Apart from his passing, what did Smalling actually do wrong? And are you against him coming back next season?

[yan man utd]

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?

i totally agree. It is very weird how the witch hunt developed and just as we spent 80 million to improve our defence on a ball playing Defender we loaned out what looked like our best and scariest (for the opposition).

can anyone remember Puyol - mainstay in the all conquering Barca team - hardly a ball playing defender - in fact he was sometimes paired with mascherano who was hardly your ultimate defender but could step out. Nevertheless, as a footballer you wouldnt like to play against either
Of them because of their tenacity

here we are suffering and still debating lindelof

our defence would look 10 times better with Smalling instead with Maguire and there would be no dithering or back peddling.

Smalling is no where near as bad at passing as people our own fan site say. Can anyone remember a key pass from lindelof or any contribution in atrack aerially?

it’s a joke topic. I don’t get it!

 

[meamth]

i totally agree. It is very weird how the witch hunt developed and just as we spent 80 million to improve our defence on a ball playing Defender we loaned out what looked like our best and scariest (for the opposition).

can anyone remember Puyol - mainstay in the all conquering Barca team - hardly a ball playing defender - in fact he was sometimes paired with mascherano who was hardly your ultimate defender but could step out. Nevertheless, as a footballer you wouldnt like to play against either
Of them because of their tenacity

here we are suffering and still debating lindelof

our defence would look 10 times better with Smalling instead with Maguire and there would be no dithering or back peddling.

Smalling is no where near as bad at passing as people our own fan site say. Can anyone remember a key pass from lindelof or any contribution in atrack aerially?

it’s a joke topic. I don’t get it!

Puyol had Xavi-Busquets-Iniesta controlling the game for him.

We have a flair DLP in Pogba and not so quick Matic protecting the back. You replace Lindelof with Smalling, then we have problems..

Lindelof is good enough, he can still improve physically. More consistency with Maguire and we're looking at a very solid defensive unit. Just trust the process, and let Smalling go..

 

[JakeC]

i totally agree. It is very weird how the witch hunt developed and just as we spent 80 million to improve our defence on a ball playing Defender we loaned out what looked like our best and scariest (for the opposition).

can anyone remember Puyol - mainstay in the all conquering Barca team - hardly a ball playing defender - in fact he was sometimes paired with mascherano who was hardly your ultimate defender but could step out. Nevertheless, as a footballer you wouldnt like to play against either
Of them because of their tenacity

here we are suffering and still debating lindelof

our defence would look 10 times better with Smalling instead with Maguire and there would be no dithering or back peddling.

Smalling is no where near as bad at passing as people our own fan site say. Can anyone remember a key pass from lindelof or any contribution in atrack aerially?

it’s a joke topic. I don’t get it!

Come on, I'm a big fan of Smalling, I really am, but by not seeing why Maguire is better suited to us as our proactive defender at this particular time has to be willful ignorance.

When you look at the important defensive metrics they are as expected quite similar. Harry Maguire attempts 20% more tackles per game while Smalling basically completes 20% more interceptions, Smalling also comes out on top with clearances, while Maguire managed to catch people offside more. They're similar in terms of quality in defensive abilities.

However, look at the ball playing statistics. Maguire completes 8 dribbles for every 1 Smalling does, completes 25% more key passes, completes 18 more passes in general per 90 minutes, and just under twice as many long balls.

Our play style of trying to create a press resistant back 4 is much more suited to Harry, than it is to Chris.

 

[yan man utd]

Puyol had Xavi-Busquets-Iniesta controlling the game for him.

We have a flair DLP in Pogba and not so quick Matic protecting the back. You replace Lindelof with Smalling, then we have problems..

Lindelof is good enough, he can still improve physically. More consistency with Maguire and we're looking at a very solid defensive unit. Just trust the process, and let Smalling go..

Sorry mate but we are Man Utd - if barca and real don’t wait - why are we?
Another flaw in your argument is where or how are we getting iniesta and xavi types

give it up and accept Smalling is an upgrade on our defence. Lindelof is awful - the one thing I agree on is that we need a DM upgrade but sorry
you don’t get the importance of how a player is boosted by the confidence of playing against lindelof.

anyway- are you honestly telling me that lindelof is so much of a better ball player than smalling? He chickens out and on the rare occasions he wins it it’s with a slide tackle to get it out of play or simply lumps it out. Sorry bro but I feel like you have been watchint different games

 

[yan man utd]

Come on, I'm a big fan of Smalling, I really am, but by not seeing why Maguire is better suited to us as our proactive defender at this particular time has to be willful ignorance.

When you look at the important defensive metrics they are as expected quite similar. Harry Maguire attempts 20% more tackles per game while Smalling basically completes 20% more interceptions, Smalling also comes out on top with clearances, while Maguire managed to catch people offside more. They're similar in terms of quality in defensive abilities.

However, look at the ball playing statistics. Maguire completes 8 dribbles for every 1 Smalling does, completes 25% more key passes, completes 18 more passes in general per 90 minutes, and just under twice as many long balls.

Our play style of trying to create a press resistant back 4 is much more suited to Harry, than it is to Chris.

You have totally misread my post mate
I am saying that Smalling should play alongside Maguire. They can both step up and squeeze midfield, they should always be able to mop up for each other.
They should play together - I don’t. Know what your harping on about

 

[meamth]

Sorry mate but we are Man Utd - if barca and real don’t wait - why are we?
Another flaw in your argument is where or how are we getting iniesta and xavi types

give it up and accept Smalling is an upgrade on our defence. Lindelof is awful - the one thing I agree on is that we need a DM upgrade but sorry
you don’t get the importance of how a player is boosted by the confidence of playing against lindelof.

anyway- are you honestly telling me that lindelof is so much of a better ball player than smalling? He chickens out and on the rare occasions he wins it it’s with a slide tackle to get it out of play or simply lumps it out. Sorry bro but I feel like you have been watchint different games

1. We did go crazy and signed players blindly over the years, and failed.
2. We can't get Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta type of players because they are generational talents. What we currently have now is good enough.
3. Smalling was the reason why De Gea is our player of the year for 3 years straight.
4. Lindelof is underrated.
5. Players boosted by seeing Lindelof on the pitch? How the feck do you know that? What are your facts?
6. Lindelof is better ball player? I think he is, and most of the caf will agree.
7. Chickens out? give me a youtube compilation of Lindelof chickening out.
8. Smalling's trademark move is hoofing the ball.
9. I think you're the one watching Milan classic matches and mistaken Maldini as Smalling.

 

[EwanI Ted]

Not sure what you think is odd about the statement - Smalling is a liability in terms of playing out from the back, but there's clearly more to the issue than that.

It was the passive aggressive "the majority agree with me" bit. Dont really understand what you were trying to get at there.

Fred and McTominay with only one attacking midfielder ahead of them is not at all similar to one from the two with Pogba and Fernandes ahead of them. That role requires a specialised defensive midfielder otherwise the entire set up is compromised. In turn, that means if Mactic doesn't play, is tired or off form, we either drop one from Fernandes or Pogba (not realistic) or we try and stuff one from two players who are not defensive midfielders into the role, which is wrought with more risk than fielding Smalling as you then have a midfield that is as porous as a sieve.

You can go around our team and the issue remains - take the first-teamer out, and we're compromised far more than we would be with Smalling in the team because the drop in quality is significant.

We don't have a DM that lets us make a straight like for like change, but Smalling is not a centre back that lets us make a like for like change either. Both situations can be made to work, but both require us to change how we play. Which is why we're in the market for both positions and neither is particularly a priority over the other.

 

[Himannv]

I thought he was the ideal partner to Maguire at the begining of last season. Ole obviously wants CBs who are good with the ball at their feet so I think that's what rules Smalling out of the reckoning as a starter for us. As a pure defender he's the second best we have in the club (after AWB I think).

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I wouldn't mind him perhaps as a squad option, but if you play Smalling and AWB at the same time, you're just asking for trouble.

 

[yan man utd]

1. We did go crazy and signed players blindly over the years, and failed.
2. We can't get Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta type of players because they are generational talents. What we currently have now is good enough.
3. Smalling was the reason why De Gea is our player of the year for 3 years straight.
4. Lindelof is underrated.
5. Players boosted by seeing Lindelof on the pitch? How the feck do you know that? What are your facts?
6. Lindelof is better ball player? I think he is, and most of the caf will agree.
7. Chickens out? give me a youtube compilation of Lindelof chickening out.
8. Smalling's trademark move is hoofing the ball.
9. I think you're the one watching Milan classic matches and mistaken Maldini as Smalling.

Fairly wacky And unconvincing statements . Most people would agree that lindelof is not good enough.
Mistaking Smalling for Maldini? Me? Or is it you that is mistaking lindelof for maldini?

Smalling has had an excellent season in serie A which is a tactical game where you need to be able to pass the ball. He is also wanted by Juventus .

re being on the pitch - does lindelof strike fear into you ? Would you be worried about having to face up to lindelof? ok we can’t compare him to vidic or Stam or Bruce or maldini - but what exactly is he very good at.? He doesn’t get beaten all the time because he backs off or simply knocks it out of play. He is wayyy too passive and simply not someone I would have in my first 11 if i wanted to either outplay /outfight or defend well against the opposition. He looks absolutely petrified half the time which doesn’t help.

And all this nonsense about him being a ball playing defender. I have lost count of the number of times he passes the ball to a full back or back to de gea and then goes further back towards his own goal. He is renowned for being the ‘passive’ one. I wish it were different I really do!

we ll obviously have to agree to disagree on this point. As I have said he is not the whole problem because de gea does not help but we won’t win the league with those 2 in the team. I so hope I’m wrong - but we seem to have to buy 8 centre backs to have one decent one - the only decent one apart from Maguire being Smalling who I would NOT want to play against and is head and shoulders above lindelof. Just the way I see it bro...

I’m sure there will be other things we agree on just not this!

 

[TheNewEra]

United don't need a CB this summer if Smalling returns.

Although they do need perhaps one of the players that are linked even to bed-in to the squad and get used to the EPL with no pressure on them.

For example Badiashile, Gabriel they can be brought in but can bed into the squad with Rojo, Jones perhaps even Bailly sold.

Obviously being fans it's not our place to know who will be sold or brought in, but Smalling I feel has a lot to offer if the right offer isn't given by Roma.

There are plenty of EPL clubs that can offer more than 18M for Smalling.

 

[Solius]

The title sounds like he died and everyone is annoyed at him for it.

 

[Bobski]

In his last season at Utd I thought there was a clear sign of his performance dropping off when playing a number of games in quick succession. 3 games in a week would tax him. With CL and cup games there is no reason why he could not make 25 starts next season, it is up to Smalling to decide if it acceptable for him, at his stage of career it is perfectly understandable if he wants more, but his defensive ability is strong, neither of Lindelof or Maguire are capable of the performance Smalling put on in Paris containing Mbappe for example.

 

[hungrywing]

The title sounds like he died and everyone is annoyed at him for it.

Only took eleven pages for someone to point this out.

 

[meamth]

Fairly wacky And unconvincing statements . Most people would agree that lindelof is not good enough.
Mistaking Smalling for Maldini? Me? Or is it you that is mistaking lindelof for maldini?

Smalling has had an excellent season in serie A which is a tactical game where you need to be able to pass the ball. He is also wanted by Juventus .

re being on the pitch - does lindelof strike fear into you ? Would you be worried about having to face up to lindelof? ok we can’t compare him to vidic or Stam or Bruce or maldini - but what exactly is he very good at.? He doesn’t get beaten all the time because he backs off or simply knocks it out of play. He is wayyy too passive and simply not someone I would have in my first 11 if i wanted to either outplay /outfight or defend well against the opposition. He looks absolutely petrified half the time which doesn’t help.

And all this nonsense about him being a ball playing defender. I have lost count of the number of times he passes the ball to a full back or back to de gea and then goes further back towards his own goal. He is renowned for being the ‘passive’ one. I wish it were different I really do!

we ll obviously have to agree to disagree on this point. As I have said he is not the whole problem because de gea does not help but we won’t win the league with those 2 in the team. I so hope I’m wrong - but we seem to have to buy 8 centre backs to have one decent one - the only decent one apart from Maguire being Smalling who I would NOT want to play against and is head and shoulders above lindelof. Just the way I see it bro...

I’m sure there will be other things we agree on just not this!

Ole at least disagreed with you and let Smalling leave. Based on your points, Ole has no clue, Southgate also.

Lindelof is the better player. That's why he is still at the club.

Is he really wanted by Juventus? Go on! I'd take the money.

 

[neilv93]

Ole at least disagreed with you and let Smalling leave. Based on your points, Ole has no clue, Southgate also.

Lindelof is the better player. That's why he is still at the club.

Is he really wanted by Juventus? Go on! I'd take the money.

From Sky Sports this morning:
"Juventus are looking to sign Manchester United's Chris Smalling and are willing to offer Federico Bernardeschi in a swap deal, according to Calciomercato.

The defender spent last season on loan at Roma where he impressed, but the Italian side were unable to agree an extension with Manchester United to keep Smalling permanently.

The outlet reports that the champions Juve are hoping to swoop in for the 30-year-old with the offer of Bernardeschi driving down the asking price."

I mean, that would be good business as far as I'm concerned. Bernadeschi would be a more-than-useful squad player at worst and would allow DJ to go on loan to a Leeds/Villa type club.

 

[ICHM]

Which would you rather keep? Smalling, Jones or Rojo? For me we get rid of Rojo and Jones and keep Smalling and buy another CB.

 

[meamth]

re being on the pitch - does lindelof strike fear into you ? Would you be worried about having to face up to lindelof? ok we can’t compare him to vidic or Stam or Bruce or maldini - but what exactly is he very good at.? He doesn’t get beaten all the time because he backs off or simply knocks it out of play. He is wayyy too passive and simply not someone I would have in my first 11 if i wanted to either outplay /outfight or defend well against the opposition. He looks absolutely petrified half the time which doesn’t help.

Probably the dumbest comment I've read about Lindelof.

Do you even know the game of football mate? serious question.

 

[hmchan]

Agreed, man. And also how often did we see Matic dropping back to form almost 3 man defence? People thought that this would never happen if we have two "ball-playing" CB, thus allowing midfield to press higher.
But obviously this fact hit really hard, it does happen often. And then this "CM advantage" of ball-playing CB is conveniently forgotten by some.

It is evident in this thread that many have a huge misunderstanding about playing out from the back. They somehow believe we can turn into a prime Barca side playing tikitaka, controlling possession simply by replacing one or two defenders. Fact is, a well-organized plan (e.g. how to provide options for teammates, how to create space, when to play it long etc.) is much more important than individual ability in buildup play and we are now lacking it. That's why Maguire and Lindelof are doing nothing special but to make simple passes to the midfielders, and why our midfielders are always caught in possession at the back.

Guardiola is known for his stubbornness in his philosophy and he likes to sell players who don't fit in, but you don't see him get rid of Kompany who is also technically limited on the ball. In fact, he adapted to the system quite well and no one saw him as a liability at the back. On the contrary, Southgate left out Smalling and picked those (Maguire, Stones, Gomez, Keane) who were considered better on the ball in the Nations League. It turned out the defenders gave the ball away cheaply again and again due to a lack of plan and this costed them in the semifinal. If Smalling was in that team, fingers would have been pointed at him for being limited on the ball.

 

[MalcolmTucker]

It is evident in this thread that many have a huge misunderstanding about playing out from the back. They somehow believe we can turn into a prime Barca side playing tikitaka, controlling possession simply by replacing one or two defenders. Fact is, a well-organized plan (e.g. how to provide options for teammates, how to create space, when to play it long etc.) is much more important than individual ability in buildup play and we are now lacking it. That's why Maguire and Lindelof are doing nothing special but to make simple passes to the midfielders, and why our midfielders are always caught in possession at the back.

Guardiola is known for his stubbornness in his philosophy and he likes to sell players who don't fit in, but you don't see him get rid of Kompany who is also technically limited on the ball. In fact, he adapted to the system quite well and no one saw him as a liability at the back. On the contrary, Southgate left out Smalling and picked those (Maguire, Stones, Gomez, Keane) who were considered better on the ball in the Nations League. It turned out the defenders gave the ball away cheaply again and again due to a lack of plan and this costed them in the semifinal. If Smalling was in that team, fingers would have been pointed at him for being limited on the ball.

Kompany was not limited on the ball - in fact he used to play in midfield early on in his career and was known for being technically gifted before he developed his defensive skills.

 

[Lentwood]

I don't think there's a great understanding of how to analyse defensive performances amongst your average fan (or even pundit for that matter!)

That's mainly because if you're doing your job effectively as a defender, it should look easy! It's then hard to know whether that player is doing something incredibly well or whether they are just not being tested/are being well protected.

Just one example, a ball is flashed across the penalty area. Maguire gets across the near post and heads it away. It's never commented on, never mentioned. He just does what a good CB should do in that position. Defends the near post, spots the danger, calmly clears it.

Now imagine he DIDN'T do that, the ball flashes across the goal and the opposition forward out-jumps Lindelof and scores with a header. The armchair fan blames Lindelof. The pundits probably do a whole piece about how 'Lindelof has been bullied' or 'is weak in the air'...and they may or may not have a point. However, in reality, there's so much more to the goal being conceded than just what one individual did in a split-second moment.

So, in simple terms, all we can really do, without getting incredibly technical and into the low-level detail of every minute of every one of our games is look at our defensive record. The FACT is that statistically our defence has improved MASSIVELY this year. Don't try and tell me this is related to 'more protection' or 'negative tactics' because I sat and watched every game under LvG and Jose! Smalling should surely have benefited from playing under those coaches!

I think Maguire gets stick because he looks clumsy at times. In reality, how many times has he actually cost us goals this season? He looked awful when beaten by Bergwijn but that can happen to a big CB caught by a nippy winger. De Gea should have kept it out and there would have been no harm done. The big one is the Bournemouth goal because that just looked lazy and clumsy. You shouldn't be beaten that easily in your own penalty area. All that aside, I can't think of another obvious error? We've kept tonnes of clear sheets, we've reduced goals conceded by 30/40% across the board...if that's not progress and we're still talking about Chris Smalling I don't really know what more to say!

 

[meamth]

I don't think there's a great understanding of how to analyse defensive performances amongst your average fan (or even pundit for that matter!)

That's mainly because if you're doing your job effectively as a defender, it should look easy! It's then hard to know whether that player is doing something incredibly well or whether they are just not being tested/are being well protected.

Just one example, a ball is flashed across the penalty area. Maguire gets across the near post and heads it away. It's never commented on, never mentioned. He just does what a good CB should do in that position. Defends the near post, spots the danger, calmly clears it.

Now imagine he DIDN'T do that, the ball flashes across the goal and the opposition forward out-jumps Lindelof and scores with a header. The armchair fan blames Lindelof. The pundits probably do a whole piece about how 'Lindelof has been bullied' or 'is weak in the air'...and they may or may not have a point. However, in reality, there's so much more to the goal being conceded than just what one individual did in a split-second moment.

So, in simple terms, all we can really do, without getting incredibly technical and into the low-level detail of every minute of every one of our games is look at our defensive record. The FACT is that statistically our defence has improved MASSIVELY this year. Don't try and tell me this is related to 'more protection' or 'negative tactics' because I sat and watched every game under LvG and Jose! Smalling should surely have benefited from playing under those coaches!

I think Maguire gets stick because he looks clumsy at times. In reality, how many times has he actually cost us goals this season? He looked awful when beaten by Bergwijn but that can happen to a big CB caught by a nippy winger. De Gea should have kept it out and there would have been no harm done. The big one is the Bournemouth goal because that just looked lazy and clumsy. You shouldn't be beaten that easily in your own penalty area. All that aside, I can't think of another obvious error? We've kept tonnes of clear sheets, we've reduced goals conceded by 30/40% across the board...if that's not progress and we're still talking about Chris Smalling I don't really know what more to say!

@yan man utd said Smalling is better than Lindelof. That's why he is playing at Roma.

 

[Suvvernmanc]

So Smalling is back with us as his loan spell has ended. I think with todays news he will be 3rd choice CB and will be rotated with Lindelof.

Personally I am happy he is back with us. He does divide opinion but he has had a great season at Roma.

I do wonder though if this means we wont be buying a CB this summer.!

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

So Smalling is back with us as his loan spell has ended. I think with todays news he will be 3rd choice CB and will be rotated with Lindelof.

Personally I am happy he is back with us. He does divide opinion but he has had a great season at Roma.

I do wonder though if this means we wont be buying a CB this summer.!

Or could just be a delay until europa league end, his price will likely going down due to that and Roma will be able to afford him with the original offer they had.

 

[hobbers]

If Smalling had really set the world alight at Roma they'd be making the move permanent. Where else are you gonna get a top quality centreback for £20m these days?

Thing is, even if he were twice as good as Lindelof defensively, and he isn't, you can't have Smalling and AWB on the same side of the pitch together. That's exactly the same problem we had with Valencia/Young and Smalling for years, with two players who are utter shithouses with the ball at their feet playing next to each other and causing so many issues in possession and inviting so much unneeded pressure.

 

[711]

Another premier league team will pay £20m for Smalling before this window's out I'm sure. No need to take less.

 

[OleBoiii]

Alright but apart from being quick, strong, a solid tackler, borderline unbeatable in the air, cool as ice in or around the box, and an overall decent guy, what has Smalling ever done for us!?

 

[Isotope]

Ole at least disagreed with you and let Smalling leave. Based on your points, Ole has no clue, Southgate also.

Lindelof is the better player. That's why he is still at the club.

Is he really wanted by Juventus? Go on! I'd take the money.

Jones is still at the Club. And Southgate fancy him also. With your logic, Jones is the better player than Smalling?

 

[yan man utd]

Probably the dumbest comment I've read about Lindelof.

Do you even know the game of football mate? serious question.

You have made it a personal argument - ‘dumbest comment’ - ‘do I even know about the game of football?’ .... a lot of people agree with me that 1 lindelof is not good enough 2 he is not particularly well suited to playing with Maguire 3 Smalling offers greater defensive qualities.

Either way it seems he may be coming back to stay, and there is no way we should be selling him before rojo, Jones or Bailly all of which are almost always injured anyway.

we are just trying to rationally deduce how our defence can improve in terms of winning the ball earlier, not letting in so many goals from set pieces and not being monstered by aggressive physical attackers (which the premier league is full of). As well as that we need a defence which prevents situations where we are giving the midfield the ball under a heavy press too close to goal... which, with lindelof and de gea in goal - their passiveness seems to precipitate. Lindelof is neither tenacious or intimidating enough, and backs off far too easily. This coupled with de geas hesitancy to come out of the 6 yard box has lead to long periods of us being hemmed in our own half against lesser opposition- meanwhile our immensely talented attack gets starved of the ball or receives the ball in positions where they don’t want it - certainly not dangerous positions.

another thing to add is that Roma do want to extend the loan, and Juventus are apparently interested in signing Smalling. There won’t be a shortage of takers! He has been very impressive all season; Solskjaer would be wise to save his money for now on a new centreback which might cost 50 / 60 million, keep what he has and focus on other areas of the pitch. We need a new DM who can keep the ball in tight situations - Neves would be perfect. Obviously Sancho and ideally Grealish. I can’t see us buying more than 3 players; one thing is for sure we need to get rid of Jones and rojo and probably dalot, pereira or Mata.

There are lots of options including getting rid of the deadwood defenders and even buying another CB or full back in addition to keeping Smalling if we manage to get rid of the deadwood 3 defenders.

One things for sure whether it’s lindelof himself or the partnership with Maguire - That pairing can DEFINITELY be improved upon... The ability to get the ball from goalkeeper /defenders to attack has been a glaring weakness and apparently lindelof is a ball playing defender! Please... pull the other one

 

[meamth]

You have made it a personal argument - ‘dumbest comment’ - ‘do I even know about the game of football?’ .... a lot of people agree with me that 1 lindelof is not good enough 2 he is not particularly well suited to playing with Maguire 3 Smalling offers greater defensive qualities.

Either way it seems he may be coming back to stay, and there is no way we should be selling him before rojo, Jones or Bailly all of which are almost always injured anyway.

we are just trying to rationally deduce how our defence can improve in terms of winning the ball earlier, not letting in so many goals from set pieces and not being monstered by aggressive physical attackers (which the premier league is full of). As well as that we need a defence which prevents situations where we are giving the midfield the ball under a heavy press too close to goal... which, with lindelof and de gea in goal - their passiveness seems to precipitate. Lindelof is neither tenacious or intimidating enough, and backs off far too easily. This coupled with de geas hesitancy to come out of the 6 yard box has lead to long periods of us being hemmed in our own half against lesser opposition- meanwhile our immensely talented attack gets starved of the ball or receives the ball in positions where they don’t want it - certainly not dangerous positions.

another thing to add is that Roma do want to extend the loan, and Juventus are apparently interested in signing Smalling. There won’t be a shortage of takers! He has been very impressive all season; Solskjaer would be wise to save his money for now on a new centreback which might cost 50 / 60 million, keep what he has and focus on other areas of the pitch. We need a new DM who can keep the ball in tight situations - Neves would be perfect. Obviously Sancho and ideally Grealish. I can’t see us buying more than 3 players; one thing is for sure we need to get rid of Jones and rojo and probably dalot, pereira or Mata.

There are lots of options including getting rid of the deadwood defenders and even buying another CB or full back in addition to keeping Smalling if we manage to get rid of the deadwood 3 defenders.

One things for sure whether it’s lindelof himself or the partnership with Maguire - That pairing can DEFINITELY be improved upon... The ability to get the ball from goalkeeper /defenders to attack has been a glaring weakness and apparently lindelof is a ball playing defender! Please... pull the other one

It is dumb. What is he good at? he is in fact, a pro footballer, playing for Manchester United, in the Premier league. Ffs, you're the one going overboard with those stupid comments at the first place.

A lot of people seems to agree with you, I'm glad you and all of those people isn't the coach at United. Instead of improving a player with potential, you'd rather use a center backs who have stayed long with the club without any room for improvement of being world class. Smalling certainly has reached his maximum potential, and you opt to use him? This is Manchester United, if a player like Lindelof who could potentially be better than Smalling, you should use him.

Instead of having 4 over 25 defenders, I'd rather have one wonderkid to wait on the bench. Smalling time is up, we should cash in while we can.

Jones is still at the Club. And Southgate fancy him also. With your logic, Jones is the better player than Smalling?

Don't be stupid, is Jones a starter for us? damn. Smalling wanted to be a starter, he isn't good enough, so we let him go.

 

[AlexUTD]

I would prefer Smalling over Lindelof. He is so much better in the air and would make us much stronger on defensive/attacking corners.

Smalling has a decent scoring record also.

Lindelof has more "brainfarts" over the course of a season, i dont trust him.

 

[yan man utd]

It is dumb. What is he good at? he is in fact, a pro footballer, playing for Manchester United, in the Premier league. Ffs, you're the one going overboard with those stupid comments at the first place.

A lot of people seems to agree with you, I'm glad you and all of those people isn't the coach at United. Instead of improving a player with potential, you'd rather use a center backs who have stayed long with the club without any room for improvement of being world class. Smalling certainly has reached his maximum potential, and you opt to use him? This is Manchester United, if a player like Lindelof who could potentially be better than Smalling, you should use him.

Instead of having 4 over 25 defenders, I'd rather have one wonderkid to wait on the bench. Smalling time is up, we should cash in while we can.



Don't be stupid, is Jones a starter for us? damn. Smalling wanted to be a starter, he isn't good enough, so we let him go.

You are hilarious —- but unnecessarily insulting and over emotional. I have not called your comments stupid but I will now. You are being stupid because Your overall tone and attitude is ‘stupid’ and over the top. I’m actually not saying that we should get rid of lindelof, like most other posters I am able to discuss without personal insults or saying that someone whom I disagree with ‘doesn’t know anything about football’ or ‘that’s the dumbest thing ever’ / ‘you’re stupid’ etc

Maaaate...Get a grip of yourself and have a rational discussion. I HOPE lindelof improves vastly- even if he doesn’t he can still be a decent squad member. ‘We are Man Utd’ you say - this to me means we need players who can perform
NOW. Not waiting for lindelof to improve after 2 / 3 seasons while others go past their peak. Klopp doesn’t wait for players to improve over 2 years and if lindelof hasn’t beefed himself up or lost his timidity by now he never will. So be it.

As I said before, and you agree that many people agree with me. It’s not the end of the world and not worth trading insults over. We as fans are not going to agree on everything - I’m sure we will agree on other things - as I have already said to you bro!

keep your hair on and don’t get personal... it’s just discussion. Agree to disagree.. have a good day...

 

[Isotope]

It is dumb. What is he good at? he is in fact, a pro footballer, playing for Manchester United, in the Premier league. Ffs, you're the one going overboard with those stupid comments at the first place.

A lot of people seems to agree with you, I'm glad you and all of those people isn't the coach at United. Instead of improving a player with potential, you'd rather use a center backs who have stayed long with the club without any room for improvement of being world class. Smalling certainly has reached his maximum potential, and you opt to use him? This is Manchester United, if a player like Lindelof who could potentially be better than Smalling, you should use him.

Instead of having 4 over 25 defenders, I'd rather have one wonderkid to wait on the bench. Smalling time is up, we should cash in while we can.



Don't be stupid, is Jones a starter for us? damn. Smalling wanted to be a starter, he isn't good enough, so we let him go.

Ok mate. Relax. Take a deep breath. I wish Lindelof is as aggressive as you in this thread.

 

[roonster09]

I wish Lindelof is as aggressive as you in this thread.

 

[meamth]

Ok mate. Relax. Take a deep breath. I wish Lindelof is as aggressive as you in this thread.

I am relaxed. You should see his first respond first before saying I'm being aggressive.

Condescending comments should always be replied like this.

 

[meamth]

You are hilarious —- but unnecessarily insulting and over emotional. I have not called your comments stupid but I will now. You are being stupid because Your overall tone and attitude is ‘stupid’ and over the top. I’m actually not saying that we should get rid of lindelof, like most other posters I am able to discuss without personal insults or saying that someone whom I disagree with ‘doesn’t know anything about football’ or ‘that’s the dumbest thing ever’ / ‘you’re stupid’ etc

Maaaate...Get a grip of yourself and have a rational discussion. I HOPE lindelof improves vastly- even if he doesn’t he can still be a decent squad member. ‘We are Man Utd’ you say - this to me means we need players who can perform
NOW. Not waiting for lindelof to improve after 2 / 3 seasons while others go past their peak. Klopp doesn’t wait for players to improve over 2 years and if lindelof hasn’t beefed himself up or lost his timidity by now he never will. So be it.

As I said before, and you agree that many people agree with me. It’s not the end of the world and not worth trading insults over. We as fans are not going to agree on everything - I’m sure we will agree on other things - as I have already said to you bro!

keep your hair on and don’t get personal... it’s just discussion. Agree to disagree.. have a good day...

You're the one being condescending at the first place. Read it back.

 

[yan man utd]

You're the one being condescending at the first place. Read it back.

bro this ends now. I said to you ages ago - let’s agree to disagree- you followed this up with a childish medley of comments trying to incite
Ridicule of my opinion .. ‘hey everyone yan Man Utd thinks Smalling is better than lindelof’
‘Thats the dumbest thing ever’
‘You don’t know anything about football’
’youre Stupid’

YOU started it. But it’s cool.. I don’t care.. most people agree on the whole
Lindelof issue.. I mean the criticism and belief he isn’t good enough is rife mate on the site so don’t single me out; and most people can discuss without making it personal or insulting each other...

as I said nothing personal. Can we now move on do you think?

 

[yan man utd]

too funny

 

[Mainoldo]

Smalling is still overall our best defender. Could argue he had a better season on loan than any of our defenders playing for us too.

But I think he will leave if he’s not told he’s first team.

 

[AneRu]

Smalling is still our best pure defender imo but what hurts his chances is that you can't afford to have two or three players who are average to poor with the ball on their feet in your back 5. We have AWB, De Gea and Smalling would be the third, pressing teams would have a field day on the right side of our defense.

However given that we are back in the CL which means we no longer have freebie midweek games squad depth becomes important and if we qualify for the knockouts and come against the likes of Mbappe, Ronaldo etc we'd need someone like Smalling to step in.