ArmchairCritic
You got pets me too mines are dead
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2011
- Messages
- 16,154
Over thinking things at the moment, it will pass. Once he becomes more assertive like Evans did he will be a fabulous player.
To be honest, I think he has kinda already cemented that spot. He is the only consistent performer for them. Cahill is in and out, Lescott is the not the same player anymore, Jagielka is injured, Caulker is an option but Smalling is better, Terry and Ferdinand arent there anymore. Anyone else I miss?Find it a bit strange that no mention has been made of our young centre-half starting two World Cup qualifiers in a week for England. Thought he acquitted himself quite well overall. With a run of games in our first-team, he can cement that international spot.
You kind of glossed over Gary Cahill there. He is first choice at present I'd say. He is currently Chelsea's best centre-half and starts when fit.To be honest, I think he has kinda already cemented that spot. He is the only consistent performer for them. Cahill is in and out, Lescott is the not the same player anymore, Jagielka is injured, Caulker is an option but Smalling is better, Terry and Ferdinand arent there anymore. Anyone else I miss?
That's not saying much when the alternatives are a half-crocked and aged John Terry and David fecking Luiz. Cahill is at the age where CBs should be starting to see their prime and still has some big flaws in his game, especially getting caught in behind.You kind of glossed over Gary Cahill there. He is first choice at present I'd say. He is currently Chelsea's best centre-half and starts when fit.
He's very composed but very clumsy a lot of the time too, IMO.For someone so good on the ball it's strange how his distribution isn't good. Great defending today though.
Thought he looked on the way back to his best today, some really nice touches and confidence on the ball.Must admit that this massive decline in Smalling's ability on the ball is mind-boggling. It was one of his stand out attributes in his first couple of seasons and he put in some decent attacking performances at right back. His running into space with the ball was quality and not far behind the level of Jones, but now he's a bit clumsy and slack at times with his distribution and ball retention from the back. Not oafish by any means but the difference is pretty remarkable.
Still though, there's very little chance of this being a lasting problem given his ability and you'd expect him to at least get back to a Wes Brown-ish sort of standard in this respect. That's all we need from him because his ability when it comes to actually being a defender is pretty special.
Not saying he was bad today for this, but in general he was miles better when he first came here. He used to go running through the centre of the pitch taking a few midfielders out of the game on occasions, where as now he's a bit more of a 'get rid' sort of player. Again though, that's not to be overly critical. I genuinely have to restrain myself a bit when the Smalling threads/discussions are bumped because I rate him that highly. I just don't see any defensive weaknesses in him whatsoever and find it incredible that we've a talent like that waiting to step up when Rio calls it a day. Thought it'd be more of a Carrick for Keane type job with us finding a different alternative that complimented a partner well, but we've instead got someone who could actually go on to be similarly good.Thought he looked on the way back to his best today, some really nice touches and confidence on the ball.
Yep. This right back nonsense needs to stop.That's because he actually is a centre back.