[Cassidy]

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.

I agree if he doesn't get a shout (we don't actually know if he did or not) then he cannot leave it, he doesn't have eyes in the back of his head.

 

[Adam-Utd]

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?

Why is it insane? he had a team mate better positioned behind him and a goalkeeper. Instead he tries to do the most pathetic header in the world and ends up nearly costing us a goal.

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.

How do we know he didn't?.

 

[Getsme]

Why is it insane? he had a team mate better positioned behind him and a goalkeeper. Instead he tries to do the most pathetic header in the world and ends up nearly costing us a goal.

How do we know he didn't?.

We don't.Bbut the reaction of Smalling afterwards would suggest he didn't give a shout, obviousley we wont know for sure. At the end of the day it was a defensive error.

 

[Steven Seagull]

Why is it insane? he had a team mate better positioned behind him and a goalkeeper. Instead he tries to do the most pathetic header in the world and ends up nearly costing us a goal.

How do we know he didn't?.

Why hasn't the defender behind him called him then? Why hasn't Smalling or McNair picked up the attacker? You don't duck under the ball unless you're 100% sure nothing's behind him. Evans has had a crap season but he's guilty of not being an inch taller in that incident.

 

[Cassidy]

Why hasn't the defender behind him called him then? Why hasn't Smalling or McNair picked up the attacker? You don't duck under the ball unless you're 100% sure nothing's behind him. Evans has had a crap season but he's guilty of not being an inch taller in that incident.

Smalling is actually in the correct position there, we just don't know whether he gave Evans the call or not.

 

[Sied]

I think it's possible to overanalyse an incident...

Even if Smalling did shout, the ball was whipped in so quickly Evans would have had milliseconds to make a snap decision. I can't blame him for trying to get a touch on it and I can't blame Smalling for moving into position to cover for Evans not getting a touch. The fact it fell perfectly to the strikers feet was pure luck, as was the way he fluffed his shot.

 

[Walrus]

I think it's possible to overanalyse an incident...

Even if Smalling did shout, the ball was whipped in so quickly Evans would have had milliseconds to make a snap decision. I can't blame him for trying to get a touch on it and I can't blame Smalling for moving into position to cover for Evans not getting a touch. The fact it fell perfectly to the strikers feet was pure luck, as was the way he fluffed his shot.

I think this is fair. Smalling was well positioned for the original ball, the deflection completely wrong footed him. Evans couldnt afford to risk leaving it I think, its just one of those things.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I think it's possible to overanalyse an incident...

Even if Smalling did shout, the ball was whipped in so quickly Evans would have had milliseconds to make a snap decision. I can't blame him for trying to get a touch on it and I can't blame Smalling for moving into position to cover for Evans not getting a touch. The fact it fell perfectly to the strikers feet was pure luck, as was the way he fluffed his shot.

Yep, I guess it's just how our luck has been going.

 

[ravelston]

I think this is fair. Smalling was well positioned for the original ball, the deflection completely wrong footed him. Evans couldnt afford to risk leaving it I think, its just one of those things.

Correct. The attempts to find something to blame Smalling for in this instance speak volumes about the agendas of those posting.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

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.

Yes you may be right but Smalling should be better than this by now, he's been with us ages now.

Of the other established players we have Rojo needs time to bed in especially as he's barely played, Evans seems to have completely lost the plot and needs to go, and Jones has barely played but at least has plenty to work with, and is more versatile too.

 

[DWelbz19]

Yes you may be right but Smalling should be better than this by now, he's been with us ages now.

Of the other established players we have Rojo needs time to bed in especially as he's barely played, Evans seems to have completely lost the plot and needs to go, and Jones has barely played but at least has plenty to work with, and is more versatile too.

You keep saying this for Jones but Smalling has shown far more to 'work with', i.e, he can actually defend and not brainlessly charge into challenges. There are many, many, inadequacies that need to be vanquished from Jones' game. I personally see very little potential in the player.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

You keep saying this for Jones but Smalling has shown far more to 'work with', i.e, he can actually defend and not brainlessly charge into challenges. There are many, many, inadequacies that need to be vanquished from Jones' game. I personally see very little potential in the player.

I know maybe i've got some sort of weird crush on the guy but I just think he has the potential to go on to be a great CB, I envisage him paired with a Hummels, or Godin type player and just think all will be well with the world, Smalling on the other hand just infuriates me.

I will admit though there could be something in the fact he hasn't played too much recently, ie if he doesn't play he can't look crap, but seriously I still hark back to his performance at the Bernabeu, and some his usual body before brain challenges (which I will admit is half his problem at times), add into the mix that Fergie thought he could one of our best ever players and i'm still smitten, time, and actual playing may well dim this view..........only time will tell I suppose.

 

[Kounan]

I think this is fair. Smalling was well positioned for the original ball, the deflection completely wrong footed him. Evans couldnt afford to risk leaving it I think, its just one of those things.

If I remember properly, I think that the ball was falling so that the opponents player would have got there first and Smalling actually wanted to defend that so actually Evans had to try to get the ball and didn't get to it properly, so he made it worse, but I wouldn't blame anyone to much.

I would say that the whole defense made a mistake, but also no one made one (could compare it to my profession - I am a medical doctor and sometimes the diagnosis is wrong, because you have to wait for results of the tests 2-3 days to be ready and in the meantime you have to treat the patient according to the symptoms and "percentages" and sometimes you are just wrong, but you can't really be blamed for it).

Now about the ball playing problem. We do have problems there, but it has a lot to do with the midfield. Look at all other teams who play with lots of passing, the midfield is running the show and they don't, like in our case, 3 of 4 balls play back to the defenders. They usually don't play with 2 strikers because then they loose the numbers, which they need to keep the ball. Look at Pep, he even tried to play with only 3 defenders (the WBs were more wingers and not FBs), or he decided to play midfielders at the back, to have a better control, as it is very hard to find a very good ball playing defender, or plays with a false nine.....

What do we have? 2 strikers, a forward as a midfielder and ACM, di Maria who is very direct, Fellaini who just can't play as a proper CM as he doesn't know how, his movement is really bad, while Blind and Herrera missed a lot of games, Carrick is 33 and can't play to many games, Fletcher just lost it all.... So, we usually have ONE proper midfielder and we play with only 3 midfielders (2 of them aren't really CMs) so instead to increase the numbers to be able to compensate their technical flaws, we actually decrease the number of midfielders and make it even harder.

So how do we expect that our defenders lead the game, especially in this formation.

 

[Loublaze]

Correct. The attempts to find something to blame Smalling for in this instance speak volumes about the agendas of those posting.

I've seen people blame this entirely on Smalling in other forums and call me biased for not doing so.

 

[m1y2]

I am surprised that he got only 6% when voting our best player of the game. He was absolutely dominating the game at the back but a little hesitation cost us a goal in the end. I am not sure if it was entirely his fault. He was just there and three players around Tadic or whoever it was were watching him go through the middle and didn't make a tackle. H was chasing him from the back and in the box it is always wise to be cautious well maybe not this time.. my MOTM btw

 

[drdoityourself]

He is a good defender but for a three man centre back you need the one in the middle to be better passer than he he is. Hopefully this'll be the end of 5-3-2 and this problem disappears.

 

[Kag]

I thought he defended excellently today. He perhaps could have dealt with the situation leading to the goal more convincingly but he was more or less a one man back line once we made the changes.

 

[ivaldo]

He is a good defender but for a three man centre back you need the one in the middle to be better passer than he he is. Hopefully this'll be the end of 5-3-2 and this problem disappears.

His passing was pretty good today, much better than Carrick's.

 

[luckyspurs]

I thought he defended excellently today. He perhaps could have dealt with the situation leading to the goal more convincingly but he was more or less a one man back line once we made the changes.

Agree, been your best defender this season. Really stepped up with Vidic's departure.

 

[Devil may care]

He's a proper CB, playing him as a #3 is not a good idea, just let him focus on what he does best and stop asking him to try and start our attacks from defense.

 

[untitled_6899]

I thought he was our best player and had a very good game. He was solid, initiated attacks and won a lot of duels.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

His passing was pretty good today, much better than Carrick's.

He still fired a really hard pass to Di Maria that he mis-controlled and set Southampton on an attack. Michael Owen says that Smalling has no 'pass appreciation', that was an example of it, leathering in a really hard pass to your teammate in an area of the pitch where you really don't want to lose the ball.

 

[kundalini]

Generally played well but I felt he was most at fault for their goal. Opting to put pressure on the player with the ball, from a weird angle, instead of tracking Pelle once he got up off the floor, was a strange decision, and ultimately one that cost us. If Smalling had been goal-side then Blackett could have moved across but since he wasn't, Blackett had to stay in his position, leaving Pelle free to accept the pass and strike the post, which created chaos as De Gea was getting up off the floor when they scored.

 

[BennyBlanco]

He was great, again... so he'll get injured soon.

 

[Kounan]

Generally played well but I felt he was most at fault for their goal. Opting to put pressure on the player with the ball, from a weird angle, instead of tracking Pelle once he got up off the floor, was a strange decision, and ultimately one that cost us. If Smalling had been goal-side then Blackett could have moved across but since he wasn't, Blackett had to stay in his position, leaving Pelle free to accept the pass and strike the post, which created chaos as De Gea was getting up off the floor when they scored.

But these mistakes were allowed as other players should have stopped the attack (that's the point of 3 man defense, one makes pressure, the other just pick up the ball), as we had more players. I think it was Blackett's fault, as he stayed to narrow.

 

[DWelbz19]

He was great, again... so he'll get injured soon.

No doubt about it.

 

[Raw]

He was very good although his love for tugging shirts is a bit worrying. Another ref would have given a penalty for that today.

 

[NoLogo]

I don't know he looked for long parts of the game like a disaster waiting to happen. He is an excellent defender on his day but then again he has these days where he looks so hasty and loses the ball in dangerous situations which force him to make a dangerous tackling. I'm still convinced he's got it in him to be a great defender if he can manage to stay fit for a few seasons but atm there is still too much light and shadow for him to really call him a great defender.

 

[2mufc0]

Defended well but was poor on the ball, some heavy touches bringing it out and some poor passes.

 

[Sied]

Great defensively but poor on the ball as usual. I think he looked a bit better next to Blind though, who can actually pick out a forward pass. With Evans it's more likely to come back along the back 3, increasing the chances of one of them fecking up all the time.

 

[izec]

ok game. Defensively he did well. Needs to stop pulling and holding the players every time. His ball to Jones in the second half was as bad as you see. Dont know why some say his distribution was good, he looked nervous every time he ran with the ball or when pressured. Shaky at times.

 

[Kag]

He was very good although his love for tugging shirts is a bit worrying. Another ref would have given a penalty for that today.

Every defender in the league does it. I'd look beyond the Sky agenda.

 

[thejtrain]

I wish he'd cut the shirt pulling nonsense in the box. There's no need for that, he's as strong and tall as anyone is, let alone Pelle.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

His dribbling and passing is so erratic. Sometimes he makes some great powerful runs with the ball, and plays some nice passes. At other times, he looks like when I play FIFA and I hold down sprint for one stride too many and he runs into a crowd of opponents. Perhaps that's an improvement on the past couple of seasons when he looked like he had two left feet and the first touch of a trampoline.

He's still quality though. One of the most underrated players around IMO. I don't think anyone but United fans would give him a 2nd glance.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

I wish he'd cut the shirt pulling nonsense in the box. There's no need for that, he's as strong and tall as anyone is, let alone Pelle.

Reminds me of what Skrtl does, always vulnerable of giving a penalty away. Will happen soon enough if it continues.

 

[thejtrain]

Reminds me of what Skrtl does, always vulnerable of giving a penalty away. Will happen soon enough if it continues.

Yep and I've hated the tw*t for that.

 

[Acole9]

He is terrible with the ball at his feet which is strange because when he was signed he was portrayed as being a young Rio Ferdinand, classy on the ball and carries it out of the defence with minimal fuss. He's not any of that, his touch is heavy, he always over plays the ball and gives it away or has to make a clumsy tackle to compensate for his error.

 

[marlowe78]

I think he's most culpable for the goal. He had an opportunity to assert himself when they crept into the box, he should've come across and broken up the attack. What is he doing standing there, looking for offside? I've backed him for a long time but there are moments like this when I feel he's not cut out to be here.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Dominant as usual today. Defended well and bullied Pelle, at times. Don't know why Van Gaal doesn't trust (if that is the case) him and Jones in a back four.

 

[Antisocial]

I still think he's our best central-defender, but the way Sky were highlighting the shirt-pulling makes it inevitable he'll start conceding penalties sooner rather later, certainly after all was said about the Chelsea game. The media will latch onto this hard.