CG1010
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- Dec 7, 2012
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I would certainly welcome him back as he is well above Jones, Rojo, etc. Not sure why he went on loan in the first place, as we were one injury away from disastor.
I believe he's the best defender at the club. Don't understand the animosity towards him at all. Far quicker than anyone we have. Strength equalling Maguire. Heading equalling Maguire. Lot more athletic than Maguire. Maybe the best 1v1 defender. His passing is not far off Maguire, who some regard as the second coming of Beckenbauer. Far overrated ballplaying ability. He only has his pricetag on Smalling.As a pure defender, how many of you actually believe Smalling is inferior to anything we have at the club? Apart from his grabby hands and poorness on the ball, the guy is rarely beaten as an actual CB and he doesn't come with a lack of strength, pace, bravery, athleticism or any kind of weakness in the air.
I see he's lumped in with Jones very flippantly by some posters here which doesn't make sense.
This talk of us being cash-strapped whilst needing to pad out the squad (post-Sancho) and get in a supplementary CB for Maguire when we still have Smalling, who is not the worst partner for Maguire by any means, is quite weird. Why is there talk of spending north of £50m on a CB when we have Smalling?
With regard to his passing., traditionally the onus is on the anchoring midfielder to alleviate the issue and take over the play as soon as possible. In the world of the high press, this is not ideal, of course, but even then, if Maguire is this ball-playing CB some people think he is, he gets more chance to showcase it in a traditional stopper/ball-player pairing, which he and Smalling would be.
If Smalling wants out, fair enough. But if we have him and he wants to stay, who is against him being our starting CB next season, and if you are against it, can you state why?
Agreed. Would be interesting to see him with Maguire at some point in the future, fair play to him for moving on and up. Had a credible season with Roma.He's our best defender, imo.
If Smalling is equal to Maguire, then why have we conceded some 30 less goals this season than last season, have more clean sheets across the 5 big leagues than any other club - despite having a keeper whos throwing the ball into the net on multiple occasions. Remember, we've swapped Smalling for Maguire and since then the stats are dramatically better. I appreciate swapping Young for AWB has helped, too.I believe he's the best defender at the club. Don't understand the animosity towards him at all. Far quicker than anyone we have. Strength equalling Maguire. Heading equalling Maguire. Lot more athletic than Maguire. Maybe the best 1v1 defender. His passing is not far off Maguire, who some regard as the second coming of Beckenbauer. Far overrated ballplaying ability. He only has his pricetag on Smalling.
I almost wish that he'd come back to refresh the memory of some fans. An overrated, error-prone donkey with awful positioning and low football IQ who's never been good enough and proved that time and time again. I honestly can't believe that so many fans still, somehow, rate this guy. Being british helps, I guess.Ffs he had the best part of a decade to prove himself. It would be a huge backward step allowing him back.
If the club are serious about getting United back to the top and backing the Manager players like Smalling should not even be thought about
He's the best defender but Maguires ball paying ability elevate him.He is still the second best center half in our books.
Last season was a complete outlier. De Gea was probably even worse than what he was this season. Matic was played every game despite being absolutely terrible and letting opposition run straight at the defence every match. Young was playing on the right (which was always his weaker side when playing fullback) and was obviously 12-18 months past his peak. Mourinho started the season deliberately fecking around our defence to make a point and went out of his way to destroy their confidence.If Smalling is equal to Maguire, then why have we conceded some 30 less goals this season than last season, have more clean sheets across the 5 big leagues than any other club - despite having a keeper whos throwing the ball into the net on multiple occasions. Remember, we've swapped Smalling for Maguire and since then the stats are dramatically better. I appreciate swapping Young for AWB has helped, too.
I wonder if it's because Chris Smalling is sneakily fast.It’s weird that Smalling at his best was playing in a highline in a possesion based team. We might not technically be a possesion based team now but we clearly want to play in a high line and out of all our defenders Smalling is the one I’d feel most comfortable with doing that.
Agreed.He is still the second best center half in our books.
None for smalling in italy anyway.The mention of VAR and his grubby hands in this thread, how many is it?
Seriously, how many penalty is given this season by VAR?
For being graby-graby?
There was that and I know he was one of the fastest players in the team but even when he was 1 on 1 he was destroying people when faced up with them. People forget how good he was that season and not just because “we were a defensive team” we weren’t but Caf gonna Caf.I wonder if it's because Chris Smalling is sneakily fast.
I'm pretty sure he clocked some ridiculously high speeds in a few games for us and was up there in Lukaku's leaked training speed test - faster than Dan James if I recall correctly!
Isn't that the expression for someone who's eternally injured?What is he selling knock-off watches?
I take the point though, he gets better in our minds the less we see of him and does he make the first XI any better than it is now? The answer is no, not to any great extent, but I'd have him back in the squad as he's our third best CB, all things considered. I'm also in two minds about his on the ball ability, in that while I think just how disastrous he is on the ball and how poor he is at passing is overplayed it's his decision-making, getting it out from under his feet to make a pass etc. that takes too long and would not improve us under a high press. Actually I would take issue with your assertion that we are good at building from the back and Smalling would disrupt it, we're still pretty poor at it now but I take the point Smalling's presence would not improve that aspect of our game.
Maybe it's all academic anyway. He seems happy at Roma, they seem keen to sign him and we seem fairly keen to move onto another target and get a fee. I heard the reports that we'd try to get him back in if we fail to sign a replacement, which sounds fine to me, but I doubt Smalling would be very happy with that.
Not so fast. Lindelof had the best stat in the league for Dribbled Past this year. 0.1 to VVDs 0.2I rate him higher than Lindelof, but as a partner to Maguire, we need someone quicker and better on the ball.
Maybe it's because he's quick and actually good at defending. Yeah I agree maybe when people said passing they meant accurate crosses to the wingers/strikers. Smalling is clearly capable of doing simple passes to the midfielders and fullbacks... which was what Lindeol and Maguire did most of the time anyway.It’s weird that Smalling at his best was playing in a highline in a possesion based team. We might not technically be a possesion based team now but we clearly want to play in a high line and out of all our defenders Smalling is the one I’d feel most comfortable with doing that.
Maybe he isn’t going to play defence splitting passes from this position and I’d give Lindelof and Bailly that over him but the way people speak about his passing is the usual Caf stupidity. Make it seem like he couldn’t pass 5 yards.
Criticised for his flaws and his strengths not appreciated. He followed on from Rio and Vida, so it was never fair to judge him against a wonderful defensive duo. I still think he’d be a good partner for Harry.I always thought Smalling was a good defender who did very little wrong and got far too much shit
Yeah in 2015-16 season we used to laugh at the ease with which Smalling used to brush off players and win 1v1 duels. He played his best season under Van Gaal who was the only manager who implemented playing out from back no matter what.There was that and I know he was one of the fastest players in the team but even when he was 1 on 1 he was destroying people when faced up with them. People forget how good he was that season and not just because “we were a defensive team” we weren’t but Caf gonna Caf.
That's how i see it. Many don't rate Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw, DDG yet we have the second or third best defense in the league and it can only improve with more time playing together. Not appreciating what you have and the grass is always greener on the other side type of thing. Imagine the abuse Smalling would get this season after giving away 4 or 5 penalties as he did in Rome with a few more goals due to poor positioningI find it hilarious how people tend to underrate what we have on our team but overrate players abroad. When Smalling was here he took a lot of slack and was called an average defender. Now that he's playing in Rome people are talking about how great he is. Truth is somewhere in between. He's a decent player who would be 4th pick in our line up and taking minutes away from Tuanzebe. He's clumbsy, handsy, not good on the ball and injury prone. That's not going to change...