Of course De Gea has been the best, but every other team mentioned has one player thats clearly performed better than the rest. It doesnt mean his teammates are garbage. De Gea is on a level of his own, but Smalling is head and shoulders above the rest. And De Gea would have conceeded a lot more if he didnt have Smalling helping him out too
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 29
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
-
Hello, Guest! We have two new competitions (with taglines and awards as prizes) starting for the new Premier League season.
A new Premier League Predictions competition is starting now. Click here to enter to submit predictions for MD1.
A new Last Man Standing competition is starting now. Click here to enter to submit predictions for MD1.
For Last Man Standing you have until the 16th August to submit your predictions. Submissions will be open for the next 20 days, 16 hours, 53 minutes, 8 seconds, and will close on Aug 16, 2024 at 20:00.
Bonus: for fans of Odds or Evens, the thread will be going up mid-August with a deadline for after the transfer window shuts.
Of course De Gea has been the best, but every other team mentioned has one player thats clearly performed better than the rest. It doesnt mean his teammates are garbage. De Gea is on a level of his own, but Smalling is head and shoulders above the rest. And De Gea would have conceeded a lot more if he didnt have Smalling helping him out too
Our best CB by a mile as I have been saying for the past 2 years.....check my old posts. If he could just improve his passing a bit more then he could be one of the best Centre backs in the league. Im just not sure who should partner him, at the moment it has to be Rojo.
Again, while it's true, it's not much of a compliment when you look at our centre backs this season at times.
Tremendous athleticism and speed but those wayward passes reminded me of Bebe's crossing
The thing I really liked about him today was the willingnes to take one or two touches and pass/move forward instead of taking a safer option. Helped the tempo of the game a lot.
While all our Cbs have looked a bit nervous this season at some point, they haven't been that bad overall. The main problem has been careless/self inflicted errors from Jones, Rojo and Evans and of course Smalling's sending off against City. If they were just more careful and those errors hadnt happened, we wouldnt look half as nervous at the back. The bulk of the defending, mostly from Smalling but also from Rojo and some from Jones has been quite good. Its just that good work is undone with a pass to an opposing striker
I remember before Vidic came we used to have a lot of individual errors in the backline from Brown, Silvestre and Neville too
He's the less rash of the two and the better in one on ones, but both worry me positionally and in possession.
Smalling's positioning is good
That's more like the performance I expect from him.
Still surprised plenty think that Jones is the better defender. Seen a few post-game tweets slagging off Smalling, even after he put in a very solid game today. I think many have just decided they don't like him, and that's that.
He seems to be hindered by a reputation, possibly from being a fairly sub-standard right back for the past 3 years or so. Apart from the City game, I don't really think Smalling has done much wrong this season. Some fairly average performances in a constantly rotating starting 11 and an ever changing formation, where the whole team was playing a very negative brand of football; but a great deal of solid individual displays within that, especially more recently.
I'm a fan of Jones as well. I think he's a great tackler and I like his tenacity, but he's calamitous and really needs to compose himself, especially positionally. Right now, Smalling is a much better defender. Severely underrated outside of this forum, IMO. After the round of fixtures where we beat Burnley, he was given the highest rating of every player in the league that week on whoscored.com (Obviously bolstered by scoring 2 goals, unusual in itself for a centre back). The response to it was as if Chris Smalling had raped the mother of every opposing fan in the country. How could Smalling, of all people, be the pick of the week?
Good player. Still far from perfect, but if he can keep putting in performances like today, he could be one of the best in the league.
He seems to be hindered by a reputation, possibly from being a fairly sub-standard right back for the past 3 years or so. Apart from the City game, I don't really think Smalling has done much wrong this season. Some fairly average performances in a constantly rotating starting 11 and an ever changing formation, where the whole team was playing a very negative brand of football; but a great deal of solid individual displays within that, especially more recently.
I'm a fan of Jones as well. I think he's a great tackler and I like his tenacity, but he's calamitous and really needs to compose himself, especially positionally. Right now, Smalling is a much better defender. Severely underrated outside of this forum, IMO. After the round of fixtures where we beat Burnley, he was given the highest rating of every player in the league that week on whoscored.com (Obviously bolstered by scoring 2 goals, unusual in itself for a centre back). The response to it was as if Chris Smalling had raped the mother of every opposing fan in the country. How could Smalling, of all people, be the pick of the week?
Good player. Still far from perfect, but if he can keep putting in performances like today, he could be one of the best in the league.
Expect he hasn't been poor at all.
Well I simply disagree. His sending off against City genuinely made me question his IQ and I have watched him put in many shaky performances this season (in my opinion, I guess).
As I said though, much improved today and his best performance this season (and possibly since he's been at the club in my memory).
He played well today, good to see, hopefully he can build on it.
His passing and close control with the ball at his feet have really come on this season.
His passing is shocking.
Beast of a defend but an absolute calamity with the ball at his feet. In an era where pressing the defenders is used an abused, he's an accident waiting to happen.
A rash tackle is a testament to a low IQ? That makes most footballers idiots on so many levels then. Amazing post that is; unfortunately, amazingly bad.
Look at when he darts forward with the ball; our attackers look glued to the pitch as if waiting to see "how far can he go" - a bit reminiscent to watching Valencia two years back. That pass to Young was terrible, but not much worse than some of what our midfielders did today. His passing IS much improved, even if he still has some way to go still.
It's just another one of those mindless arguments about him. There have been so, so many over the last couple of seasons; he's slow, he's poor in the air, poor one on one, poor positionally, poor tackler etc etc. In terms of defending, the only thing I want to see him improve on is his ability to sometimes be caught ball watching. He obviously still needs to work on his technique and his passing, but it's far from poor.
It's his consistency for me !
Iffy on Monday against arsenals pace but superb today against Kane .
I think carrick helps him a lot
Iffy on Monday against arsenals pace but superb today against Kane .
I think carrick helps him a lot
A couple at best
I guess in your opinion Rooney's sending off against West Ham has you questioning his IQ as well
Great dominant performance. Handled Kane with ease and showed glimpses of good passing. I actually think one more pre-season under van Gaal could elevate him. He just has to continue working on his passing and decision making with the ball, and after a summer of doing that I think he'll be brilliant.
Really liked how positive he was with the ball at his feet today. Lost count of the number of times he surged forward with it and totally threw off the oppositions structure. Hopefully we see more of that from him. Though would be nice if he was able to pass the ball properly after doing so 
Really liked how positive he was with the ball at his feet today. Lost count of the number of times he surged forward with it and totally threw off the oppositions structure. Hopefully we see more of that from him. Though would be nice if he was able to pass the ball properly after doing so
He and Jones clearly had instructions to surge forward with the ball, they were both really positive and played well today.
Centerbacks surging forward are a key component of LvG's philosophy. It forces the opposition out of shape because of the extra man.
Anyways, I thought this was one of Smalling's better performances. He played well and rarely made mistakes and even added surging runs forward to his forte. Unfortunately, most of the time, he either overhit all his long passes or wound up dispossessed. That's something he still needs to work on if he wants to be a van Gaal defender, I guess.
Well it's still good that he has been adding new facets to his game. I've always said that Smalling has all the potential to be a monster defender. A new Jaap Stam. Tall, fast, strong. My main frustration with him has been his inconsistency. He has a tendency of switching off during games where he just doesn't think or anticipate the the flow of the game at all. That has led to mistakes over the years, but if he can cut those mistakes out, like in the last game against spurs, we can all see what his true potential is.
The hallmark of top class defenders have always been how rarely they made mistakes. Ferdinand rarely made mistakes in his prime. I've been hoping, for the last 3 - 4 years that Smalling will finally come of age and at least come close to that level of rarity of mistakes. Hopefully that time will come.
Anyways, I thought this was one of Smalling's better performances. He played well and rarely made mistakes and even added surging runs forward to his forte. Unfortunately, most of the time, he either overhit all his long passes or wound up dispossessed. That's something he still needs to work on if he wants to be a van Gaal defender, I guess.
Well it's still good that he has been adding new facets to his game. I've always said that Smalling has all the potential to be a monster defender. A new Jaap Stam. Tall, fast, strong. My main frustration with him has been his inconsistency. He has a tendency of switching off during games where he just doesn't think or anticipate the the flow of the game at all. That has led to mistakes over the years, but if he can cut those mistakes out, like in the last game against spurs, we can all see what his true potential is.
The hallmark of top class defenders have always been how rarely they made mistakes. Ferdinand rarely made mistakes in his prime. I've been hoping, for the last 3 - 4 years that Smalling will finally come of age and at least come close to that level of rarity of mistakes. Hopefully that time will come.
He was very good but I don't want to get excited over both him and Jones because you know theyre still both an accident waiting to happen.
Seeing as Kane scores a hat-trick today and has pretty much been the in-form player lately, I think it speaks volumes about Smalling's game against Tottenham and Kane in particular. He had him in his back pocket the entire match. Jones also had him under control, but Smalling was immense. Hopefully he can keep up that form against Liverpool.
He was great, but I think the whole team did well to restrict Spurs from feeding Kane any chances. Kane was completely invisible until the 89th minute.
Smalling just needs to stay fit for a few months to get some momentum. If he stays fit then he can be a solution to our center back search. Don't really care if he is not passing like Beckenbauer, what i want him to do is continue to defend well, read the game and position himself correctly, because at the end of the day, he is a defender and his job is to stop goals being conceded.
I agree I also want him to become more of a leader at the back but that comes with confidence and momentum as you said.
True, but they had several encounters, but Smalling won every single one of them, be it in the air or on the ground. He was immense, and it is the first time I've heard the Norwegian pundits giving him some proper praise, which was about time.
Liverpool 1:2 Man Utd
Him and Jones have done a decent job so far. Having Carrick back is making it a whole lot easier for them.
Im sure they will still make mistakes but anybody doubting their talent is crazy. Both are here to stay for the long run hopefully.
Im sure they will still make mistakes but anybody doubting their talent is crazy. Both are here to stay for the long run hopefully.
That one long ball out to Young was 
That one long ball out to Young was
Yes! Great to see him confident again. I thought he would sink into oblivion after the red card incident.
He has a future at this club. No doubt about it.
want to wait until the game is finished but cannot help, he has been super confident on the ball over the last 2 games. what LVG has done to him?
Another great game from him, I thought.
Excellent performance from him- where Jones had a bit of crazed maniac feel about him, Smalling was cool, calm and absolutely dominant.
Last edited:
Imperious. Born to defend.
Colossus back there, won all his one on ones and even had a couple of drives up field.