How good is Chris Smalling?

very talented, and has great ability, we just have to cross our fingers he is not going to be one of those injury prone players, because that will not only affect his development, but his confidence to.
 
Him and Jones I can see being the Rio and Terry of England: pretty much first choice CBs IF they both stay injury free, I rate them that highly. I thought his first full season for us was magnificent for a debutant, and I was gutted this season that he was injured for so long. He's so reliable for us, and I have only seen him make one key error to date (vs Kompany last year). There may be more, but none spring to mind.
 
peterstorey said:
Doesn't look in the slightest ungainly to me - quick, elegant and powerful are the adjectives that spring to mind.
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He's actually a bit herky-jerky in his movement, if only when he has the ball. But that's splitting a hair that need not be split and may only be a function of still being so young. Chris is a future England star and potential United great. His overall game is outstanding and just needs a tiny bit of polishing up around the edges. I really can see him next season becoming first choice over Rio.

To pick up on another comment above, Jones is a bit ungainly too. A very different kind of defender, but greatness is not beyond his grasp either. Whoever handles the scouting on defenders for United knows his shit.
 
Very assured since he's been introduced. The lad was just born to defend. A pure natural.

Fingers crossed he can maintain his fitness and kick on this season. A phenomenal talent.
 
Shame about his passing, which is absolutely atrocious.

I guess he'll improve that part of his game, but it's beyond annoying when he's so short of confidence in his passing he almost deliberately aims it slightly behind the other CB to keep it far away from the striker, always slowing the game down.
 
Towering footballer with lots of time to improve his game to Rio's level.

His first season at Old Trafford was enough to judge his future as a solid defender material and with him, being fit, we won't have to add another defender in the summer window.
 
He reminds me of Wes Brown.. Absolutely Sunday league when returning from injury but with games he finds his feet.
 
Mainoldo said:
He reminds me of Wes Brown.. Absolutely Sunday league when returning from injury but with games he finds his feet.
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Nah, Smalling's never poor defensively.

His passing is just about always slightly disappointing. When he finds his feet he's quite confident on the ball, but he always has that annoying habit of underhitting every fecking pass, especially the easy ones, slowing the play.

Fantastic defender though.
 
Mainoldo said:
He reminds me of Wes Brown.. Absolutely Sunday league when returning from injury but with games he finds his feet.
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Don't know where a comment like that comes from; he is excellent more often than not.
 
Probably the best 5th choice centre back at any club in the world

But if he does not get games at the start of the season I could see him moving on (or possibly a loan) at xmas as he will need games to get to the world cup

I think he would start for most premier league teams and I actually think him and vertongen would be a fantastic pairing for spurs
 
I see what people means when they say he looks a bit 'rough' when coming back from injury but overall he is quality, think he is a better defender than Jones and has tons of ability. Passing could do with some work though
 
In his first season, I always thought that not only his passing but also first touch and general technique was quite impressive for a defender...surely I wasn't the only one? Admittedly since then he has looked much more Sunday league when on the ball, I'm guessing lack of confidence has played a part.
 
Yes, when he came he was a player with notable calmness with the ball. His passing was fine, but the composure was what made him look good at it. I think it was when he came back from one of his injuries that I noticed he didnt look as confident passing the ball and it hasnt really got any better since then
 
He looks shit scared...maybe the club is too big for him.
 
He can still be a top defender if he's able to put his injury worries aside. Here's hoping he'll have a very good season.
 
Fantastic defender, I hope he gets more playing time at CB as I rate him very highly. He needs to improve some aspects of his game but that will only come if he actually gets to play.
 
He was great in his first season, but he's gone backwards since then. Not really a problem when he's still young but he's fifth-choice which is hardly going to do his development any good. Vidic, Rio and Evans are all solidly ahead of him in the pecking order, and Phil Jones has more raw talent in my opinion.
 
Count Orduck said:
He was great in his first season, but he's gone backwards since then. Not really a problem when he's still young but he's fifth-choice which is hardly going to do his development any good. Vidic, Rio and Evans are all solidly ahead of him in the pecking order, and Phil Jones has more raw talent in my opinion.
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How does Jones have more raw talent? Smalling is faster, stronger, better in the air, bigger, and in my opinion he reads the game better. I also think he is a better standing tackler than Jones. Jones has more urgency to his game and his slide tackles can be brilliant, but I don't see him as having more raw talent.
 
Smalling is easily better CB than Jones, that's not even debatable. Jones is probably better player though.
 
Amar__ said:
Smalling is easily better CB than Jones, that's not even debatable. Jones is probably better player though.
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Huh? Aren't they both CBs? So, Rio is the better CB than Cleverley, but Cleverley is the better player because he is more versatile? Please do explain...
 
I said probably, that does not necessarily mean he is better. I would take Smalling over Jones though, I like him more as a player, but I'm sure most of people see Jones as better potential overall, or as a player, not as a cb.
And Yeah, my main point is versatility. Jones has potential to become great CB in the future, but at the moment, he isn't that great on a CB, or at least not better than Smalling.
He is great player to have in the squad, since you can use him in few positions, he can play at CB, at RB, and in midfield. For example, Smalling could never play in midfield against REal Madrid.
 
Amar__ said:
I said probably, that does not necessarily mean he is better. I would take Smalling over Jones though, I like him more as a player, but I'm sure most of people see Jones as better potential overall, or as a player, not as a cb.
And Yeah, my main point is versatility. Jones has potential to become great CB in the future, but at the moment, he isn't that great on a CB, or at least not better than Smalling.
He is great player to have in the squad, since you can use him in few positions, he can play at CB, at RB, and in midfield. For example, Smalling could never play in midfield against REal Madrid.
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I see your point, and it's a pretty good one. If you were, however, to define a great player in the making, would it be an O'shea character or a Rio character? No doubt is Jones a much greater talent than O'Shea ever was, but versatility would be both players' strongest attribute at this point, whereas Rio and Smalling would be linked to that of being a center back. It's sort of the same with Welbeck; he may be the better player than Hernandez, as you say, but who would you play as a striker?

I do agree that Jones may become a great CB, just as I do believe that Welbeck can and will become a terrific striker in the future.
 
Rossa said:
I see your point, and it's a pretty good one. If you were, however, to define a great player in the making, would it be an O'shea character or a Rio character? No doubt is Jones a much greater talent than O'Shea ever was, but versatility would be both players' strongest attribute at this point, whereas Rio and Smalling would be linked to that of being a center back. It's sort of the same with Welbeck; he may be the better player than Hernandez, as you say, but who would you play as a striker?

I do agree that Jones may become a great CB, just as I do believe that Welbeck can and will become a terrific striker in the future.
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Rio character, of course, that's why I said I would pick Smalling over Jones. It's a bit complicated, but I am glad we have both, since they both look like great potentials, I just hope Smalling would get rid of those injuries.
 
Amar__ said:
Smalling is easily better CB than Jones, that's not even debatable. Jones is probably better player though.
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Yeah, that doesn't make much sense.

For me, Smalling has looked the better player to Jones. Jones has earned praise, and rightly so, for his all action gung ho defending. But Smalling has always come across the more intelligent reader of the game, he can succeed Rio perfectly.
 
I'm not sure which of our 3 younger centre backs will take over from rio and Vidic and be our main partnership. No one hand, we have a great talent in jones, who is very versatile but the youngest of the lot. We have Evans who is around the age of 25 and will probably replace rio first and partner Vidic until someone else is ready, but the question remains is he good enough to be the key defender for Manchester United? And then we have smalling, who had a fantastic first season, showed loads of promise, and had a good second year. Last season he was constantly picking up injuries so he never had the chance to show how good he is, but the thing that we can all agree on is his passing is very poor.

I ink people definitely go over the top when saying smalling can take over from rio, because smalling isn't and won't ever be that comfortable and confident on the ball. He's still got loads of potential though.
 
Smalling will have a very solid career, but Jones is destined for greatness. No, not as the greatest human being of all time...just as a footballer.
 
bosnian_red said:
I'm not sure which of our 3 younger centre backs will take over from rio and Vidic and be our main partnership. No one hand, we have a great talent in jones, who is very versatile but the youngest of the lot. We have Evans who is around the age of 25 and will probably replace rio first and partner Vidic until someone else is ready, but the question remains is he good enough to be the key defender for Manchester United? And then we have smalling, who had a fantastic first season, showed loads of promise, and had a good second year. Last season he was constantly picking up injuries so he never had the chance to show how good he is, but the thing that we can all agree on is his passing is very poor.

I ink people definitely go over the top when saying smalling can take over from rio, because smalling isn't and won't ever be that comfortable and confident on the ball. He's still got loads of potential though.
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Evans is ready but I do kinda agree we need a "leader", which wouldn't be Smalling.

Smalling is frustrating. Good positioning, has the height and is evidently a threat on our corners - but it's just that dilly-dallying on the ball and occasional poor distribution that can be costly against the better teams. Rio often plays a "long" ball that goes to the opposition but that's in their half. Smalling has shown a tendency to lose concentration and give the ball away in our half - he needs to cut that shit out.
 
Smalling comes across as a quiet person. When you play CB, you want him to dictate the defence. Jones has a great personality and its known that he's gonna be captain one day. Smalling needs to be more vocal and needs to assert himself more.

Both have their own positives and negatives. No point comparing who is the better player as we have places for both of them. They are surely going to be our future centre backs if they grow out of those niggling injuries.

I am glad we have both in our team and want them both to take over rio and vida.
 
blitz133w said:
Smalling comes across as a quiet person. When you play CB, you want him to dictate the defence. Jones has a great personality and its known that he's gonna be captain one day. Smalling needs to be more vocal and needs to assert himself more.

Both have their own positives and negatives. No point comparing who is the better player as we have places for both of them. They are surely going to be our future centre backs if they grow out of those niggling injuries.

I am glad we have both in our team and want them both to take over rio and vida.
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And yet Evans is still a better defender than both.
 
In his first season I felt he could become as good as Rio, last season he seemed very error prone though.

I think that tends to happen with defenders but I really feel he and Phil Jones could form a superb partnership in 2/3 years time should they progress
 
manusteve said:
And yet Evans is still a better defender than both.
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As of now, yes. But Evans has more experience to his name. These guys have potential to be better than evans. Also we dont have to choose between them. After rio and vidic retires, theres going to be two spots for three players. Everyone will get their chance.

At present johnny is clearly better than them and more reliable. But it can change
 
blitz133w said:
As of now, yes. But Evans has more experience to his name. These guys have potential to be better than evans. Also we dont have to choose between them. After rio and vidic retires, theres going to be two spots for three players. Everyone will get their chance.

At present johnny is clearly better than them and more reliable. But it can change
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I get very nervous watching Smalling in possession. It's like something calamitous is waiting to happen, whereas it's a surprise and disappointing if any of the other defenders feck up with the ball.
 
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