Good on youtube is he? That's exactly the way to evaluate how good someone is - watch some selected highlights of them at their best.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 29
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
Weird comment. He didn't mention youtube or highlights.
When did you start watching United, out of interest? I've never seen anyone who didn't rate Rio before.
A clumsy, awful footballer but an athlete.
He's exceptionally quick and that'll get him out of trouble to a point. He does have somewhat of a brain though, at least, compared to the rest of our godawful defenders so perhaps there's something there.
He's exceptionally quick and that'll get him out of trouble to a point. He does have somewhat of a brain though, at least, compared to the rest of our godawful defenders so perhaps there's something there.
I swear he was class on the ball when we signed him but how can it go from one extreme to the other? Like when Rooney was shit at heading for about 6 years, then went world class at it for a season, then went back to being shit.
He was never "class", but he didn't look nervous when he turned up at United. I think he made some passing mistakes, most likely when we shunted him to fullback that shook his confidence and made him hesitate with each pass. When you're a young player who hasnt made mistakes and has no idea about responsibility, you show no fear.
He said to watch some videos of his best bits to educate myself. I've watched Ferdinand play for United for years. How would watching some highlight videos change my opinion?
I've been watching United since the mid 80s. I didn't say I don't rate Ferdinand. I was referring to comments that said he was better than Vidic and bizarrely Ronaldo and previous ones that mentioned he was the best defender in the world. He was a quality defender but Vidic was clearly far superior.
Twice in my time watching United has a defender been signed that transformed the defence into a formidable one. Those defenders were Stam and Vidic.
Always a big fan of Smalling. When we signed him, he went through a period where he looked very assured and even composed on the ball - as natural a Rio replacement as were likely to find. (Funnily - Varane reminds me of Smalling first couple seasons with is). I thought Smalling was that good.
Injuries, the lack of game time at cb, being played out of position has probably stalled both him and Jones. I really do hope he puts a consistent, injury free run together. Its time for both him and Jones to start fulfilling their promise.
Injuries, the lack of game time at cb, being played out of position has probably stalled both him and Jones. I really do hope he puts a consistent, injury free run together. Its time for both him and Jones to start fulfilling their promise.
Rio Ferdinand was the best centre back in the world when he was in his prime. I don't think many people would argue against that.
Who said anything about youtube? Go watch some full matches. The only way you wouldn't think Rio was exceptional is if you didn't watch him play enough.
Clearly far superior? You been watching the games pissed?
Unfortunately many would.
Of the two different playing styles, generally people appreciate the hard hitting defender (Vidic) more than the game reading, technical defender (Rio)
Hence why people say Jones is better than Smalling.
Vidic did indeed transform our defence, but it helped that he had Ferdinand, Evra and VDS alongside him. The only reason you see him as the part that transformed the defence is because of the timing of his purchase. I doubt he would have 'transformed' our defence playing alongside Blanc, Silvestre and Barthez. Similarly, if Ferdinand was the last piece of the puzzle in a backline consisting of Vidic, Evra and VDS, he'd probably be getting the credit for transforming our defence. Both were absolutely immense, and I genuinely couldn't say which one was better for us.
I find it weird that people say being shunted to RB screwed his passing ability over. The 11/12 season he was very solid at RB, tore a good few teams apart with Valencia he did. The problem is his appearance. People look at him and then instantly decide everything he does is clumsy because he looks like a Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime. The same happened with Cleverley and the way he struck a ball.
The only problem outside of his injury record, is that he seems to become easily nervous.
Yeah, I suppose that's right. I guess Rio's going to be a bit underrated for many, due to his interests outside of football too.
My favourite United player of the current bunch.
Love him immensely.
Love him immensely.
His passing was once again not half as shite as being said on here.
He was (rightly) slated after the City game, so it's only fair we praise him for a great performance yesterday.
Ignoring the horror show against City, he'd been our best CB by a mile this season, which made the calls for him to be fecked off at the end of the season a bit laughable.
Ignoring the horror show against City, he'd been our best CB by a mile this season, which made the calls for him to be fecked off at the end of the season a bit laughable.
Are you seriously suggesting that Smalling is better than Rio? Wow.
He was very good yesterday and marshalled the kids well.
He just meant watch him in his prime, not neccessarily his 'best bits' or highlights as you read it. Probably because he assumed you'd never seen Ferdinand in that period given your bizarre opinion on him.
In such matches Smalling will succeed al day, his best performances seem to come vs the top clubs (except vs City last time), against Bayern he was great last season, and I remember playing City some years ago and he just destroyed Tevez. He is so aware of everything, quick to react, can block, can clear the ball, can head it away, in such matches I trust him. When we just defend and hoof the ball away.
So he's an awful footballer, yet a current England international player who plays for Manchester United? Doesn't really make sense, how can he be awful? I think you need to reassess what an awful footballer is.
If he's awful what does that make you? if comparing footballing ability...
It's the Smalling boom-bust cycle.
Goes from 'best young defender in the league' to 'disaster waiting to happen' from game to game.
Needs to find consistency. Encouraging signs.
Goes from 'best young defender in the league' to 'disaster waiting to happen' from game to game.
Needs to find consistency. Encouraging signs.
That shitty volley in the first half still cracks me up, that was horrible.
I just don't get tired of watching this.
I still want to see him and Jones have a run of games together, because I honestly think they can become a really good partnership. Thing is, Van Gaal likes left footed players playing left centre back.
That is not the sign of a clumsy footballer. How many times have we seen defenders up against such a pacy attacker like Welbeck and mistiming that last ditch tackle? He has shown moments of being unstoppable in one on one situations, corners etc. , something which goes down to him being a strong defender, not just an athlete.
He's an awful footballer as in he cannot kick it to save his life, his technique is appalling, his passing is disgustingly bad and he panics in possession, that's what I mean by he's an awful footballer. I'd wager if it was me versus him in a game of crossbar challenge I'd win because he's that bad at the basic idea of kicking a football. I am utterly shite though.
What he is though, is an athlete that can get himself out of situations by being really, really quick. If you're quicker than your opponents then you've got a much better chance to get to the ball before them and therefore not look quite so bad at the game as you actually are. If you've got a knack for spotting danger too which I suppose he does then you can be a decent defender.
Not many central defenders are actually good footballers, same with goalkeepers. They don't have to be as long as they can get something in the way to stop an attacker.
What good is that when they've all been an absolute horror show? Well, McNair has been fine...
So we can just get a random fast guy and put him at the back? We might play di Maria CB if the injuries continue then.... Smalling is much more than an athlete.
Great 2nd half performance but the whole back 4 (in fact everyone except De Gea) were absolutely shocking in the first half.
He's a good defender but I doesn't fill me with confidence when in possession, and a lot of our problems yesterday stemmed from the back 4 being shaky on the ball and giving the ball straight to Arsenal. McNair and Blackett were both guilty of this
He's a good defender but I doesn't fill me with confidence when in possession, and a lot of our problems yesterday stemmed from the back 4 being shaky on the ball and giving the ball straight to Arsenal. McNair and Blackett were both guilty of this
That's a lot of exaggeration and also, too simplistic a concept of defending. I'll give you that Smalling's technique is very average and so he's poor on the ball. Smalling has performed generally well at CB, just I would prefer a first team CB at Man United to be at a much higher level still.
A great defender. Not a good passer of the ball, but can tackle and has positional sense. His primary job is to defend and stop the other team from shooting and scoring. So what if he can't pass. He'll do for me. Vilified for his rashness against City. For me, he's better than car-crash-last-minute Phil Jones.
As most people know, Smalling's off the ball work (tackling- City aside, heading, blocking and chasing back to stop chances) has always been decent. It's whether he has the passing and distribution out from the back, which is also very important. All three of our centre backs were careless in giving the ball away in the first half and against better strikers than Welbeck such as Costa and Aguero we'll be made to pay.
Its always been far more than decent. Its been nearly as good as the best group of CBs in the league
He was consistantly our best CB last season. He's one of our only remaining CBs who have had a period of consistancy (the other being Evans, and we're talking years ago and before lots of injuries and poor performances) although his injury early in the season and then the sending off disrupted that for him
He wasn't that good at the beginning of the season either before his first injury.
I'd say Jones has been best especially in a back 3 he was great but his last performance in between 2 injuries at West Brom is clouding people's judgement and his error was much less so than Smalling's.
Edit - Well you could say Mcnair is in contention too. I'd have him above Smalling too.
The passing discussion is a tedious one. We could really do with finishing top four this season and the less goals we concede the better chance of that we have. It verges on a non-issue given some of the defending we've seen from our lot so far. For now, just defend well and worry about the fancy shite after. Smalling did that yesterday.