Smalling signs new contract

POF said:
It's hard to say it was an incorrect decision because the team did well. I just found it amusing that Southgate made such a big deal out of being able to play from the back, yet the team wasn't in the slightest bit effective at it. 1980s Wimbledon created more from general play.
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Got lucky, played some awful teams, scored a lot of set pieces and penalties. The first time England met a decent team, the defence went to pieces.
 
ayushreddevil9 said:
Yeah he is just happens to be the best of among a poor bunch. Considering brexit in mind, he is not really a bad choice for a backup. Helps with homegrown quota too. Hoping that Axel steps his game soon though.
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And be honest I don't think it's a really poor bunch. They're very low on confidence and cohesion though. I feel Smalling is a good CB. And Bailly could be an excellent one. Jones has had his phases of quality but injuries and inconsistencies render him pointless.
 
Good news and the obvious right thing to do. The man has generally given us years of consistent service, and simply knows how to defend.
 
kouroux said:
3+1 is very different than 2

What myth is that exactly ? He could have conceded many pens in various games but he luckily didn't. Not saying he will concede with VAR but if the risk can be avoided altogether, it's better
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The one is optional FFS. It'll be triggered if we need him. It's 3 Vs 2. Hardly anything be outraged about. If you disagree with keeping him at the club then that's a different matter but I'd be interested in the reasons why.
 
GailSpaceWynand said:
Just curious, who is in charge of wages offered? because it seems to make no sense. If these are the same guys, who handed Jose a contract extension in the middle of a season where we would win nothing - then the root of the problem is an inferior upper management who don't know how to control their expenditure.
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Mourinho is the problem. In fact, mourinho is the source of all evil!
 
amolbhatia50k said:
The one is optional FFS. It'll be triggered if we need him. It's 3 Vs 2. Hardly anything be outraged about. If you disagree with keeping him at the club then that's a different matter but I'd be interested in the reasons why.
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I know it's optional since I wrote it 3+1 and rarely it's offered if there is no intent of triggering it. Hell even 2 years is too much, he's been here far too long and I'm just surprised how fans are ok, "best of a bad bunch", like it's become acceptable to keep average players like that and reward them with more money.
Our club is led by absolute morons who have let many players run down their contract at the same time and find themselves in a bad situation
 
kouroux said:
I know it's optional since I wrote it 3+1 and rarely it's offered if there is no intent of triggering it. Hell even 2 years is too much, he's been here far too long and I'm just surprised how fans are ok, "best of a bad bunch", like it's become acceptable to keep average players like that and reward them with more money.
Our club is led by absolute morons who have let many players run down their contract at the same time and find themselves in a bad situation
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He is a very good squad player. We will sign a new CB anyways so not really a bad decision.
 
kouroux said:
I know it's optional since I wrote it 3+1 and rarely it's offered if there is no intent of triggering it. Hell even 2 years is too much, he's been here far too long and I'm just surprised how fans are ok, "best of a bad bunch", like it's become acceptable to keep average players like that and reward them with more money.
Our club is led by absolute morons who have let many players run down their contract at the same time and find themselves in a bad situation
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2 years is too much? So we should sell him? It feels like people are speaking from a place of hatred rather than logic.
 
kouroux said:
3+1 is very different than 2

What myth is that exactly ? He could have conceded many pens in various games but he luckily didn't.
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No, not much difference. Unless I've missed something, the additional one year is an option for the club, not the player. If he does well in the initial three years like he's done in eight years here, then the one year will be rightly activated. If he doesn't do well, then he can be let go after the first three years.
Well every defender could have conceded many penalties in various games. Smalling is no exception, and the thing is, the objective referees who follow the damn rules without sentiments didn't deem them to be penalties, the same way VAR wouldn't deem them to be penalties. There's nothing lucky about it. Nothing really comes across as accurate when it is completely based on could have and could have.
 
Mcking said:
No, not much difference. Unless I've missed something, the additional one year is an option for the club, not the player. If he does well in the initial three years like he's done in eight years here, then the one year will be rightly activated. If he doesn't do well, then he can be let go after the first three years.
Well every defender could have conceded many penalties in various games. Smalling is no exception, and the thing is, the objective referees who follow the damn rules without sentiments didn't deem them to be penalties, the same way VAR wouldn't deem them to be penalties. There's nothing lucky about it. Nothing really comes across as accurate when it is completely based on could have and could have.
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haha that's very funny. Good lad, going by your utopia, refs are flawless beings who simply don't get anything wrong.
Refs are human, just like us, they can get it wrong. They sometimes don't even see incidents. Luck can play its part
 
That some fans thinks this is a good move is simply hilarious. You should only extend a player if you think he has a future at the club, otherwise sell or let him off on a free.

The first to 3rd choice CBs should be of good enough quality such that there is no significant drop in quality when preferred choices are unavailable. 4th and 5th choices should be reserved for talented young prospects and/or old quality warhorses that can step in for emergency duties.

We have seen enough of Smalling (along with Rojo and Jones) to know that he should not be in the rotation of a team with title ambitions against the current citeh, talk less of the CL. (same gauge should apply to bailly and lindelof soon enough). Each of these players should be shown the door as early as possible (the order is less relevant) but instead we are extending their contracts.

Its obvious that such decisions can only justified from a financial angle and not footballing reasons. It is simply much cheaper to extend the contract of a mediocre player than to buy a quality replacement and which is why we will continue to languish in mediocrity while Ed is in charge of footballing decisions.
 
as long as we keep him away from taking free kicks then I don’t mind keeping him as an eventual back up

 
ash_86 said:
If you're new to how things work in this side of Manchester, we cannot do that.
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stop making excuses for our incompetent management, they identify their weakness and upgrade to make their team better. We identify who we want to do commercials with and we upgrade to make our sponsors happy. We can do whatever City can do, we just don't know where to start. Look we bought flipping Sanchez and Fred because City wanted them, that's all you need to know about the direction the club is headed. We are chasing ghosts, they are chasing trophies.

JB7 said:
Yes and his annual budget is a blank chequebook. Things don’t work that way at United....
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And you act like we don't spend freaking money like arsenal or nothing like the spurs? Quit lying to yourself we are the #2 spender in the EPL. They spend smart, we spend stupid. They spent money on players making an impact, we spent money on damaged goods and false advertisements.
 
kouroux said:
haha that's very funny. Good lad, going by your utopia, refs are flawless beings who simply don't get anything wrong.
Refs are human, just like us, they can get it wrong. They sometimes don't even see incidents. Luck can play its part
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The referees and their decisions are technically the closest we can get to objectivity. Like I said, Smalling is no different to every defender when we go with could have and should have. You probably feel he is different because I'm convinced you watch him defend more than any other defender. There are many defenders that concede as many penalties as Smalling, and there are many that concede more. If Smalling will go down to VAR because he could have conceded penalties, then we can all conclude that many defenders, if not every other defender will go down to VAR because they could have conceded penalties too?
 
Mcking said:
The referees and their decisions are technically the closest we can get to objectivity. Like I said, Smalling is no different to every defender when we go with could have and should have. You probably feel he is different because I'm convinced you watch him defend more than any other defender. There are many defenders that concede as many penalties as Smalling, and there are many that concede more. If Smalling will go down to VAR because he could have conceded penalties, then we can all conclude that many defenders, if not every other defender will go down to VAR because they could have conceded penalties too?
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I didn't mean to single him out. There are many others who will also have to adjust (if referees decide to seriously fight illegal shirt pulling during set pieces).
I'm not saying he's doing it more than others either, he should be more careful next season is all.
I don't regard highly PL referees as I think they're mostly rubbish tbh.
 
Ban said:
Well I dont agree with that. Fact Southgate didnt take him doesn't prove anything.
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Smalling can’t run out from the back with the ball and takes an age to pass the ball. He has to angle his body in such a way so to accurately pass the ball. His first train of thought is to give it sideways to his defensive partner.

That it precisely why Southgate didn’t call him up. Maguire and Stones and both comfortable with the ball at their feet.

Defensively I think Smalling is a good defender except maybe his shirt pulling at corners. But helping the team to move forward he is a terrible defender. Bailly is probably the only defender we have who can run with the ball.

I think Smalling is the best of a bad bunch, it’s fine to give him a new contract provided he’s not a guaranteed starter but we all know the club is doing it to penny pinch on transfers. That’s Fellaini, Young and Smalling who have been given contract extensions. Three players that have all been here over 5 years that should have been sold at least 2 years ago, how many chances will they get until a manager realises they are part of the problem?
 
kouroux said:
I didn't mean to single him out. There are many others who will also have to adjust (if referees decide to seriously fight illegal shirt pulling during set pieces).
I'm not saying he's doing it more than others either, he should be more careful next season is all.
I don't regard highly PL referees as I think they're mostly rubbish tbh.
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So he is not a penalty waiting to happen in every corner kick right?
 
Josep Dowling said:
Smalling can’t run out from the back with the ball and takes an age to pass the ball. He has to angle his body in such a way so to accurately pass the ball. His first train of thought is to give it sideways to his defensive partner.

That it precisely why Southgate didn’t call him up. Maguire and Stones and both comfortable with the ball at their feet.

Defensively I think Smalling is a good defender except maybe his shirt pulling at corners. But helping the team to move forward he is a terrible defender. Bailly is probably the only defender we have who can run with the ball.

I think Smalling is the best of a bad bunch, it’s fine to give him a new contract provided he’s not a guaranteed starter but we all know the club is doing it to penny pinch on transfers. That’s Fellaini, Young and Smalling who have been given contract extensions. Three players that have all been here over 5 years that should have been sold at least 2 years ago, how many chances will they get until a manager realises they are part of the problem?
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Smalling do run with ball, he is just not very good at picking that vital pass. Jones do run with the ball too.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Why keep Lindelof and Bailly ahead of him? Unless we're supposed to sign 4 CBs.
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This has got nothing to do with bailly or lindelof. If they're eqully bad all should be shown the door.

This also has nothing to do with mourinho. Before it gets ugly. We should just stop giving contract extensions to mediocre player. Smailing has been with us for years and shown he's not a top club material, his contract running out should be a get out of jail card for us, but instead we renew mediocrity with 4 years contract well beyond his prime, he wasnt that good in his prime anyway.
 
Rozay said:
Good news and the obvious right thing to do. The man has generally given us years of consistent service, and simply knows how to defend.
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He's been paid more than his worth all these years. Off course he's going to stay, who else would have paid him as much as us?

If ronaldo stays with us then yes it's loyalty, if the likes of young or jones or smailing stays with us it's because they wont get a better salary elsewhere
 
Sky1981 said:
This has got nothing to do with bailly or lindelof. If they're eqully bad all should be shown the door.

This also has nothing to do with mourinho. Before it gets ugly. We should just stop giving contract extensions to mediocre player. Smailing has been with us for years and shown he's not a top club material, his contract running out should be a get out of jail card for us, but instead we renew mediocrity with 4 years contract well beyond his prime, he wasnt that good in his prime anyway.
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Right. Let's sell everyone and sign 25 new players this summer.

Smalling absolutely is top club material. It's just that he's probably fit to be a rotational/backup 3rd CB.
 
Josep Dowling said:
Smalling can’t run out from the back with the ball and takes an age to pass the ball. He has to angle his body in such a way so to accurately pass the ball. His first train of thought is to give it sideways to his defensive partner.

That it precisely why Southgate didn’t call him up. Maguire and Stones and both comfortable with the ball at their feet.

Defensively I think Smalling is a good defender except maybe his shirt pulling at corners. But helping the team to move forward he is a terrible defender. Bailly is probably the only defender we have who can run with the ball.

I think Smalling is the best of a bad bunch, it’s fine to give him a new contract provided he’s not a guaranteed starter but we all know the club is doing it to penny pinch on transfers. That’s Fellaini, Young and Smalling who have been given contract extensions. Three players that have all been here over 5 years that should have been sold at least 2 years ago, how many chances will they get until a manager realises they are part of the problem?
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Young and Fellaini ok, but Mike is not a part of a problem and deserves to stay. We can't release all of our defenders and buy a new crop imidiately.
His passing is not the best but on the other hand it's not as terrible as you put it. And also Maguire is not that better that we should regard Southgate decision as some hallmark imo.
 
Sky1981 said:
He's been paid more than his worth all these years. Off course he's going to stay, who else would have paid him as much as us?

If ronaldo stays with us then yes it's loyalty, if the likes of young or jones or smailing stays with us it's because they wont get a better salary elsewhere
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Yeah but Ronaldo didn't did he?
 


Said this a year or so ago, the man took to heart the whole lesson "face your chest the way you want the ball to go" from year 7 PE.

I'm not sure how a pro footballer can have so little ball manipulation skills or actual technique. I suppose he makes up for it with his physicality and strength but you need more than that at the highest level.
 
GailSpaceWynand said:
Just curious, who is in charge of wages offered? because it seems to make no sense. If these are the same guys, who handed Jose a contract extension in the middle of a season where we would win nothing - then the root of the problem is an inferior upper management who don't know how to control their expenditure.
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I don't know. You see, an almost non-entity like Lukaku was paid 200+k/wk when United signed him, just a bit short than Aguero who's been the best striker for ages. While Kane was only around 100k/wk. Then Sanchez at 350-400k/wk, destroying our wage structure, and make DDG to use him as standard to get 400k/wk.

I don't know what's the thinking of also let the players run down their contract, thus forcing the club to either let them go for free, or succumb to the players demand on these outrageous wages. I have my suspicion where CEO of big companies do usually care about the annual/quarter book balance, more than what could happen for the next 5 years.
 
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kouroux said:
Not by getting rid of him per se but definitely by not rewarding him like that. This contract extension is crazy when you think about it
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It's not too bad. 120k isn't crazy money and we could sell in 2 seasons and get an ok fee. I think it's actually a fairly sensible contract.
 
redpatron said:
And you act like we don't spend freaking money like arsenal or nothing like the spurs? Quit lying to yourself we are the #2 spender in the EPL. They spend smart, we spend stupid. They spent money on players making an impact, we spent money on damaged goods and false advertisements.
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Our manager wanted to spend money on the defence this summer, Woodward wouldn’t back him. As such we ended up being outspent by clubs like Leicester, Fulham and West Ham ffs.

We aren’t the number two spenders in the league by the way. The top two clubs in the league table are the top spenders over the last 3 years. Chelsea have outspent us in that period too.
 
Why are we celebrating/condoning mediocrity in this club? this is maddening! All this years we are still holding on to this type of players to the extent of making them core of our team and we wonder why we are where we are.


Crazy!
 
Rozay said:
Good news and the obvious right thing to do. The man has generally given us years of consistent service, and simply knows how to defend.
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Quite right. He does know how to defend and the biggest problem is that he has rarely has a settled CB partner.

I am not sure that his passing is as bad as some make out. People have latched onto Southgate comments.
 
We need to aspire for more but even if we somehow manage to sign 2 starters, someone of his quality as a back up would be a great deal.
 
Makes perfect sense really.Hes still our best defender and while he’s never going to go down as a world class CB,he’s certainly a very good player to have in your squad and I”m happy that he’s going to stay with us for the foreseeable future,,,
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:


Said this a year or so ago, the man took to heart the whole lesson "face your chest the way you want the ball to go" from year 7 PE.

I'm not sure how a pro footballer can have so little ball manipulation skills or actual technique. I suppose he makes up for it with his physicality and strength but you need more than that at the highest level.
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Well, he is a defender so not sure why he should display his technique in that particular situation. Clearly it isn't his strongest side, and he knows that so he doesn't take any risks with the ball in a defensive position in a professional game for the biggest club in England. I can shuffle a ball alright but I would have shit myself on that level. It is a different level as the tempo and competitive nature is very high and it will effect your skills. Even the best ball manipulator in our squad, Pogba who loves showing off his most amazing skills rarely has he the time to pull anything off effectively in really high tempo games.

Actually the context for that clip makes the whole use of it as evidence to back up an argument to criticise him rather ridiculous. Yeah, he turns his body like that it looks very goofy, I'm not denying that, but at the same time it is a reason for it that you are missing. Look at the clip and you see the other defenders and everyone running back while Smalling had positioned himself and intercepted the counter-attack. The reason why a player would turn that much is to protect the ball, only he didn't see that the attacker had given up and didn't even bother to press anymore. That is how you kill an attack, and it is actually a good little piece of defensive positioning by Smalling turned into a reason to bash him. If the other team choses to press heavy there, you'd not want a player doing tricks as the last man ffs. You can also find a clip of him nutmegging a guy or some shit like that, but I guess it isn't as fun to dig up as it isn't tied in with the bigger picture of moaning about our club.
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:


Said this a year or so ago, the man took to heart the whole lesson "face your chest the way you want the ball to go" from year 7 PE.

I'm not sure how a pro footballer can have so little ball manipulation skills or actual technique. I suppose he makes up for it with his physicality and strength but you need more than that at the highest level.
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Not really sure what this clip is meant to show.
Yes he’s awkward and gangly, but he chose the best option in that situation.
He’s got 6 players surrounding him in close proximity in our final third.
If he passed it back it would place us under pressure, and he would get criticised for that. He can’t pass it to Fellaini because he’s not a ball carrier, Matic is too close to the opposing player and any interception would put us under pressure also.
Given the amount of players who are near him, there’s only 3 players further forward out of picture.
There’s only 3 opposing players in that video so it’s fair to assume there’s at least 6 opposing players in front of the ball, while we only have 3

So what would you have him do?

This video is a damning verdict of our coaching and lack of direction. Smalling does nothing wrong.
 
villain said:
Not really sure what this clip is meant to show.
Yes he’s awkward and gangly, but he chose the best option in that situation.
He’s got 6 players surrounding him in close proximity in our final third.
If he passed it back it would place us under pressure, and he would get criticised for that. He can’t pass it to Fellaini because he’s not a ball carrier, Matic is too close to the opposing player and any interception would put us under pressure also.
Given the amount of players who are near him, there’s only 3 players further forward out of picture.
There’s only 3 opposing players in that video so it’s fair to assume there’s at least 6 opposing players in front of the ball, while we only have 3

So what would you have him do?

This video is a damning verdict of our coaching and lack of direction. Smalling does nothing wrong.
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You're missing the point completely.
Any other player would make th e same pass instantly.

He has to completely manoeuvre his whole body to make the pass. It's ridiculous.

However, i still think he's by far our best defender and just needs a quality partner. Him not being a ball player isn't the massive problem every one tries to make.it
 
Hope the new manager comes in and deems him surplus to requirements. As far as the top level goes Smalling is average, sure he's our best CB now but then again Ashley Young was our best fullback last season and I wanted him out too.

Young, Valencia, Rojo, Jones and Smalling should all be out of the club. They've been here way too long and have nothing more to offer than they've already shown. Similar to how Pep had a fundamental restructuring of City's defence, that's exactly what we need and we'd be far better for it having players who can also play football as well as defending for once.
 
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