tomaldinho1
Full Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2015
- Messages
- 17,870
You're looking at it the wrong way, it's not as case of Smalling being average on the ball compared to the 'ball playing CBs' it's the fact he's absolutely bog standard. Cahill & Terry were both comfortably better than him on the ball (and they were far from ball playing CBs) but Morgan & Huth are a good example. Smalling would have strolled into that Leicester team because that style of ultra defensive counter attacking football would suit him very well.I think a lot of people believe these days that football has dramatically changed and that all centre back have to be like prime Scholes on the ball. It seems to be the case but without any actual evidence for it other than everyone wanting to play like City. Morgan and Huth won the league a couple of seasons back, before that Cahill and Terry.
If you looked at our best results over the last few years i wold guess that Smalling has been involved in more than any other player bar De Gea. No one would have been talking about 'ball playing abilities' of our CBs during these victories. He was even right back when we beat Arsenal 8-2.
It's always exaggerated how bad he is on the ball but I'd say, hand on heart, he's bottom 25% of all PL players and that does make a difference when every few passes is slightly off pace or slightly behind it's target. Obviously it's not like he physically cannot pass the ball, he's a professional football player, but next game just watch how reliant he is on feeding ball onto his right foot and how every few passes, particularly out left to Shaw, will be behind where Shaw is by a few metres.