Get him in the team... must be an upgrade on the absolute shambles that happened today.
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Only an idiot values ball playing abilities over defensive ones.
Sure buy a ball playing CB with equal or better defensive abilities than Smalling- but playing ball playing CB'S with worse defenders ability is just a way of showing to others that you are a 'modern manager'.
Southgate did it, Ole did it but the tactical ability isnt shown across the pitch - just the CB'S.
Sure buy a ball playing CB with equal or better defensive abilities than Smalling- but playing ball playing CB'S with worse defenders ability is just a way of showing to others that you are a 'modern manager'.
Southgate did it, Ole did it but the tactical ability isnt shown across the pitch - just the CB'S.
Just keep him here and play him.
We have spent years rubbishing him and trying to replace him with guys who are nowhere near as good at the actual, you know, defending part of defending.
This. It’s too late to buy a proper CB now.
And not any better at the ball playing side either.
Just like Bailly, he is not the answer. He put in a similar performance vs Spurs a few seasons back.
It wasn't the norm with him, though. Our other defenders put that performance in every week.
He isn't going to win us the league but is the best out and out defender at the club.
Keep!
Agree with the knee jerk demands to keep him. Unless we have some one lined up to replace him it would be madness to let him go given the form of the others
So obvious when you put your snobbery to one side that we would be stronger at CB with him in the squad.
I've said it time and again, no sense in selling Smalling ahead of the likes of what we have here right now.
Roma must be laughing their tits off when they watch us play and at the same time they are trying to low ball us for him.
I've said it time and again, no sense in selling Smalling ahead of the likes of what we have here right now.
Roma must be laughing their tits off when they watch us play and at the same time they are trying to low ball us for him.
Should the great Ole, the genius behind defensive master classes like the FA and Europa semi final and first 3 games of the league this season decide that hmmm maybe I should focus on CBs that defend first - Smalling should give him the finger.
Hopefully hierarchy as inept as they are fail to sell him by the time the window closes. Whoever the next manager is will at least give him a chance to stake a claim until someone better can be brought in.
Hopefully hierarchy as inept as they are fail to sell him by the time the window closes. Whoever the next manager is will at least give him a chance to stake a claim until someone better can be brought in.
Smalling will get in the team, be the clumsy arse we all know and love, and he'll be dropped. Same as ever. He's crap.
We are comedy show at the back and are simultaneously selling our best CB for peanuts.
What a club.
What a club.
If I was Smalling, I would give the club the middle finger if they tried to keep me now
Can't believe we're not using him. By far our best defender
Been said a million times before but I’ll say it again. Saying Smalling is our best defender is not saying much at all.
Wasnt he the reason why we're shit? Building from the back and everything...
Defence was never really a problem like it is today when Smalling was in it.
The only reason why i want him back in the squad is that regardless of the theory that every CB now has to be good at playing from the back, we have not had any significant improvement/advantages from specifically playing from the back. On top of that, Smalling was the best defender under Van Gaal. Who relied heavily on ball possession. He CAN'T be that bad.
Football needs to get over it's ball-playing centre back as a "necessity" nonsense and move back towards traditional defending. Imagine United and Liverpool conceding 13 goals between them in a single day under Benitez or Ferguson. While the game changes and it's always good to use possession well, it's all about balance and the balance has shifted too far the other way. I think Smalling could really good things if he stayed as a traditional defender in amongst a sea of defenders that think they're number 10s.
Him not going to Roma, as it looks could be the case, would be by far our best piece of business today by the looks of things.
Should go right into the starting 11 to be honest.
Was one of the best center backs in Serie A last year.
Aye, let's play our worse defenders then cause that says more.
What are some of you like?
We could be conceding 10 goals a game (not far off atm) and you still wouldn't want to give one of the most natural and mature defenders in the club a go.Aye, let's play our worse defenders then cause that says more.
What are some of you like?
People have been brainwashed by the hacks to moan about everything.
Play him instead of Maguire. Feck it, I'd play Jones the next game instead of Maguire.
Smalling is a better defender than Maguire and the rest. He´s not a good passer but he can do the first thing a defender does in DEFENDING. Maguire and Bailly should take a plane out of Manchester today as they were just terrible yesterday...Maguire is a slow as a turtle and Bailly does not have a clue most of the time..afterwards it was comical to see their defending. Perhaps the best partnership at the club at this momnet in time would be Smalling and Mengi? And I´m totally serious about that statement
He should tell us to feck off and down tools. We’ve messed him about too much. Was always our best centre half, despite being limited with the ball at his feet and having the occasional clanger in his playbook. Treated him like some kind of outcast and sat on a high horse predicated on some desire to play out from the back, which, incidentally, we are diabolical at. Allowed him to go to Roma where he was appreciated a bit more and he enjoyed his time so much, both he and his loan club wanted to extend it. All summer, we’ve postured and fecked about and held out for a fee that seemingly isn’t coming. Not to mention having him train on his own, if reports are to be believed. Now, after getting tanked yesterday we go to him with our tail between our legs, tell him he’s not going and look to integrate him back into the squad to play with The Goonies at centre half? Embarrassing. Like I said, he should make it abundantly clear that he has no intention of staying and rub our noses in it. He deserves better than that and should be granted his move. I‘d rather see him go and enjoy his football at this stage of his career, after years being lazily considered synonymous with Phil Jones.
Me too.
I would tell them to feck off.
I respect the fact he has a bit of self-esteem and wasn't happy to pick up wages for actually only playing once every now and then like some of our squad. If we are shipping defenders out then surely there are players we need rid of ahead of him.
The best way for any player to be rated by our fans is to not play for Manchester United. Long term injury made Bailly immediately the best defender at the club. Until he did play and we were reminded that he’s actually a bit shit. Now Smalling’s exactly what we need after a year away. Almost as though the previous several years never happened. And Smalling has failed to make the position his own under a number of different managers, so we can’t even hope that this is all about Ole being a bad/inexperienced manager. Now it’s still possible he’s the best of a bad bunch but feck me, can we not move on here?!
On a side note, I think he’s being treated very poorly by the club. This isn’t the way we’ve treated players in the past and is yet another blot on Woodward’s copy book. A book so full of blots you can’t see any of the pages.
On a side note, I think he’s being treated very poorly by the club. This isn’t the way we’ve treated players in the past and is yet another blot on Woodward’s copy book. A book so full of blots you can’t see any of the pages.
Been saying for quite some time and I totally agree with you. As soon as it was clear he wasn’t in favour, he was off. No Carabao cup matches and being a cheerleader. Fair fecking play to the guy. I’ll always respect his ambition. I said the same about Andreas this year, too. We have too many players who like seeing the words, ‘Man Utd player’ beside their name, but don’t actually want (or need) to graft to sustain it.
And keep playing slower than Titanic Maguire? Feck that.
If we bring back Johnny Evans and partner him with Smalling we'll have the best CB-partnership in the league. caf-insanity
Such a shame how he has been treated since Ole came. He's been my favourite CB since Rio and Vidic left and he proved how good he was under Van Gaal. He was the best CB in the league that season, he was absolutely immense. He also had an amazing performance against PSG in our 1-3 comeback victory in Paris. Have people forgot about this? He was brilliant, Mbappe couldn't get past him all night. Chris played a big part in that win. And if I remember correctly he was dropped after that game, for no real reason. He should be one of the first names on the team sheet, for every game. Also he should have been made captain after Valencia and Young left.
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Have to disagree with the first emboldened part. Smalling was a mainstay under Louis when coupled with Blind, which, in my opinion, is the best centre half pairing we've seen since the days of SAF. Even during this spell, his limitations were well documented; however, he and Daley complimented each other well. Now, I'm not saying he's the answer, but I don't think it's fair to say he never made the position his own. Under van Gaal, I'd wager he was one of the first names on the team sheet week in, week out. Admittedly, Louis' Utd will never be considered a great side; however, Smalling was a big part of that team for as long as it lasted. For the record, I'm not in favour of bringing him back into the fold. I think we should grant him his move, thank him for his services and go our separate ways.
Totally agree with the second emboldened part. I touched on it briefly in one of my previous posts and I think you're bang on the money here. This does not look good for the club. Then again, not all that surprising, when you consider Rio's comments regarding how Woodward treated him around the time of his departure. Again, without wanting to derail this thread, one cannot help but think of the circumstances surrounding Ander Herrera's departure, which are described as, "lacking a human touch". I'll spare you any further details as I'm sure you're well familiar with both cases; however, it leaves plenty to ponder.
Again, Smalling should tell these jokers where to go and push for his move.
Strawman. He's not "exactly what we need", few (if any) are saying that. He's a good defender that should be kept and given a go when others ahead of him are playing as poorly as they are.
Not true. Smalling became a starting CB under all previous managers after he was given a chance. With the exception of Moyes who played him from the start, the others all tried to replace him upon arrival with players like Rojo and Blind (VDG) or Bailly and Lindelof (Mourinho). Yet after giving their new acquisitions a go, they all reverted back to Smalling as a starter with another by his side.
Not sure if he could repeat the feat again, partly for political reasons. Considering how much Maguire cost there were will be a debacle if he's dropped. But he's definitely a better defender and he should be kept around and probably playing when Maguire is playing so appallingly.
Said on the page right before this one that Smalling has featured in 9 of our 10 biggest losses of the last decade.
Who knew an average season for an average club in an average league would elevate somebody to such world beater status.
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