.

Yeah so Lindelof's inability to clear the ball in the box with his head creates chances.

How many times this season has his weakness created opportunity for opponents?

But Smalling's inability to keep the ball doesnt?

 

[Ekeke]

Yeah so Lindelof's inability to clear the ball in the box with his head creates chances.

How many times this season has his weakness created opportunity for opponents?

But Smalling's inability to keep the ball doesnt?

2 goals in 2 weeks at least

 

[romufc]

He hasn't played well this season, of should I say kicked on from the promising displays last season. There is no agenda. I was actually one of those thinking he had a decent season last season.

Personally I think the main issue is that the partnership doesn't seem ideal with them both not being quick and Lindelof being a little timid.

Add to that the fact our keeper isn't dominant in the air one of the CBs also not being great in the air is also an issue.

It boils down to recruitment. If you keep Lindelof then Maguire isnt the right purchase. If Maguire is the purchase then player to keep doesnt seem to be Lindelof to me

I agree he hasn't kicked on this season.

But saying there is no agenda is incorrect when there is posters on here blaming the Arsenal, Bournemouth goal on Lindelof? seriously? I accept he has made errors but to say that these goals were his fault?

What about Maguire? Vs West Ham? completely done up.

So we want to get rid of Lindelof who has a weakness in the air and replace him with Tuanzebe who has the same weakness?

 

[romufc]

2 goals in 2 weeks at least

Okay and?

 

[Ekeke]

Okay and?

Its obviously a significant problem

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Yeah so Lindelof's inability to clear the ball in the box with his head creates chances.

How many times this season has his weakness created opportunity for opponents?

But Smalling's inability to keep the ball doesnt?

I'd play Maguire, Linderlof and Tuanzebe ahead of Smalling. Because they're more natural footballers and fit the current team better. Smalling didn't want to be a reserve so it looks like he was allowed a loan move; that and his loyalty to the club being rewarded too.