Virgil Van Dijk

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Loublaze said:
Based on what? His 'commitment' comments which were proven to be baseless since Smalling was indeed injured? Mourinho did praise him for playing through the pain barrier against Chelsea. Smalling has not been singled out like Shaw and Mkhitaryan for instance. Keep telling yourself Mourinho doesn't rate him if it makes you comfortable. He wouldn't be captain if he didnt, he wouldn't have dropped Blind for him if he didn't and paired him with Bailly once he got match fit again, he wouldn't have made him a starter he would've played Jones or Rojo instead. Once Smalling gets match fit he's going to reclaim his place in the starting 11.
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I'm not saying anything to make myself comfortable. Not sure how you can equate Mourinho making some captain as rating them highly since the first player he had as captain is a regular on the bench. Smalling being better than Jones/Rojo isn't signing his praises since Rojo is garbage and Jones consistently injured.

Time will tell how much Mourinho truely rates Smalling but there's no surprise to see MEN linking us with a number of CB's in January and next summer, he'll be lucky if he isn't a squad player come next season.
 
goin4glory said:
I'm not saying anything to make myself comfortable. Not sure how you can equate Mourinho making some captain as rating them highly since the first player he had as captain is a regular on the bench. Smalling being better than Jones/Rojo isn't signing his praises since Rojo is garbage and Jones consistently injured.

Time will tell how much Mourinho truely rates Smalling but there's no surprise to see MEN linking us with a number of CB's in January and next summer, he'll be lucky if he isn't a squad player come next season.
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Lucky if he isn't a squad player next season? I highly doubt it. Smalling can defend, and he's awesome in the air. Add his height and you have the type of defender Mourinho has always depended on especially when defending a lead. Mourinho will always go for a match fit Smalling even just because of his height and aerial ability which is second to none in this squad. He relied on Cahill at Chelsea who's not better than Smalling. As for the part in bold, do you really think Mourinho was going to come and strip Rooney of the captaincy? Which manager does that to a long serving club 'legend'? Rooney is on the bench because he's garbage, but Mourinho will not strip him of his captaincy.

Smalling on the other hand he didn't have to give him the armband in Rooney's absence. LVG described Smalling as the leader at the back, im pretty sure Mourinho sees the same thing. Lets see if United even buy a CB in January. United are ALWAYS linked to players so paper gossip doesn't mean jack. Time will tell indeed though, I agree with that
 
This seems to have turned into a van Dijk vs Smalling fans situation, personally I don't care if it's van Dijk we buy I just want to see us bring in a partner with his attributes on the ball to play with Bailly.
 
Isn't it funny how opposition players seem to make more mistakes the more you watch and look out for them.

It's almost as if that doesn't happen to our own players.
 
Hah, yeah. His overall game against Liverpool was pretty good but was blemished by a massive error too.
 
If Liverpool were to get him in January and they are still within a point or two from the top, then he could be the CB that shores up those goals that could get them the title. Excellent player who has adapted perfectly to the EPL.
 
Matt Law recently tweeted the below. I don't think we're in for him, well not in the January window anyway.
 
Klopper76 said:
Matt Law recently tweeted the below. I don't think we're in for him, well not in the January window anyway.
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Makes sense. Klopp has more attacking midfielders like Pulisic, and whoever else he can find to worry about. :p
 
If i was Liverpool, I'd be more inclined to try and get a keeper in Jan, the one they have right now is shocking.
 
He got a City shirt as a secret Santa gift from one of the other Saints players.
 
poleglass red said:
If i was Liverpool, I'd be more inclined to try and get a keeper in Jan, the one they have right now is shocking.
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Replacing Karius at this point would be absurd.

Liverpool do need a new centerback partner for Matip but I think that is likely to be Tah.
 
United Pro said:
If Liverpool get Tah, that would be a very dominant combination, so let's hope they don't get him.
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They've not been linked with him so looks fairly unlikely that they'll get him, would be a shame to see him go to Liverpool, could be absolutely excellent in a few seasons.
 
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