Jose Fonte

Organic Potatoes said:
$$$

errr, sorry...£££
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Are you suggesting cash is the only attraction from leaving Southampton when in the twilight to come to us where you could finally see some real return for what we all know is a quality player ;) he has won more on the international stage than any of our defenders correct and he's performed as well as any of them over several seasons. He might just win some trophies and be key in many games to achieve that who knows. A no brainier for any player confident in his own abilities.
 
the unknown one. said:
I rate Fonte highly, but he is not as good as Smalling or Bailly(so far) and is on a similar level to Blind.
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Which Smalling? The one whose insides got turned by lowly rated forwards like Zaha & Bolasie in the cup final. We tend to overrate some of our players here. If Smalling had half the intelligence of Fonte, we wouldn't have finished 5th last season.

It's a mirage. Surely, Smalling showed massive improvement last season and this creates a false image that he's suddenly top class. The bitter sad truth is, he's not. Compare Fonte's performance in the Euros to Smalling and you would see the gulf in class between them.

I like Chris Smalling a lot but he's not as good as Fonte. I saw Fonte shut down our attacks twice at Old Trafford under Koeman. It was one of the best defensive displays I have seen. Let's call spade what it is.....Smalling isn't as good as we tend to hype him here.
 
Smalling were in the Team Of The Season last season, Fonte wasn't...
With that said I really rate Fonte, but Smalling was easily our third best player last year, he were great.
 
Son Of Sam said:
Which Smalling? The one whose insides got turned by lowly rated forwards like Zaha & Bolasie in the cup final. We tend to overrate some of our players here. If Smalling had half the intelligence of Fonte, we wouldn't have finished 5th last season.

It's a mirage. Surely, Smalling showed massive improvement last season and this creates a false image that he's suddenly top class. The bitter sad truth is, he's not. Compare Fonte's performance in the Euros to Smalling and you would see the gulf in class between them.

I like Chris Smalling a lot but he's not as good as Fonte. I saw Fonte shut down our attacks twice at Old Trafford under Koeman. It was one of the best defensive displays I have seen. Let's call spade what it is.....Smalling isn't as good as we tend to hype him here.
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All true but it's been seen many times playing under the spotlight at OT for united brings its own pressure and given the constant changes back there Smalling has been very good. Not great for me and I doubt he'll ever be such but he deserves credit.
 
Smalling during the season:
Starts almost every game. Fans on this forum rate him the third best regular behind De Gea and Martial. Our players award him player of the year.

Smalling during the off season:
Injury prone. Overrated. Basically every defender we are linked with is better than him.
 
ivaldo said:
Nah.
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Much better reader of the game. Better at organising and is a natural leader.

Smalling only has pace on him.

Fonte has been an ever present in the league for the past three seasons.

Yeah.
 
settembrini said:
Smalling during the season:
Starts almost every game. Fans on this forum rate him the third best regular behind De Gea and Martial. Our players award him player of the year.

Smalling during the off season:
Injury prone. Overrated. Basically every defender we are linked with is better than him.
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He was much more consistent before January. His shirt pulling and errors became more frequent after Christmas.

Good player, but not top, top level.
 
Johan77 said:
Have to correct myself, Smalling wasn't in TOTS, but in the second team.
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Smalling wasn't in any second team. I don't know where you are getting your information from. De Gea was our only player that made PFA team. Smalling is good. His potential says he can be very good but he cannot read the game better than Fonte. Fonte is the more accomplished centre-half.
 
settembrini said:
Smalling during the season:
Starts almost every game. Fans on this forum rate him the third best regular behind De Gea and Martial. Our players award him player of the year.

Smalling during the off season:
Injury prone. Overrated. Basically every defender we are linked with is better than him.
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Exactly

Smalling was easily the best centre half in the PL last season baring maybe the Leicester captain and now all of a sudden he isn't good enough. Eric baily and Smalling are as good as any centre halfs you are going to face in the league this year.
 
Red Pavan said:
I thought Jose Fonte was 27 or 28. He is going to turn 33 by the time the year is up.
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Such a nonsense signing, especially as all summer this forum has been begging Mourinho to keep Fosu Mensah and to give him a chance and now all of a sudden Fonte is the answer to all prayers.

He's just looking for his last big pay day after winning the Euros. And if he was that good wouldn't you think Arsenal would be all over him a team desperate for a 1st choice CB.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
He was much more consistent before January. His shirt pulling and errors became more frequent after Christmas.

Good player, but not top, top level.
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His form dipped slightly towards the end of the season but overall he still had an excellent campaign. As is evident by his very high score in the match day ratings and our players naming him their player of the year.

I agree he is not a truly elite player and perhaps never will be. He is certainly lacking technically (although so were Vidic and Stam). However he has improved significantly over recent years and I expect will step up again under Mourinho. I also expect all the criticism he is currently getting to vanish once he is playing, just as it did last season.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
Much better reader of the game. Better at organising and is a natural leader.

Smalling only has pace on him.

Fonte has been an ever present in the league for the past three seasons.

Yeah.
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Smalling is much quicker, much stronger, much better in the air, much better in one on ones, a much better tackler and was part of the best defense in the league last year.

So no, really. No.
 
ivaldo said:
Smalling is much quicker, much stronger, much better in the air, much better in one on ones, a much better tackler and was part of the best defense in the league last year.

So no, really. No.
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He's not better in the air. Fonte is a threat at both ends of the pitch. Who needs strength when you read the game? Rio and Carvalho didn't bully strikers, they read the game. He's that style of defender. He's much better on the ball and improves those around him.

United's defence only matched Spurs' because of the possession football we played, the high number of players we positioned in our own half, and obviously De Gea's heroics. It wasn't a great defence at all. Our style of play made us look better at the back than we were.

Southampton finished 6th with Fonte as captain, which is a great achievement considering the difference in budgets and the number of players that they have lost over the past few seasons.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
He's not better in the air. Fonte is a threat at both ends of the pitch. Who needs strength when you read the game? Rio and Carvalho didn't bully strikers, they read the game. He's that style of defender. He's much better on the ball and improves those around him.

United's defence only matched Spurs' because of the possession football we played, the high number of players we positioned in our own half, and obviously De Gea's heroics. It wasn't a great defence at all. Our style of play made us look better at the back than we were.

Southampton finished 6th with Fonte as captain, which is a great achievement considering the difference in budgets and the number of players that they have lost over the past few seasons.
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When you say that what's the point in even trying to discuss it with you?
 
settembrini said:
Smalling during the season:
Starts almost every game. Fans on this forum rate him the third best regular behind De Gea and Martial. Our players award him player of the year.

Smalling during the off season:
Injury prone. Overrated. Basically every defender we are linked with is better than him.
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It's honestly bizarre. I can't wait until his fully fit and he and Bailly line up as our CB pairing.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
A shame he can't use his aerial prowess to score a few goals.
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You seem to relish sticking the boot into Manchester United players, are you sure you're on the right forum? Aren't you that fella who was banging on about Danny Rose being better than Marcelo?

While Fonte was getting the sloppy seconds treatment behind the acquisition of Lovren, Shaw and others, Smalling was marshalling the league's best defence despite a raft of injuries and a manager of questionable competence.
 
If Fonte signs, do you think he will be a regular starter or rotation/ back up?

Never been keen on rotation in CBs personally. Prefer a solid consistent defense. Would like Bailly/Smalling as our first choice. Then Fonte Blind for cups and easier home matches
 
Sam M said:
You seem to relish sticking the boot into Manchester United players, are you sure you're on the right forum? Aren't you that fella who was banging on about Danny Rose being better than Marcelo?

While Fonte was getting the sloppy seconds treatment behind the acquisition of Lovren, Shaw and others, Smalling was marshalling the league's best defence despite a raft of injuries and a manager of questionable competence.
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Are you a mod? Didn't think so. I will comment on any player I want to.

Look how that turned out for Liverpool. :lol: They signed the wrong centre back. No Fonte to hold his hand.

Blind was the real leader of our defence and he helped bring Smalling's game on. Apart from Shaw, the first choice centre backs played 50+ games and De Gea played nearly every game after committing to the club.
 
Son Of Sam said:
It's a mirage. Surely, Smalling showed massive improvement last season and this creates a false image that he's suddenly top class. The bitter sad truth is, he's not
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Totally agree.

He improved so much last season, and I rate him to the extent that I would want to keep him and see him get his fair share of games too, perhaps that's one thing LVG might deserve some small credit for, who knows.

but he's still got too many sloppy errors in him and you're never quite confident that at some point he won't play a terrible pass in a bad position.

I'm not sure if Fonte is that much better, but I rate him enough to be happy to see him given the chance to show us.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
If Fonte signs, do you think he will be a regular starter or rotation/ back up?

Never been keen on rotation in CBs personally. Prefer a solid consistent defense. Would like Bailly/Smalling as our first choice. Then Fonte Blind for cups and easier home matches
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I think he'll decide on his first choice pair and stick with it for league games at least.

My gut feeling is if he brings him in, he's intending to start him.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
Are you a mod? Didn't think so. I will comment on any player I want to.

Look how that turned out for Liverpool. :lol: They signed the wrong centre back. No Fonte to hold his hand.

Blind was the real leader of our defence and he helped bring Smalling's game on. Apart from Shaw, the first choice centre backs played 50+ games and De Gea played nearly every game after committing to the club.
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Actually it was Big Chris as the lynchpin of that back 4, bullying the centre forward. And Jose's gonna eek out the extra 5% of Smalling much to your disappointment.

As much as we circlejerk over shiny and enticing Soton players we fail to see what quality we already have. The only exception is Shaw, who is genuinely special, Fonte is the new Morgan Schneiderlin.

And that is my last post allocated in here for the day!
 
settembrini said:
Smalling during the season:
Starts almost every game. Fans on this forum rate him the third best regular behind De Gea and Martial. Our players award him player of the year.

Smalling during the off season:
Injury prone. Overrated. Basically every defender we are linked with is better than him.
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This may come as a shock to you, but there are a fair few people on this forum with wavering opinions. Branding everyone under the same brush doesn't bring anything to the debate.
 
Sam M said:
Actually it was Big Chris as the lynchpin of that back 4, bullying the centre forward. And Jose's gonna eek out the extra 5% of Smalling much to your disappointment.

As much as we circlejerk over shiny and enticing Soton players we fail to see what quality we already have. The only exception is Shaw, who is genuinely special, Fonte is the new Morgan Schneiderlin.
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I think you have mistaken shirt pulling for bullying. Blind was the one who put Lukaku in his back pocket when he pulled onto him.

Shaw might never be the same again. Schneidelrin can play at a much higher level if allowed to play box to box, rather than this holding role that fails to utilise his high energy game.

When a player plays for United, they are hyped to high heaven. When they leave, the attention fades. Butt, Richardson and Cleverley found themselves out of the England setup once they left. I bet Jones would struggle to make an England squad if he leaves.
 
sully1 said:
Fonte is no RVP
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No but both were a luxary signing. We dont "need" another cb, but another one would be nice.

I have no problem with being "greedy" i would happily take another rb as well
 
sully1 said:
Smalling was easily the best centre half in the PL last season baring maybe the Leicester captain and now all of a sudden he isn't good enough. Eric baily and Smalling are as good as any centre halfs you are going to face in the league this year.
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Meanwhile, in some Redcafe goes into meltdown thread, this post gets a lot of lols.

Alderweireld was by far the best CB in the league last season, no idea how someone might say that Smalling was better than him. Both Leicester CBs were better as was probably Koscielny. Personally, I would add Blind on being slightly better over the course of the season, although I think that the differences between these two and Fonte are quite marginal. Regardless, Smalling + Bailly + Blind + Fonte is a decent set of CBs and I want this signing to happen. Do not trust at all Jones or Rojo.
 
Dec9003 said:
This may come as a shock to you, but there are a fair few people on this forum with wavering opinions. Branding everyone under the same brush doesn't bring anything to the debate.
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Yes it really shocks me that people have wavering opinions. The fact that people's opinions seem to waver depending on whether Smalling is currently playing or not was in no way the point I was making...

And if you want to backseat mod then report me, don't quote me. It's irritating to get an alert for someone who would rather post about me than about football.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
He's not better in the air. Fonte is a threat at both ends of the pitch. Who needs strength when you read the game? Rio and Carvalho didn't bully strikers, they read the game. He's that style of defender. He's much better on the ball and improves those around him.

United's defence only matched Spurs' because of the possession football we played, the high number of players we positioned in our own half, and obviously De Gea's heroics. It wasn't a great defence at all. Our style of play made us look better at the back than we were.

Southampton finished 6th with Fonte as captain, which is a great achievement considering the difference in budgets and the number of players that they have lost over the past few seasons.
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I think that he probably is. Smalling is a bit more agressive, which makes him lose slightly more duels, but on the other side, Smalling attempts more duels than Fonte. On average, Smalling wins 3.46 aerial duels compared to 2.43 for Fonte, while Fonte has a better successful rate of 68.18% compared to 63.68% for Smalling.

I think that when it comes to aerial duels, the number of duels won is far more important IMO (Blind for example has the same percentage as Smalling but he wins only 1.25 aerial duels for match and anyone who watched the games realizes that he is far worse than Smalling at it despite the same percentage of aerial duels won).

Also, Fonte's ability on reading the game is nowhere as good as those players you mentioned, heck, I think that even Blind is better at it than Fonte.
 
I think Smalling is often overrated on this forum but, the fact that people think Fonte is better than Smalling shows we are still in full muppet season.
 
Revan said:
I think that he probably is. Smalling is a bit more agressive, which makes him lose slightly more duels, but on the other side, Smalling attempts more duels than Fonte. On average, Smalling wins 3.46 aerial duels compared to 2.43 for Fonte, while Fonte has a better successful rate of 68.18% compared to 63.68% for Smalling.

I think that when it comes to aerial duels, the number of duels won is far more important IMO (Blind for example has the same percentage as Smalling but he wins only 1.25 aerial duels for match and anyone who watched the games realizes that he is far worse than Smalling at it despite the same percentage of aerial duels won).

Also, Fonte's ability on reading the game is nowhere as good as those players you mentioned, heck, I think that even Blind is better at it than Fonte.
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What makes you think they read the game better? Fonte is not fast, so he relies on his intelligence.

Any defender who plays at the top level past the age of 31 usually does so because of their ability to read the game.
 
One of the (banned) redtops are saying we're offering Southampton Rojo in part-exchange.

Apparently Southampton were very interested in him before we signed him.

I'd normally dismiss it as absolute garbage, but I recognise the name of the journalist who has put his name to the piece. I think he might be quite close to the Southampton camp and I know it from the Schneiderlin transfer last summer.
 
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ThanksBoss26 said:
One of the (banned) redtops are saying we're offering Southampton Rojo in part-exchange.

Apparently Southampton were very interested in him before we signed him.

I'd normally dismiss it as absolute garbage, but I recognise the name of the journalist who has put his name to the piece. I think he might be quite close to the Southampton camp and I know if from the Schneiderlin transfer last summer.
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Not sure I believe that. The alleged asking price for Fonte is hardly extortionate so I don't see why we'd look to subsidise it by offering Rojo.

Besides, we bought Rojo for £16m and he featured quite prominently for us last season. I know his success for the club has been very limited but I'd hope he'd still have more resale value than a throwaway swap deal for Jose Fonte.
 
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