Both Smalling and Jones were awesome tonight.
They just need a run of games to gain that bit of experience and composure.
They just need a run of games to gain that bit of experience and composure.
How good is Chris Smalling?
- Thread starter Plechazunga
- Start date
Completely dominant. His distribution is pretty poor and he looks a lot less comfortable on the ball to me at the moment than when he first came, but he's just an amazing talent. It'd be shocking if he didn't become one of the best defenders on the planet.
Agree on that. He looks like he can't head the ball straight.
Apart from that, good game from him.
Yep good game from both him and Jones though if we're being honest the opposition was piss poor last night and they were only really challenged on a couple of occasions.
That moment when it looked like Nolan was going to score, until Smalling just whacked out some martial arts uber defending 
He seems to be a cross between Rio and vidic. Massive like Vidic and seems to have that air of calmness that Rio has.
His pace helps out so much. You can afford to have bruisers in the side when you know you can count on the foot speed of Smalling to do the kind of running Rio used to do.
I think the youthfulness of the back four was telling across the board actually yes Fulham were crap but we had a much higher line than usual which meant there wasn't tons of space for the likes of Ruiz to advance into when they had ball to feet. It was the same at the start of 2011/12 and I think the reason for why is self-evident.
I think the youthfulness of the back four was telling across the board actually yes Fulham were crap but we had a much higher line than usual which meant there wasn't tons of space for the likes of Ruiz to advance into when they had ball to feet. It was the same at the start of 2011/12 and I think the reason for why is self-evident.
Should imagine we'll finish the process of phasing him in as a starting XI player soon. Credit must go to Fergie for buying Smalling when no-one on the planet would've thought we needed another centre back. Ferdinand's retirement and the emergence of his replacement should be incredibly well timed if all goes to plan.
Rio is being offered a one year contract...we are well placed if that is refused. Our defence looks good for years.
no more playing Carrick as CB.
no more playing Carrick as CB.
He seems excellent at CB to me, the closest thing to a young Rio we're likely to find.
How good is he?
He's good enough to be at the heart of our defence for the next 10 or more years. I've very high expectations of this lad and have done since his first season here.
He's good enough to be at the heart of our defence for the next 10 or more years. I've very high expectations of this lad and have done since his first season here.
He's better in the air than Rio aswell. Whether he can defend 1-on-1 against the best the world has to offer as well and as many times as Rio did in his peak years remains to be seen.
Still only 23, so has plenty of time to develop into a top class defender. He has the physical characteristics in his bag already to say the least.
Better than Rio in the air? Rio is one of the best readers of balls in the air I've even seen. Chris may leap better now that Rio had back problems, though.
He'd walk into the starting lineup of any Premier League team, except ours at the moment! Excellent footballer.
Another terrific performance. He has all the attributes to be a world-class CB, won't be long until he's starting for us regularly.
Great defender. How this guy was playing non league football just a few years ago is beyond me.
His face always seems like it's been a bit nicked up. Like he'd been in a fight about a week ago.
What a luxury having Smalling, Evans and whacky Phiw as our second line of center halves, and the versatility of Smalling and Jones at right back and midfield.
What a luxury having Smalling, Evans and whacky Phiw as our second line of center halves, and the versatility of Smalling and Jones at right back and midfield.
I think Smalling has been caught out a couple of times by some clever movement on freekicks/corners so Rio is perhaps better in that sense, but in terms of a long punt into our box I think Smalling is better at attacking the ball and beating his man to clear. He has been quite dominant at this in some games - even reminding me of the way Vidic seems to get his head on anything that comes our way in the air.
He's excellent, and has been so pretty much since he signed for us. If he were a regular in our first XI I don't think anybody could turn around and say anything against it.
What do people think between him, Evans and Jones? Will Evans and Smalling be our future Rio and Vidic?
When I see Smalling in defense I feel calm. And I am very nervous when it comes to defenders.
We are fecking ingenious for signing Smalling when we did. If we'd have waited for him to develop at Fulham he would have become a first team regular there and cost at least 2, 3 times as much.
We are fecking ingenious for signing Smalling when we did. If we'd have waited for him to develop at Fulham he would have become a first team regular there and cost at least 2, 3 times as much.
one of these summers we need to send him to keane to get harder. smalling seems a bit 'gentle'.
I like smalling a lot...so much more than evans, but smalling gets physically dominated in the air or otherwise sometimes....see kompany last year and benteke this year.
I like smalling a lot...so much more than evans, but smalling gets physically dominated in the air or otherwise sometimes....see kompany last year and benteke this year.
Kompany won one header and that was down to footwork and Benteke outmuscled him and didn't bully him aerially. The issue for Smalling is timing, aerially he's very good but compared to someone like Vidic and even Jones he doesn't time his leap as well. Inexperience I'd put it down to.
If it were up to me, I'd play Smalling alongside Vidic as our first choice centre back pairing. That's nothing against Rio, Evans or Jones... that's just how highly I rate Smalling. I think he's bloody fantastic, and will only get better.
Smalling is a player we were after too and the one I most regret not getting.
Don't regret, you grabbed Koscielny.
I'm surprised how long it's taking the media to realise how good he is. Not enough of a big man/lionheart, clearly.
Edit: I say I'm surprised, but it's typical of the stupid way we look at football and assess the quality of footballers in this country. Maybe it's best that he stays under the radar for a bit anyway.
Edit: I say I'm surprised, but it's typical of the stupid way we look at football and assess the quality of footballers in this country. Maybe it's best that he stays under the radar for a bit anyway.
I'm more worried about 'grabbing' Mertesacker.
he is on his way for better things. training and playing alongside vidic and rio can only improve him.
I agree with this.
That was my first thought, but you grabbed him one year after we brought Smalling if I remember well, and you bought Kosc at the time we bought Smalling.
I am not at all concerned with his positioning and reading of the game. He's class in these areas.
His passing and general play with the ball from the back has been bad.
I'm hoping it's just him getting back in the swing of things and getting his timing right. It was a horror show against Southampton but he will bounce back.
Just look at how Evans has improved his play with the ball at his feet. Smalling can too.
His passing and general play with the ball from the back has been bad.
I'm hoping it's just him getting back in the swing of things and getting his timing right. It was a horror show against Southampton but he will bounce back.
Just look at how Evans has improved his play with the ball at his feet. Smalling can too.
He's been like that for a while now. Amazed me to think people were complimenting his work with the ball on the ground. It's atrocious. Needs to sort that out. Far too often he just whacks it out for a throw when there's a possibility of passing it to another player to relieve the danger.
Not too much wrong with him other than gaining more experience and choosing the right decisions.
I think it's harsh to say "it's atrocious"
His ball play is good, you touched upon his decision making which is probably the bigger problem, but something that always improves with experience.
His ball play is good, you touched upon his decision making which is probably the bigger problem, but something that always improves with experience.
I agree, he's shown decent ability on the ball. It's just inexperience that's holding him back. Even Rio has the odd off game regarding his decision making on the ball and he's as experienced as they get.
Yep, I thought he had an overall poor game riddled with strange decisions with the ball at his feet against Spurs for instance.
In possession, he hasn't been himself since returning from injury. Where there used to be quality and composure there's now a complete lack of confidence. Hope he sorts it out before I start getting worried.
He'll be England's first choice very soon. Roy Hodgson believes in him very much and knows he struck gold when he had him at Fulham. I think he's ready for similar faith to be entrusted in him here.
Evans started off his first team career in a similar vein: seemingly decent on the ball and proving so until for some unknown reason his distribution went entirely to shit and took a couple of seasons to recover. Smalling's play seems to have regressed in the same way but I'm sure he'll get it back eventually.
I'd be more worried if he'd never shown any glimpses at all - not everyone has the gumption of a G. Neville to develop their game through sheer force of will later in their career.
I'd be more worried if he'd never shown any glimpses at all - not everyone has the gumption of a G. Neville to develop their game through sheer force of will later in their career.