yeah i get that but you have to compare him with other peers. you have the likes maguire who is actually from england and can only communicate with his teammates with a series of points or raising an arm to beg for an offside to save him.
Chris Smalling | Roma player
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Nationality doesnt matter. Anybody who can learn a new language in that period of time deserves respect. English or not.
Who has been better in Italy, Tomori or Smalling?
How can anyone give Smalling shit for his language skills, when there are dozens of players like Valencia back in the day, in the premier league, who never learn English at all or very little.
I guess you could argue that but even Maguire himself would admit that selling Smalling for a small fee and buying Maguire for a huge fee as an 'upgrade' was a huge mistake.
Mourinho coming out for plea to recall him for World Cup, haven't seen Roma at all this season but for results they are in the mix at top in Serie A, a punt for England?
I have watched most of Roma's games over the last couple of seasons and in the middle of a back 3 Smalling is immense. He has a goal in him and is dangerous from set pieces and is better on the ball than his reputation suggests, not that he is Messi or anything but he is quite capable of playing out from the back. With Southgate preferring a back 3 Smalling would be a natural fit and is frankly in better form than any other English CB right now but I am not kidding myself, GS will never admit he was wrong and recall him despite the CB position being the biggest weakness in his squad. I can say without any doubt he is levels above Mings, Coady and Maguire to name a few of the Championship level clowns keeping him out of the team.
It’s by far the weakest area of the England team (with Walker out as well) and Southgate should be pleading with Smalling to make a comeback. Like you though, I won’t hold my breath and expect to see Maguire and Stones in the starting XI.
Smalling has been Englands best CB by a country mile for years yet Southgate continually neglects him. Tells you all you need to know about the level of coach he is.
As a Welshman I hope Southgate survives long after the World Cup.
He won't though.
He won't though.
Southgate is probably not aware what goes on in Italy.
There's no football outside of England, silly.
Also, to be fair he isn't good enough at playing with the ball at his feet for Southgate's open expansive high line creative playing style.
Probably Tomori but he also plays in a better team. Smalling has been really solid.
Already said it when he was sold.
The real upgrade we needed was Lindelof’s replacement to partner Smalling but instead we decided to replace Smalling with Maguire
The real upgrade we needed was Lindelof’s replacement to partner Smalling but instead we decided to replace Smalling with Maguire
tbf to Lindelof, he's generally fairly solid.Already said it when he was sold.
The real upgrade we needed was Lindelof’s replacement to partner Smalling but instead we decided to replace Smalling with Maguire
He’s great at making himself look good because all he does is back away and hope someone does the defending for him and only tries to defend when he knows he can win the challenge.
There’s a reason why our defense is crap with him as a starter.
Still better than Maguire, although that's not saying much.
I underestimated Smalling when he was at OT, I thought his grabbing opposing players when defending corners was too blatant to be missed when VAR came in, but unfortunately Maguire seems to do the same now.
It's quite clearly personal between them. He alienated him also immediately which was very strange, even when Smalling was in form he never gave him a look in saying he's bad at passing
Southgate is a muppet tbh.
Of course Southgate won't pick him, he's clueless
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Maguire in a Hull shirt and in a Leicester shirt was consistently playing at a much higher level than Smalling was, Pep also wanted Maguire, (I doubt he had any interest in Smalling) United were silly enough to pay what Leicester wanted City weren’t. Yes Maguire has gone to complete shit at United but so did 90% of the players we brought over the years. He was to most people an upgrade on what we had but far too expensive.
I happened to randomly catch Roma getting smashed a few weeks back by Udinese, admittedly the only time I have watched them or Smalling in donkeys years and Smalling didn’t look any different to the error prone clumsy with the ball at his feet clown we had here in his final couple of seasons.
I happened to randomly catch Roma getting smashed a few weeks back by Udinese, admittedly the only time I have watched them or Smalling in donkeys years and Smalling didn’t look any different to the error prone clumsy with the ball at his feet clown we had here in his final couple of seasons.
He hasn’t really neglected him. He actively pushed him out because of his alleged lack of ability on the ball. You can hardly blame him when he has Beckenbauer-like players such as Coady and Mings at his disposal.
Wasn't that long ago we put 6 past Roma with him being at fault in some form for the majority.
I watch a decent amount of Serie A as I like the current AC Milan side but the level is fairly low. I'd say 4th among the top 5 leagues only ahead of France.
I watch a decent amount of Serie A as I like the current AC Milan side but the level is fairly low. I'd say 4th among the top 5 leagues only ahead of France.
No he wasn't
Harry Maguire has yet to have a season that surpasses Smalling’s 2016-17. Probably won’t ever.
Never rated him that highly but that being said its funny how we signed Maguire, Bailly and that fraud Lindelof for over 140 mil and we could have just stuck to Smalling and Evans
Great insight thanks for your valuable contribution to the discussion.No he wasn't
Good old Christopher, he was supposed to be the best English defender since Rio.
Would Smalling cope with the pressure of a World Cup? especially being brought in cold now without any warmups.
I would imagine it's a lot easier for him playing in the Italian league away from any sort of scrutiny. Playing for the national side would be a whole different game.
I would imagine it's a lot easier for him playing in the Italian league away from any sort of scrutiny. Playing for the national side would be a whole different game.
He makes himself look good? I know you’ve struggled with CBs for a while but he has rarely even “looked” good. Was always great to see him in the starting line up. Smalling had some errors in him and was a little clumsy at times but for the purpose of defending, he was far better than Lindelof.
Had no idea he was almost 33 already. Can't believe this guy spent a decade at United, indicative of how stale you've been post Fergie that he survived so long.
He is one of the more inform English CB's for sure but that says a lot about the current level more than anymore, no offence but this is a classic example of a United player going and playing pretty well in a lesser league and less pressurized environment and suddenly there's revisionist history about how good he actually was.
And at 33 and having no played for England for 5 years there's zero chance he gets brought in for the World Cup and for good reason.
He is one of the more inform English CB's for sure but that says a lot about the current level more than anymore, no offence but this is a classic example of a United player going and playing pretty well in a lesser league and less pressurized environment and suddenly there's revisionist history about how good he actually was.
And at 33 and having no played for England for 5 years there's zero chance he gets brought in for the World Cup and for good reason.
I think it is pretty fair to say that Smalling is really poor on the ball and that it hurts the team during build up.It's quite clearly personal between them. He alienated him also immediately which was very strange, even when Smalling was in form he never gave him a look in saying he's bad at passing
Southgate is a muppet tbh.
Smalling was a good defender at United, there’s nothing revisionist about that.
If he was so good why was he sold when you had no decent CBs?
So by your own admission you watched one game which was Roma's worst performance of the season. I have watched every Roma game this season and most of last also and Smalling is playing far better than any CB who has put on an England shirt in the last 3 years and he has improved as a player since his time here. For his sake if he wants it I would love to see him called up for the World Cup but speaking as a Welshman I cannot deny that I am delighted to see him outside looking in as on current form England will be battling Iran to avoid finishing last in the group.
Because Ole wanted to play out from the back and figured that Smalling wasn’t up to it. The debate around his quality was always related to his (exaggerated) limitations on the ball, not his defending.
Most of your post I agreed with but the bolded makes no sense at all. International football is about tournaments not long grinding campaigns and so all you need to consider is who is in form and who fits your system. Smalling has been in great form for over 12 months now and is better than any of the current CB options in the squad and plays in an identical system to the national team where he is unarguably the lynchpin of the Roma defence. The only calculation for Sir Chinny Waistcoat to consider is will England be more likely to win with or without Smalling, the answer is clearly with Smalling but thankfully for Wales the England Manager is as good at picking players as he is at taking penalties.
He is, especially if there is any kind of press. As someone who watched his first two seasons at Roma, I don’t agree he’s been as amazing as described here. Think he’s made many costly mistakes. Also he’s been out for injuries a lot. According to transfermarkt, 249 days at 12 occasions in 3 seasons.
So ultimately he overall wasn't good enough.
If he was a very good defender I think his clear deficiencies with the ball at his feet might have been overlooked. The fact is he was decent at best, one of United's better CBs defending because he's good aerially and also pretty quick, but always felt like he lacked composure and had a mistake in him.
This is exactly the same situation with Evans when he left, and Blind to an extent to. United fans pining over past CBs when there's were out of form because they were now playing pretty well at other clubs. Ultimately like I said they weren't good enough for United's level and that's why they were binned.
I just find it strange that considering you seem to have a pretty good partnership at the moment (small sample size albeit) in Varane and Martinez, that this sort of thing still goes on.
I mean this isn't necessary true, international football is largely about cohesion as well. You still have to build a squad, that's what the successful teams over our generation like Germany for example have done. These are players that don't get to train together regularly and have to build chemistry just like any other side, that is obviously going to take a bit longer than you'd see at club level.
Smalling hasn't been in the England setup in 5 years and hasn't even trained with half of the players who'd be around him as a result. I wouldn't want to draft somebody in in that type of situation to then immediately go into a World Cup.
You can argue whether he should have been in and around the England setup the last year or so, that's entirely different than bringing him in now. I would still say no personally, I don't think he's been as good as people suggest he has been for Roma, I think he's been decent but not good enough to force his way back into the England setup all things considered.