These reactions always come when the players had a poor night but to be honest I doubt Smalling would have saved this night. Also don’t think United has been better overall this season with him, but that is of course just speculation.
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There are many good players in some of the teams in Serie A, but the league is not the same level as Premier League.
When Zlatan retired from Premier League he moved to MLS. After retirement he moves to Serie A.
I think him and Maguire would make a great partnership.
Me too - I think maguire wants to do things tactically - bring the ball forward and find people to find passes to much more than Lindelof & he needs that strong physical defender enxt to him who doesn't mind getting stuck in next to him if he is busy doing his own thing.
It seems like maguire & Lindelof are two birds made of the same dna - Maguire goes and defends somewhere and Lindelof in the same manner.
I said it before - 2 pure ball playing defenders is not exactly seen anywhere - especially if you can't get in and defender first. Atleast one defender tends to be a physical type with one defender having the freedom to dictate play from the back.
Harsh penalty just given against him for handball
He pushed the ball with his knuckle, its not harsh.
He has no idea where the ball is having just blocked it. So its obviously not on purpose, its harsh but it is a penalty.
Harsh? That's verging on the clearest handball in the history of football. He just smashes it away from danger with his arm.
Both are overrated.
He literally punched the ball away from the attacker with his hand. It doesn't matter if it's intentional or not, it's a stonewall pen.
And yet the striker doesnt claim for it, neither do any of the Torino players. I know because I watched the game. They went back on VAR like a minute later when the ball was breaking on the other side of the pitch.
Why is that? Because very clearly its not on purpose and they didnt think it was a penalty. It was, but its harsh
The striker (Belotti) does call out and sticks both his arms up in the air so he does make the claim, but then play moves on and so does he. There's a chance it isn't intentional but if so it's very clunky (what's the word) because after blocking it he gets up and looks in the direction of the ball when it hits him on the shoulder and he still proceeds to lunge his arm at the ball which was a weird and unnecessary move either way.
Can't escape VAR, not even in Italy..
It's a penalty by current rules but its incredibly unlucky and completely unintentional
yeah thats a pen all day
Harsh 
We still gave our best defender away. Can't believe it. All we had to do was try to make the guy open his body more to develop some flexibility but we miss has pace at the back. I don't care about the penalty incident tbh. Just want smalling back and sell another defender/s
He got paired with Jones a lot last season which made him look worse than he is. Him and Blind has been our best cb pairing post Fergie, I reckon him and Maguire would be just as good with the potential to be better.
Harsh
If Maguire had done that, there’d be posts in his thread saying “we’ve let Smalling go and spent 80m on this clown who thinks he’s playing volleyball”
He’s not good enough. We were right to let him go. I hope he continues to do well and we get a good fee.
If Maguire had done that, there’d be posts in his thread saying “we’ve let Smalling go and spent 80m on this clown who thinks he’s playing volleyball”
He’s not good enough. We were right to let him go. I hope he continues to do well and we get a good fee.
I'd get him back tomorrow tbh. Pair him and Maguire together, Lindelof and Tuanzebe as cover and feck the rest off.
Bit of a clumsy defending there which we have seen smalling do for us for years. He is a decent defender but people here are overrating him. Maybe some should just read his performance thread when he was playing for us. Most wanted him out. I hope we sell him and he does well.
What the feck was that, he absolutely smashes the ball away.
Also, Belottis' shot attempt was hilariously bad
Also, Belottis' shot attempt was hilariously bad
Pretty clear he didn't see the ball behind his back then turned with his arms out to signal he is in control, which is rather ironic when the hand hits the ball a mile away.What the feck was that, he absolutely smashes the ball away.
Also, Belottis' shot attempt was hilariously bad
What do you mean a chance?
He blocks with his back and has no idea where the ball is, hes just turning
Its absolutely remarkable to even suggest that he's attempting to use his hand to gain an advantage, when he already had the ball, when he knows theres VAR watching and so on. Only posters on the caf could come up with the idea that a player would turn and put their hand on the ball for no reason with VAR watching. You might think about doing that, a professional footballer doesnt.
He was always a bit clumsy, this pen sums it up. He is always good for a mistake, but tends to have his highs as well. Smalling would be a great Cb if he was better on the ball and would cut out the mistakes. Every CB makes them, but Smalling really makes some weird and avoidable ones.
2 players clearly claim for a penalty.
I don’t think it is intentional, I mean he knew that would give a pen. But it’s rather clear that he sees the ball and smashes it. I think it’s just an unintentional reflex punch.
Ya i agree, it’s as if posters have forgotten how poor he was.Harsh
If Maguire had done that, there’d be posts in his thread saying “we’ve let Smalling go and spent 80m on this clown who thinks he’s playing volleyball”
He’s not good enough. We were right to let him go. I hope he continues to do well and we get a good fee.
That doesn't prove anything. If it did, according to your logic, it would mean the MLS was better than the Serie A. I'm certain you don't mean to imply that.
It is a reflex or rather a defensive panic type of reflex and it isn't to punch the ball, it's him realising the ball is behind him and as he goes to protect the ball from the defender his arm goes out for balance, as he puts his body in front of the defender. It is really unlucky, but he could have avoided it by being a bit calmer.
@Ekeke How did he do besides the handball? First game back after injury right?
No, it was a bit of a joke. I don’t mean that MLS is better than Serie A. I have enjoyed a lot of Serie A football over the years but today it is not the same level as PL imo.
This is how I see it as well. A reflex and a bit clumsy maybe but could happen to anybody.
He played the match before as well against Fiorentina.
Is that the first penalty he's conceded this season?
I thought when VAR came in he'd apparently be giving them away every game.
I thought when VAR came in he'd apparently be giving them away every game.
There was also one VAR penalty in CL (which was clearly wrong by the the ref however).
Ah so it seems the reports of his career being dead under VAR were greatly exaggerated then.
It depends... 2 VAR penalties in about 15 games. But none of them for grappling, both for handball, and one was really wrong imo.
I think if we get the right manager here, Smalling will want to come back & will stop us requiring us to spend another 50 mil on a CB for another season.
No manager who has watched United who comes in to the job should tell a player like Smalling that he wouldn't be a guaranteed starter at the club after the consistent seasons he had here.
If Ole wanted to see if Lindelof or Maguire could displace him that's another issue - but blocking Smalling from being a guaranteed starter at United whilst seemingly giving guaranteed uncompetitive positions to Lindelof & Maguire afterwards is just a kick in the gut.
No manager who has watched United who comes in to the job should tell a player like Smalling that he wouldn't be a guaranteed starter at the club after the consistent seasons he had here.
If Ole wanted to see if Lindelof or Maguire could displace him that's another issue - but blocking Smalling from being a guaranteed starter at United whilst seemingly giving guaranteed uncompetitive positions to Lindelof & Maguire afterwards is just a kick in the gut.
We were shit with him in the team, we're shit without him in the team. Bringing him back won't make a difference IMO.
We might as well just sell Maguire too because we're shit with him. Smalling offers experience, defensive solidity and competitive energy we've lacked this season. Smalling has scored a few goals coming back late in games. He would also be like a fit Bailly, just better, someone who can cover for Maguire's lack of pace. We should be able to play a higher line if Maguire has two quicker players aside of him than Shaw and Lindelof. He also wins a lot of headers and is able to dominate a lone striker. These are things we're completely missing this season, and saying we were shit when Smalling played is ignorant to these facts. We actually won three trophies with him in the team.
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