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2014-15 Performances

View full 2014-15 profile

6.0 Season Average Rating
Appearances
29
Clean sheets
8
Goals
4
Assists
0
Yellow cards
3
Red cards
1
I think the distribution cliché is pretty hilarious, as every other CB we have shits themselves just a smidge less, if not just the same, as Smalling on the ball.
 
None of our defenders are comfortable in the 3-5-2 formation, even Shaw and Rafael looked lost at times. It felt like we were playing 5-3-2 at times in the first half, there was no movement, no positioning and no fluency from anywhere on the field to help the defence out.
The defensive players shouldn't be getting the amount of abuse they are getting on here, it's the system that's causing the mistakes and slow, monotonous build up play that has clearly been the instructions from LVG.
Again our forward play was non existent, Falcao and Wilson were isolated from the rest of the team and created very little, Mata had to go searching for the ball and at times looked like he was playing upfront, Herrera got dispossessed countless times putting added pressure on the defence and enough has been said about Fletcher already. Rooney didn't know where he was supposed to be and at times, in truth I forgot he was on the pitch. But yet again we are all slagging off the defence when our 'attackers' caused Yeovil little to no issues (until they got tired)
 
Getsme said:
But yet again we are all slagging off the defence when our 'attackers' caused Yeovil little to no issues (until they got tired)
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Yup. This really is an issue that has gone unnoticed a lot. I hope simply having Di Maria in the side will rectify a lot of that.
 
Defending comes before being a good passer for a centerback. He hoofed alot of balls that never hit their target and i was frustrated with that too, but as said above me, the lack of movement is more of a problem here.

Only injuries are holding Smalling back from being a top defender, that's my opinion though.
 
This "passing doesn't matter, so long as he can defend" stuff is really missing the point. Sloppy passing out of defence created nearly all the situations that needed defending!

Rafael bust his cheekbone heading a corner that came directly from Smalling putting McNair under pressure with a horrible pass back down the right touchline. Good defending by Rafael but I'm sure he'd rather not have had to do it.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
This "passing doesn't matter, so long as he can defend" stuff is really missing the point. Sloppy passing out of defence created nearly all the situations that needed defending!

Rafael bust his cheekbone heading a corner that came directly from Smalling putting McNair under pressure with a horrible pass back down the right touchline. Good defending by Rafael but I'm sure he'd rather not have had to do it.
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Are you just talking about this match or? Because over the season, Smalling has had a higher pass completion than Jones, Evans and Rojo.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
This "passing doesn't matter, so long as he can defend" stuff is really missing the point. Sloppy passing out of defence created nearly all the situations that needed defending!

Rafael bust his cheekbone heading a corner that came directly from Smalling putting McNair under pressure with a horrible pass back down the right touchline. Good defending by Rafael but I'm sure he'd rather not have had to do it.
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I'm not saying passing doesn't matter, but the situation you are talking about is a issue caused more by the fear we have in our defence. He was playing with 2 youngsters in a system that doesn't fit our defenders at all, while also having Fletcher infront of him who lost the ball several times, not really a good cocktail.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
This "passing doesn't matter, so long as he can defend" stuff is really missing the point. Sloppy passing out of defence created nearly all the situations that needed defending!

Rafael bust his cheekbone heading a corner that came directly from Smalling putting McNair under pressure with a horrible pass back down the right touchline. Good defending by Rafael but I'm sure he'd rather not have had to do it.
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But it's not like he's the only one doing this. In fact, people purposely highlight this because unlike our other CB's, he has nothing else to be criticised upon.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
This "passing doesn't matter, so long as he can defend" stuff is really missing the point. Sloppy passing out of defence created nearly all the situations that needed defending!

Rafael bust his cheekbone heading a corner that came directly from Smalling putting McNair under pressure with a horrible pass back down the right touchline. Good defending by Rafael but I'm sure he'd rather not have had to do it.
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The whole team struggled to pass the ball today, not just Smalling. Perhaps the playing surface didn't help. His passing has generally been fine this season.
 
The passing from our CBs has been poor, but is only part of the issue. Our midfielders do not show for the ball well enough (Rooney and Mata are the worst for this, Herrera isnt much better) meaning our CBs have very few options for easy passes.

Secondly as has been mentioned, we sacrifice a lot in the team to be able to field the likes of Falcao, RVP, Mata, Rooney and Di Maria - supposedly world class attacking players, yet we have not looked threatening at all in the last few games.
 
Loublaze said:
Jones is brainless, and I don't know if you can coach that.
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He is indeed brainless, and I think he's past the point where you could coach intelligence, considering he already thinks he's the future captain and constantly tells everyone else what to do. Great physique, I can see why he was in advance of his age group, but now's the time to sell and get what we can for him.
 
Caught ball watching for the best Yeovil chance of the game but pretty solid as usual in that aspect. We just can't afford to have players at the back who need to be full of confidence to play football. Must improve that side of his game quickly
 
Steven Seagull said:
Caught ball watching for the best Yeovil chance of the game but pretty solid as usual in that aspect. We just can't afford to have players at the back who need to be full of confidence to play football. Must improve that side of his game quickly
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Slightly harsh I think. As the chance came from a crazy backwards header by Evans and really caught out everyone.
 
C'est Moi Cantona said:
Really? Maybe i've just got some sort of strange issue with him and blank out the good passes he makes, but for me he is a terrible passer, and so damm awkward, and unconvincing with it.

Jones with a run of games will prove he's better, Evans has lost the plot, Rojo i'm unsure about just yet, and it's a harsh to judge Blackett, and Mcnair just yet, so Smalling is probably our second best CB just now I'll concede that, but that doesn't make him a 'United quality' player.
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it's the clumsiness in a way how he controls the ball and how he looks like doing so and generally quite poor to average first touch which let him down at times but apart that his passing is all good. If you want to blame defenders for hoofing the ball, blame the system and lack of movement anywhere near the player. Everyone does the hoofing. Even someone like Hummels would be considered poor passer here after some games in this team form..
 
I thought Smalling was our best CB yesterday, not that the others set the bench mark very high. I don't think any of our defenders are that comfortable playing 3 at the back. When we were, Smalling looked shaky. But once we switched to 4 at the back, he started to look a whole lot more solid and like he knew what he was doing.

Right now I don't think any of our CB are suited to playing 3 at the back. Whether that is down to a lack of football intelligence to adjust to the different style or communication issues due to no real leader amongst them I don't know. But I'd much rather us go to a more traditional 4 at the back and have a defensive midfielder like Carrick dropping back to pick up the ball instead of the current set up.
 
Yes it was McNair. Either way theres no way a striker should be getting that space in the box whether it came of Evans or not. You must know where the attacker is AND cover any potential mistakes. It's the kind of pathetic defending we've seen for well over 12 months now.
 
Steven Seagull said:
Yes it was McNair. Either way theres no way a striker should be getting that space in the box whether it came of Evans or not. You must know where the attacker is AND cover any potential mistakes. It's the kind of pathetic defending we've seen for well over 12 months now.
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Indeed.
 
Sweet Square said:
I agree it was poor defending from Smalling but no one (including the striker) expected how awful that header Evans would have being.
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It's not Evans' fault. He's in a good position a couple of yards from the attacker. Unless (and I very much doubt this) he got a big clear shout from Smalling to leave it, he's not at fault. The other 2 are, they have much longer to react and deal with it.
 
He dos the job for us and it our best defender.

I think he works best with Rojo as they can cover for each others deficiencies in their games.
 
I hear a lot about how Rojo and Smalling compliment eachother, but I'm not sure what exactly Rojo brings to the partnership that is such a significant contrast to Smalling.
 
ADJUDICATOR said:
I hear a lot about how Rojo and Smalling compliment eachother, but I'm not sure what exactly Rojo brings to the partnership that is such a significant contrast to Smalling.
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Rojo imo can step up and itercept more, and he can pass the ball better.

We also did look more stable when they were together.
 
Steven Seagull said:
It flicked off Evans head and Smalling + another had no idea where the striker was. Luckily he was shit or its 1-0.
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If you watch it again Smalling see's that the ball is drifting over Evans' head and gets himself in a perfect position to deal with the ball. Evans' flick on wrong foots him and puts the ball directly into the strikers path.

I agree that McNair should probably be tighter to the striker in that instance, though.
 
The midfield is still a mess until thats sorted teams who press us will cause us problems opposition coaches use this as there first line strategy against us.
 
Getsme said:
This is being overlooked time and time again, how anyone can say anyone of our centre backs has looked comfortable in a back 3 is beyond me.
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Smalling put in the best individual defensive performance of this season in a back 3 - against Arsenal. Though admittedly we probably wouldn't have needed to do that much defending if it wasn't for the stupid formation in the first place. So I do think you have a point, the formation does invite excessive pressure on the center backs - which in turn result in the mistakes.
 
finneh said:
If you watch it again Smalling see's that the ball is drifting over Evans' head and gets himself in a perfect position to deal with the ball. Evans' flick on wrong foots him and puts the ball directly into the strikers path.

I agree that McNair should probably be tighter to the striker in that instance, though.
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That's exactly my point. He's only thinking about the ball as he drifts over there. Lack of communication at the very least
 
Skills said:
Smalling put in the best individual defensive performance of this season in a back 3 - against Arsenal. Though admittedly we probably wouldn't have needed to do that much defending if it wasn't for the stupid formation in the first place. So I do think you have a point, the formation does invite excessive pressure on the center backs - which in turn result in the mistakes.
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I think Smalling and Jones (who are both very athletic, decent defenders) can look quite good in a back three, when they're not in possession. Loads of last-ditch defending required, which can make them look good. Just like all our other central defenders, though, they look pants on the ball. It's not really their fault. They're seeing far too much of the ball and when you use a system that gives your least skilful players the most time on the ball, chances are they'll lose the ball a lot.

Evans is a slightly more considered defender, who usually relies on clever positioning and anticipation. Of course, that all goes to shite when all of our defenders are being asked to play a formation with which they're clearly not comfortable. Not to mention the fact our line-up changes, game to game, so there's no chance of any kind of partnership or understanding starting to develop. So he's bound to suffer more than most from the dreaded 352 and the constant chopping and changing at the back.

I like Smalling. If we can find him the right partner and play a consistent shape and team selection at the back he could become a really top centre-half. Based on the season so far, though, I won't hold my breath.
 
Steven Seagull said:
That's exactly my point. He's only thinking about the ball as he drifts over there. Lack of communication at the very least
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Eh? If Evans doesn't try and flick that on Smalling is clearing that all day.

Yes they could have communicated better but it happened very quickly. It is schoolboy defending by Evans though, you never flick a header backwards like that to your own goal. IMO you are better letting it go for the keeper to collect.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Eh? If Evans doesn't try and flick that on Smalling is clearing that all day.

Yes they could have communicated better but it happened very quickly. It is schoolboy defending by Evans though, you never flick a header backwards like that to your own goal. IMO you are better letting it go for the keeper to collect.
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You don't actually think he did that deliberately?
 
DWelbz19 said:
But it's not like he's the only one doing this. In fact, people purposely highlight this because unlike our other CB's, he has nothing else to be criticised upon.
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This. Smalling has been our best CB, when fit, this season. Can't see how anyone can debate that. Hoofing is frustrating, but they're ALL guilty of it. End of.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
You don't actually think he did that deliberately?
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It was more a reaction sure, but they are the types of thing we keep making mistakes in. If you are having to jump and lean backwards to contact a ball it's only ever going back towards your goal. He would have been better to duck and let Smalling or De Gea deal with it.

It's just painful to watch how our defense are never on the same wavelength. Only Smalling and Rojo seemed to have any idea how to play together.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Eh? If Evans doesn't try and flick that on Smalling is clearing that all day.

Yes they could have communicated better but it happened very quickly. It is schoolboy defending by Evans though, you never flick a header backwards like that to your own goal. IMO you are better letting it go for the keeper to collect.
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What? He didn't flick it backwards on purpose obviously. He's just reaching for it as its come to him quickly.

Edit: just seen the post above. That's completely insane. Ducking under the ball?
 
Adam-Utd said:
It was more a reaction sure, but they are the types of thing we keep making mistakes in. If you are having to jump and lean backwards to contact a ball it's only ever going back towards your goal. He would have been better to duck and let Smalling or De Gea deal with it.

It's just painful to watch how our defense are never on the same wavelength. Only Smalling and Rojo seemed to have any idea how to play together.
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Or he could have got a shout from a player who was in a perfect position to not only deal with the threat but deal with it comfortably.
 
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