Infuriating to watch him jog on those balls played in the channel between him and AWB. He is supposedly quick, but forwards beat him to that ball constantly.
2
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 47
- Clean sheets
- 19
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 6
- Status
He is a defender for teams that are on constant defence. He looks a far more accomplished defender when we play counter attack against the bigger teams because he has players around him.
When he is isolated he cannot defend as we saw against Maddison and Mane. He cannot win duels against Josh King and Callum Wilson which is quite embarrassing tbh. They are good strikers but they are no Aguero.
Saying that, Maguire was equally poor on the weekend dealing with this. We do not create 10-12 chances a game to be left 2 v 2 at the back. This is down to the manager, how to attack whilst stopping teams countering us.
I think Lindelof and Maguire partnership is an unbalanced partnership. Most of the times these days we over-complicate things based on stats and software analysis, and in doing that forget to do simpler things right. The defensive partnership we currently have looks imbalanced, that's why I think bringing back Smalling or a better defender in that mold will provide that balance to United's back two. Lindelof is a fantastic defender but pairing with MAguire doesn't serves the purpose, I think he will thrive in partnership with someone like Laporte or Ake, similarly Maguire needs somebody like Smalling or Demiral beside him. Even a fully fit Bailly will be a perfect partner for Maguire.
Finding the right balance to starting XI and squad is the most basic yet most difficult thing in football, even with greatest players in the team if the balance is lost in any area of the field, teams struggle to win, Barcelona of 2010, Real Madrid 2003/04 had some of the best players in the game but the teams were imbalanced.
That's why I think we desperately need to find a left footed right winger/ striker to cut in from right like Rashford does from left, also a deep lying play-maker who is also good with tackles and winning the balls to free-up McTominay and Pogba.
Rest we can add up later, but we need to first fix the imbalance in our starting XI.
Finding the right balance to starting XI and squad is the most basic yet most difficult thing in football, even with greatest players in the team if the balance is lost in any area of the field, teams struggle to win, Barcelona of 2010, Real Madrid 2003/04 had some of the best players in the game but the teams were imbalanced.
That's why I think we desperately need to find a left footed right winger/ striker to cut in from right like Rashford does from left, also a deep lying play-maker who is also good with tackles and winning the balls to free-up McTominay and Pogba.
Rest we can add up later, but we need to first fix the imbalance in our starting XI.
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Agreed, I don't think we need so many different players to start challenging, just 2 or 3. To win a title more quality is needed of course, but for now, a key thing that's really ruining us is lack of balance in many areas similar to what you described.
That's why I think getting Smalling back in January, buying Haaland in attack and somebody like Kalvin Phillips in midfield will really revive our team, then if we can afford, we can make a shrewd signing by getting Eriksen from Spurs.
It's abundantly clear a lot of posters here haven't got a clue about tracking runners, passing players on, cutting off passing avenues and just defending in general. The level of simplicity many attribute to it is baffling. I mean, it's evident some people genuinely beleive a CB should stay touch tight to their man all game and just stalk him around the pitch.
Yup, I agree with Smalling and a DM, not sure Haaland is the right profile for a left-footed attacker since he's not really a winger. But yeah we definitely should have tried Smalling with Maguire; Lindelof and Maguire doesn't seem like the right balance.
We have a winner. He's this year scapegoat mostly from the Chris Smalling Fangirls who spam the thread with their fantasies and wet desires of seeing him back at Old Trafford. The defense is much improved than last year even with a much worse midfield, we aren't trailing 0-2 before the half, we aren't giving up set piece goals like last season, we aren't having Smalling shite in his pants for the first 30 minutes of every game with his panic defending, balls are getting cleared properly, DDG doesn't have to make 10 saves a game.
So 1 game in his entire career, which is completely incorrect isn’t a fact? It’s your opinion that you’re choosing to ignore his games under anyone other than Ole.
The defense is still a problem because usually when teams attack us or counterattack us, we concede a goal. It doesn't even take long, just a 15-minute spell of sustained pressure and that's it. Only Leicester and Chelsea failed to score against us in the league, and in those games we defended mainly in our own area.
In my opinion, the problem is we don't have good 1v1 defenders or a DM so we can only defend well when sitting deep. Once we push up, we're always liable to concede on the counter. Lindelof's style of defending usually contributes to this problem, as does Maguire's mobility.
Also, our goals conceded stat is misleading since teams usually don't attack us for sustained periods to score many goals. They attack us to score 1, usually a counter or a brief period of pressure, then sit back.
Our defence should at least be able to help us weather those brief attacks, since we're usually not under the cosh for the full 90.
Our defence should at least be able to help us weather those brief attacks, since we're usually not under the cosh for the full 90.
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It makes sense, but actually there are not many 1-0 losses. The only are against Bournemouth (goal 45 min) and Newcastle (goal 72 min).
How many Premier league matches does Tuanzebe have as a starting CB?
I agree the defence look better organised etc and it is ok to dislike Smalling but there is no need to insult him who actually is a United player who always give 100%, has devoted his career to his club and to my knowledge never have said a bad word about the club nor any of its players.
Defending setpieces look slightly better but 3 conceded goals come from free kicks/corners or in the mess created during a corner.
Have to agree that it's an absolute reach to put any kind of blame on Lindelof for the King goal. I guess if you really want to find blame in any player, one can literally make anything up to justify it.
Bournemouth did well to move the ball around quickly, players interchanged, Fred at the top of the was tracking Smith, as the ball came in, he let him go to defend Fraser with the ball. Smith then went back out to receive the ball, to which Ashley Young then left his space to cover, Fred also makes a move out there letting Fraser make a run in to receive the ball. Lindelof has at that point 2 player he has to consider, King and someone else (at the 1:03 mark) because Young left him, at the same time you've got AWB and Maguire marking 1 player and AWB takes responsibility for King. These are fractions of a second decisions made each game.
In the end King was covered by a defender, AWB and through a mistake of his and a bit of brilliant skill, he was able to score. Lindelof even makes a move to cover what would have been the obvious pass had AWB defended King in a way that didn't let him turn.
I am highly critical of Lindelof. Think he has mistakes in him and is not suited in a partnership with Maguire. I think it was an absolute mistake to not keep Smalling around and at least give him a chance to partner with Maguire. But, on Saturday, Lindelof was not at fault and he also actually did the role of a ball playing CB where he was moving the balls between the lines, we just were shit with the ball once he did that.
Bournemouth did well to move the ball around quickly, players interchanged, Fred at the top of the was tracking Smith, as the ball came in, he let him go to defend Fraser with the ball. Smith then went back out to receive the ball, to which Ashley Young then left his space to cover, Fred also makes a move out there letting Fraser make a run in to receive the ball. Lindelof has at that point 2 player he has to consider, King and someone else (at the 1:03 mark) because Young left him, at the same time you've got AWB and Maguire marking 1 player and AWB takes responsibility for King. These are fractions of a second decisions made each game.
In the end King was covered by a defender, AWB and through a mistake of his and a bit of brilliant skill, he was able to score. Lindelof even makes a move to cover what would have been the obvious pass had AWB defended King in a way that didn't let him turn.
I am highly critical of Lindelof. Think he has mistakes in him and is not suited in a partnership with Maguire. I think it was an absolute mistake to not keep Smalling around and at least give him a chance to partner with Maguire. But, on Saturday, Lindelof was not at fault and he also actually did the role of a ball playing CB where he was moving the balls between the lines, we just were shit with the ball once he did that.
I don't know which bit of this you don't understand or seem to accept... he has started 4 league games in his entire career. Once as a CB. There is no question, debate, or opinion here. It's simply a fact.
It's still the same concept, they score just as many as they need to draw or win, and the defence lets them do it every time.
We all say a few more goals and we would be up the table, well the same goes for clean sheets. Even worse is that we focused on defence this summer, so we should ideally be doing better defensively.
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I understand what you mean but dont agree that it would make the amount of conceded goals midleading, as I expect that to happen in most matches between most teams. And also, there is no trend or anything that United concede 0-1 early in the matches.
That's because like I said before, most teams we play are fine with a draw. If we score first, then they simply attack and get their equalizing goal, and the defence has only prevented that twice this season.
The thing with the defence is, watching the games, it just doesn't fill you with confidence unless we're sitting deep. We all know the defence has prominent weaknesses, and most know where they are. It's these factors that make me say the stats are misleading.
Start badly at Utd these days and irrespective of what happens next, that will always be some people's point of reference. I can't believe that some are apportioning the blame on him and the defence. Are people realistically say that irrespective of us not scoring, we should then be being finishing games nil nil?
I don't know about others, but I'm saying that we shouldn't expect it, because the defence usually isn't reliable enough for that; especially with the way we want to play. The fact that they're put in that position is unfortunate though.
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he played there for villa. Why can’t you accept that and under Van Gaal
2 I believe, or maybe he was a sub. The question is how many first team games has he played at first team level and the answer is not 1.
That's rubbish, played his best game at left back and was one of the better players on the pitch. Also shown more composure and leadership than Lindelof, which we are sorely lacking.
Ya'll swear we got the worst CB's in the league from the way you guys go at them. There is not one CB in this league that can go a game without making mistakes. Not one. Please relax.
Ok, i like him a lot but i am not fanboy of him so i see some of his flaws and i am not saying that he is some kind of world class defender or something like that.
But two things about him this season are huge overreactions.
First that he is slow. On tests he was among our quicker players and in Liverpool game he proved that with catching Origi in wide space. Origi is not slow attacker but despite that, Lindelof was on par with him.
Second; i don't watch u23 and i didn't watch Villa last year. But to call for Tuanzebe who played 2 games on central defender position for us is too much. I understand Smalling fanboys. Those two defenders are similiar in quality but Tuanzebe? Come on, lets wait a bit. I like also what i saw in Tuanzebe but to want him in first 11 already?
But two things about him this season are huge overreactions.
First that he is slow. On tests he was among our quicker players and in Liverpool game he proved that with catching Origi in wide space. Origi is not slow attacker but despite that, Lindelof was on par with him.
Second; i don't watch u23 and i didn't watch Villa last year. But to call for Tuanzebe who played 2 games on central defender position for us is too much. I understand Smalling fanboys. Those two defenders are similiar in quality but Tuanzebe? Come on, lets wait a bit. I like also what i saw in Tuanzebe but to want him in first 11 already?
I do think he'd be more suited to playing in La Liga, but he isnt good enough to be a starter at Barcelona, Madrid or Atletico. I think he'd be in the team at 5th place Sevilla though. Or Valencia lower down the table at 11th. Having said that theire defense was solid last season, better than Lindelof. But this season yeah he'd be in there
Van Dijk's unreal season last season has got people believing that you need a perfect defender that never makes mistakes to become successful. Which is just not true.
Our CBs were already being held to that standard before VVD even came into the premier league, because people would compare what we have to Vidic and Ferdinand and talk down about players they didnt see as becoming as good.
No defence generally is and were seen especially already even the teams at the top are conceding goals and have to score more than one to win. One goal especially if you are only scoring from a dead ball, it is very hard to win football matches. The defence is not the problem as in general we are not conceding many goals per game compared to the teams around the top....
When losing football matches always brings the forensically way of looking at matches YET when we were singing Ole is at the wheel, was there many doing the same? For many Lindelof was our player of the season. It's amazing how Smalling goes out the door who was on the list as 'deadwood', now people want him back. Lindelof or Maguire are not the problem.
Did those teams splurge their entire budget on defense? Its supposed to be our strength. They spent on attacking players, thats supposed to be their strength
Agree. My family are Villa fans and they say Mings was equally as good as Tuanzebe. We think the problem is solved by bringing someone in but the decisions made by the manager if not the right ones, will always amount to the same outcome irrespective of who comes in.
I'm saying it is our strength but it's completely unrealistic in a very competitive league to not concede one goal in 90 mins. Nil - Nil is now a very unusual score in the prem. If Liverpool or Man City didn't score goals, they would have lost not drawn football matches this season. Just look at last weekend results...
Its not unrealistic to get a clean sheet sometimes. Not every match. Smalling has managed it with Roma in 3 of the last 7 matches so I don't think its unreasonable to suggest that 2 clean sheets in 11 matches in the league this season is a disappointment especially given the huge sum of money we spent on our defense this summer.
I dont think our defense is our strength so far. Leicester, Sheffield United, Liverpool and City have all had stronger ones without spending £80 million on a CB
No body is talking about sometimes cause we already have had clean sheets 'sometimes' this season. Smalling plays a completely different league which is less competitive anyway so there is no comparison plus, unless Roma are only playing one at the back, you'll find the 'team' are not conceding. It's not just on Smalling. Have you seen how many goals those teams like Liverpool and City have scored more than us, it's easier to defend when the balls always in the other persons net.
Not sure why fans still use the same mathematical formula, that cost and worth do not equate in transfer. You paying more because the player is under contract than often his worth. You are paying more cause we are Man Utd.
Yes 2 in 11. So barely any
What the hell are you talking about less competitive? He's playing for Roma not Juventus. They came 6th last season like we did... They're 3rd now with very good form since Smalling's debut
Are you suggesting the Italian league is more competitive than the prem? I'm guessing 'sometimes' as you describe it is more than 2-11 then. You should have been more specific. Great to see that Smalling who the majority on here didn't see has Utd quality, not sure but given he went to Roma, not many in the Prem seem to think was any good either YET the competitive Italian league he's made such a difference that they are now 3rd. Roma should have signed Jones too then as maybe they'd have been top.....
You are 6 years on this forum and you are still trying to talk with Ekeke about Smalling? Oh, mate...
School boy error.....You are 6 years on this forum and you are still trying to talk with Ekeke about Smalling? Oh, mate...
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