How good is Chris Smalling?

Plechazunga

Grammar partisan who sleeps with a real life Ryan
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I'm thinking extremely good.

This is admittedly a bit of a pointless thread, as everyone agrees [EDIT - except championo, who's playing it cool]... but I'm excited. I can currently see zero weaknesses apart from inexperience, and that's changing fast as he wolfs down football matches like massive frenetic green nachos.

He's fast, he's skillful, he's tough, he can pass... he's feckin massive... he seems level-headed and is clearly up for pushing himself to improve. He can finish. He's showing versatility. He's hungry, he looks like he sees a starting place for the taking and wants it. I think he's a winner.

Chris Smalling... excellent at football, plays for Man United.
 
Will probably play second fiddle in the media to Jones if the two of them make it here, but what a player. He's pretty much the perfect, young centre back replacement for Rio Ferdinand, and looks as solid as either twin at right back.

Amazing signing. You've got to give credit to Fulham for snatching this guy from complete obscurity. Admittedly, I didn't hold much hope for him based on the little I had seen of him at Fulham (he was making blunder after blunder if I remember correctly), but he's already a proper player. He'd walk into the vast majority of defences in the Premiership.
 
His improvement has been staggering. I can't remember seeing a player improve so fast before. He seemed very raw when he first came but you have no concerns seeing him start even in big games.
 
He's fantastic.

I cant see a weakness there at all, expect possibly his distribution at times. He comes across very well in interviews also. Level headed, modest and intelligent. He's got all the raw ingredients to be an unbelievable player for us.
 
he is going to be a top class defender..hope he can be one of the best in the world in a few years time too.
 
acnumber9 said:
His improvement has been staggering. I can't remember seeing a player improve so fast before. He seemed very raw when he first came but you have no concerns seeing him start even in big games.
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Me neither.

He's a really good example of why scouts are so much better than the rest of us spazzers at seeing the true potential of a raw young footballer.

Sort gives me hope about Bebe. Sort of.
 
Loses concentration at times but that's the one weakness I can think of. And that's something that will get better with age and experience. A natural defender I guess.
 
KingEric7 said:
Amazing signing. You've got to give credit to Fulham for snatching this guy from complete obscurity. Admittedly, I didn't hold much hope for him based on the little I had seen of him at Fulham.
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Fun fact, he actually signed for Boro first, before realising that that would involve living in Middlesbrough. Also, pretty much the only game he'd played for Fulham before we signed him was at Stamford Bridge, and he was incredible. The question is this, how long do we keep taking the piss out of Arsenal? Do we sign the next great young English CB they go for? Maybe the one after that as well?
 
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malling
 
Chabon said:
Fun fact, he actually signed for Boro first, before realising that that would involve living in Middlesbrough. Also, pretty much the only game he'd played for Fulham before we signed him was at Stamford Bridge, and he was incredible. The question is this, how long do we keep taking the piss out of Arsenal? Do we sign the next great young English CB they go for? Maybe the one after that as well?
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Ok, i take back the intelligent bit :lol:
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Me neither.

He's a really good example of why scouts are so much better than the rest of us spazzers at seeing the true potential of a raw young footballer.

Sort gives me hope about Bebe. Sort of.
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The bold is so true, and he really has stepped up in a big big way. I very much like the look of the future of our central defence.

Not so sure about the Bebe comment, mind!
 
Chabon said:
Fun fact, he actually signed for Boro first, before realising that that would involve living in Middlesbrough. Also, pretty much the only game he'd played for Fulham before we signed him was at Stamford Bridge, and he was incredible. The question is this, how long do we keep taking the piss out of Arsenal? Do we sign the next great young English CB they go for? Maybe the one after that as well?
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I'm not sure why, but I remember him making some right cock-ups during his time at Fulham. Right after it was known that we were after him. Can anyone else put my mind at ease, or is this just bollocks?
 
KingEric7 said:
I'm not sure why, but I remember him making some right cock-ups during his time at Fulham. Right after it was known that we were after him. Can anyone else put my mind at ease, or is this just bollocks?
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I remember the same thing but can't recall specifics.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Me neither.

He's a really good example of why scouts are so much better than the rest of us spazzers at seeing the true potential of a raw young footballer.

Sort gives me hope about Bebe. Sort of.
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Also, It always amazes me how our club always seems to acquire players of the right character and temperament. Ambitious players who thrive in the surroundings. There must be a lot of goings on behind the scenes to find out all about a players personal qualities, not just how they perform on the pitch.
 
KingEric7 said:
I'm not sure why, but I remember him making some right cock-ups during his time at Fulham. Right after it was known that we were after him. Can anyone else put my mind at ease, or is this just bollocks?
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R_Nick said:
I remember the same thing but can't recall specifics.
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He scored an o.g at Stamford Bridge. It wasn't really his fault though, and he was excellent in that match.
 
Cutch said:
Also, It always amazes me how our club always seems to acquire players of the right character and temperament. Ambitious players who thrive in the surroundings. There must be a lot of goings on behind the scenes to find out all about a players personal qualities, not just how they perform on the pitch.
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I reckon that's Alex Ferguson's best quality. He's a tremendous judge of a player's character.
 
Not enough space for Smalling, not with London prices.

Pogue Mahone said:
Sort gives me hope about Bebe. Sort of.
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You're not the only one:

MikeUpNorth said:
I think Bebe's going to be class. He's raw as feck and his end product was obviously terrible today, but there's something about the way he attacks defenders with the ball that just says Billy Big Time to me.
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KingEric7 said:
I'm not sure why, but I remember him making some right cock-ups during his time at Fulham. Right after it was known that we were after him. Can anyone else put my mind at ease, or is this just bollocks?
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He had a terrible game against someone like Hull or Portsmouth, but mostly he just didn't get very many games after signing for us. Indeed I seem recall it was mostly that lack of games that was causing some grumbling on here, mostly by people too daft to appreciate just how a good a pairing Hangeland and Hughes are.
 
Plechazunga said:
I'm thinking extremely good.

This is admittedly a bit of a pointless thread, as everyone agrees... but I'm excited. I can currently see zero weaknesses apart from inexperience, and that's changing fast as he wolfs down football matches like massive frenetic green nachos.

He's fast, he's skillful, he's tough, he can pass... he's feckin massive... he seems level-headed and is clearly up for pushing himself to improve. He can finish. He's showing versatility. He's hungry, he looks like he sees a starting place for the taking and wants it. I think he's a winner.

Chris Smalling... excellent at football, plays for Man United.
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So far so good, but I am still not ready to give him the nod yet for some reason. I feel teams are sizing him up and soon we will see his weakness, but for now, all rosey
 
Yeah, he looks pretty much the complete package. The most scary thing is he's still improving rapidly.

He doesn't really look phased by tough tests either, as we saw against Chelsea at the Bridge last season. And he's looking better on the ball for every passing game!
 
Plechazunga said:
I'm thinking extremely good.

This is admittedly a bit of a pointless thread, as everyone agrees... but I'm excited. I can currently see zero weaknesses apart from inexperience, and that's changing fast as he wolfs down football matches like massive frenetic green nachos.

He's fast, he's skillful, he's tough, he can pass... he's feckin massive... he seems level-headed and is clearly up for pushing himself to improve. He can finish. He's showing versatility. He's hungry, he looks like he sees a starting place for the taking and wants it. I think he's a winner.

Chris Smalling... excellent at football, plays for Man United.
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He's got plenty of company in and around his age bracket. Jones to complement him, both of them being all-action AND intelligent defenders... the twins on each side, Cleverley and Hernandez yong 'n lernin'... feck me, we're fortunate!
 
KingEric7 said:
I'm not sure why, but I remember him making some right cock-ups during his time at Fulham. Right after it was known that we were after him. Can anyone else put my mind at ease, or is this just bollocks?
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Made a mistake from a set piece, wasnt tight enough to someone like Agbonlahor who got in front of him and scored a header. And I think there was another mistake when he didnt close someone down properly. Shortly after he was dropped from the fulham team

So yes, while you could see he had the raw materials to be an amazing player it was such a shock he was so good right away last season. Because we really didnt see any of that.
 
Evans being useful for make-shift left back, Smalling and Jones having the drive and technical ability to do right back... Versatility's always been something Fergie's loved, so it just adds up perfectly.

I could wax lyrical about how great of a job Fergie's done in rounding these lads up for our future... and for them to learn off Vida and Rio just gives us every chance of realising all of their potentials.

Same goes for Cleverley, Young, Nani, Giggs, Rooney... that also means a lot of ground for mixing things up and improvising as the match goes on... I think that's why we don't get found out by anybody, and keep getting trophies far more frequently than anybody else in the EPL.
 
Eriku said:
Evans being useful for make-shift left back, Smalling and Jones having the drive and technical ability to do right back... Versatility's always been something Fergie's loved, so it just adds up perfectly.

I could wax lyrical about how great of a job Fergie's done in rounding these lads up for our future... and for them to learn off Vida and Rio just gives us every chance of realising all of their potentials.

Same goes for Cleverley, Young, Nani, Giggs, Rooney... that also means a lot of ground for mixing things up and improvising as the match goes on... I think that's why we don't get found out by anybody, and keep getting trophies far more frequently than anybody else in the EPL.
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Bloody fantastic. Call it knee-jerk or whatnot but last season his impact meant that when arguably the best defender in the world was out injured, we didnt even miss him that much (no offence to rio of course). That in his first season for us, and now he has been playing RB and doing well too.

You may call this knee jerk but he has made so few mistakes and is performing at such a consistent basis that right now i would rate him as one of the best in the league (in the top 5-10)
 
Walrus said:
Bloody fantastic. Call it knee-jerk or whatnot but last season his impact meant that when arguably the best defender in the world was out injured, we didnt even miss him that much (no offence to rio of course). That in his first season for us, and now he has been playing RB and doing well too.

You may call this knee jerk but he has made so few mistakes and is performing at such a consistent basis that right now i would rate him as one of the best in the league (in the top 5-10)
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We definitely did, we conceded twice as more goals per game in the league without him, and three times as many away from home.

Smalling is the tits, but still has a bit to go, was the lowest of our central defenders in pass completion, tackle success rate and aerial duels won last season, some of them by quite a way. But yeah, he's brilliant. We have the two best CBs in the world, and three cracking youngsters. Stocked.
 
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