Smalling loan watch

Snow

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Nah LVG was right to get rid of those players, the issue was we replaced them poorly. At the time Nani left he was nowhere near his best and honestly he never proved me wrong at his next club. Let me clarify for the benefit of some, Nani was world class at his peak but we were still correct to get rid when we did.

Anyway on Smalling, this is still the right time to get rid!
No shit he replaced them poorly. There was no way he could even adequately replace them. Total nonsense of get rid of them all at the same time like that.

Nani had been injured and just needed his confidence back. Something LvG doesn't give players the asshole that he is. He wasn't even replaced.
 

Foxbatt

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The biggest issue I have with Smalling is his wresting. If he stops that then he is a good defender. I do not care if he is a ball playing defender or not if he can defend well. That is his first priority. Defend.
 

Ekeke

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The biggest issue I have with Smalling is his wresting. If he stops that then he is a good defender. I do not care if he is a ball playing defender or not if he can defend well. That is his first priority. Defend.
Yeah yeah, they said "VAR would be the end of him"

He's having his best ever season and has been the best CB in Serie A, a league where we've often been linked the CBs like Skriniar and Koulibaly for prices £80-100 million high.

Maybe, just maybe, his "wrestling" isnt as bad as people make out and is actually something a lot of players do. You can count on one hand how many times he's given away a penalty with it
 

::sonny::

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Totti>Smalling



 
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justboy68

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Smalling just highlights further the problems we've had since Fergie retired. Every player who comes here eventually regresses and every player who leaves seems to improve or get back to their best. Even all the way back to the likes of ADM and Falcao we've had this problem. They play great at first and then tail off. It's happened to almost everybody we've signed. Deep deep problems.
 

roonster09

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Smalling just highlights further the problems we've had since Fergie retired. Every player who comes here eventually regresses and every player who leaves seems to improve or get back to their best. Even all the way back to the likes of ADM and Falcao we've had this problem. They play great at first and then tail off. It's happened to almost everybody we've signed. Deep deep problems.
Don't know whether they have regressed or every small mistake was magnified and rated them based on mistakes. Since these players are in different leagues, no one cares about the mistakes but makes their name when they are playing well.

For example, Lukaku is still the same player with limitations, his goal scoring record wasn't enough as his overall play was lacking, whereas at Inter people only check his goal scoring record instead of how many times he lost the ball.

Twitter really plays too big a part in how players are rated.
 

Ballache

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As an original member of the Smalling plus 1 movement, this doesn't surprise me. He's always been a very good defender.
 

rollingstoned1

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It wasn't for nothing that Fergie said he loved defending in his autobiography and was a natural at it. It's not his fault that we are poisoned at the moment and everyone looks only 60% of what they are capable of if even that. Its hard to say that Maguire is looking like a Better player than him on the evidence so far despite what we paid. Even bloody Sanchez looked decent before getting injured at inter.
 

Hammondo

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Smalling just highlights further the problems we've had since Fergie retired. Every player who comes here eventually regresses and every player who leaves seems to improve or get back to their best. Even all the way back to the likes of ADM and Falcao we've had this problem. They play great at first and then tail off. It's happened to almost everybody we've signed. Deep deep problems.
Neither of those players were notably good after utd.
 

Hammondo

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As an original member of the Smalling plus 1 movement, this doesn't surprise me. He's always been a very good defender.
Yea and now with a proper RB we would be doing really well with him.
 

Judas

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I've heard all the excuses, but it was simply moronic to ship him out. I don't care who was to blame, but if Ole thought Lindelof should play ahead of him then you have to say its his fault. Madness.
 

Annihilate Now!

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I've heard all the excuses, but it was simply moronic to ship him out. I don't care who was to blame, but if Ole thought Lindelof should play ahead of him then you have to say its his fault. Madness.
I don't see how loaning a player (loaning! not even selling) who is far better then several members of your squad that play in his position, and in an area that you are weak in could be seen as anything but moronic.
 

justboy68

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Neither of those players were notably good after utd.

Well they definitely were beforehand and I don't follow them that closely but ADM seems to at least be holding his own. I remember ADM got off to a blazing start when he first came, seems so long ago now. I think it's a hard trend to deny, almost every purchase seems to have gotten worse since joining and at least some of them seem to improve again afterwards.
 

Skills

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I don't see how loaning a player (loaning! not even selling) who is far better then several members of your squad that play in his position, and in an area that you are weak in could be seen as anything but moronic.
We're paying a chunk of his salary as well IIRC
 

Ballache

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I've heard all the excuses, but it was simply moronic to ship him out. I don't care who was to blame, but if Ole thought Lindelof should play ahead of him then you have to say its his fault. Madness.
Not even Lindelöf, but there's no valid argument for choosing to get rid of Smalling ahead of Jones.
 

Rockets Redglare

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I’m chuffed for Smalling, whilst I wouldn’t say I was his biggest fan here I always felt he got unfairly treated by a lot of people for being first and foremost a defender.
The fact he was frozen out of the England set up because someone as terrible as John Stones can play a pass slightly better always irked me.
 

Hammondo

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Well they definitely were beforehand and I don't follow them that closely but ADM seems to at least be holding his own. I remember ADM got off to a blazing start when he first came, seems so long ago now. I think it's a hard trend to deny, almost every purchase seems to have gotten worse since joining and at least some of them seem to improve again afterwards.
I think its the type of player we have been buying, a lot of flashy players that you should only think about AFTER you have sorted the core of your team. We needed a proper functioning midfield and defence first. These players are the icing on the cake that are not 100 percent needed but can be very nice extras.
 

Hammondo

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Angel di Maria has been unbelievable for PSG last 2 years.
He looks good playing in a crap league, but his actual performances are "meh". He goes missing vs good team and doesn't really stand out much.
 

Sterling Archer

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I've heard all the excuses, but it was simply moronic to ship him out. I don't care who was to blame, but if Ole thought Lindelof should play ahead of him then you have to say its his fault. Madness.
Much like Fellaini, I think Ole was influenced by what he was reading or hearing about the player. He probably felt Southgate's assessment was good enough. Every decent manager we've had has wound up using Smalling extensively despite whatever his deficiencies are.
 

dev1l

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Usual knee jerking over here.
There s no guarantee Smalling would have started playing better had he stayed. He seems he got his confidence back, something he seems lacking last season.
 

dev1l

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He became vegan, so this is the reason of his improvements

Go vegan:smirk:
Read an interview. He says the change to veganism didn't come over night but now he feels so much better. I don't know if this has to do with his improved form... probably yes.
 

::sonny::

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Racially abused with Lukaku for being black by a newspaper in Italy

 

Isotope

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I couldn't read Italian. Was he really racially abused on that article?
 

Red_toad

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He became vegan, so this is the reason of his improvements

Go vegan:smirk:
He turned vegan well over a year ago, so no that’s not why he improved, as he was at United and vegan then. He’s playing in a league that suits him and was never as crap as the toxic united fans tried to make out he was.
 

Red Royal

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Idiots whoever wrote and approved that article.

Back to his performances , does anyone watch him to see if he still pulls shirts in the box...and how about his passing...any improvements?
 

arnie_ni

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Looks like a highly insensitive headline, not racial abuse. But something an editor should have certainly thought twice about.
He probably did. They knew what they were doing, they couldn't not have
 

JPB

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I can't believe that's real :lol:
Is the guy who printed that headline an absolute idiot or did he just not care?
 

MikeKing

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That is a parody title. It's what racism would look like in a cartoon :lol: What a joke. Journalists always with the really clever puns, like "Martial arts" etc, this guy just went 'their two best players are black obviously, it's friday, they are both from United no pun there. It's black friday! What an idiot but it's really telling of how deep that shit runs over there.