Cheers, will probably miss the weekend match then. Not too bothered about him missing that, as long as he's okay for City and Chelsea.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 29
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
Didn't look like an injury. He was either feeling sick or concussed.
Hopefully nothing too bad. As long as he's back for the big games.
I think he was just feeling iffy or something, no biggie hopefully.
Thank feck for that. Should hopefully be fine for Villa.
That doesn't sound too bad. A few days rest and should be fine for the weekend. We'll need him against Villa.
Hopefully just a precaution - good man 
Yep as others have said, lets hope it was just a precaution and hes fit for the weekend. We will be far weaker defensively if he is out.
Seriously?
Hodgson has confirmed that he was struggling with illness after 10 minutes and had to come off.
First saw that he was injured and was devastated. Then to see it was just an illness is a huge relief. Hopefully he'll be right to take on Villa, because Benteke (and Agbonlahor at times) can be a handful.
Yep we definitely need him against those two, he is good at dealing with pacey tricky strikers.
Come off because he didn't feel well. Should be fine for Villa. Hope he and Jones will continue their partnership.
I fell asleep for a bit during the first half, was he substituted early on? I'm glad he wasn't taken off instead of Jones and that he probably just ate some dodgy pasta rather than being injured again.
Good news.
Not Good
Ugh. Definitely not good news at all. Luckily it is only Villa (no disrespect - we should beat them at home) but I have no faith in Rojo and Jones together.
I am hoping it is LVG on one of his little wind ups/tricks, and that Smalling will actually be in the starting XI.
On the other hand, we know how much LVG likes his left sided and right sided, maybe he was just looking for an excuse to drop one of Smalling/Jones so he could bring Rojo back in and have that LCB/RCB balance again...
On the other hand, we know how much LVG likes his left sided and right sided, maybe he was just looking for an excuse to drop one of Smalling/Jones so he could bring Rojo back in and have that LCB/RCB balance again...
Sounded like he'd back into the team if he can train today. We'll need him big time though even if it is only Villa.
He doesn't lie about players being ill or injured. Smalling got taken off at international duty, I don't doubt he's ill.
He doesn't need excuses to drop players, if he wants drop someone he'll have his reasons and do it. He's very adamant about being 100% match fit, if Smalling only just got better and missed a training or didn't perform well in one he won't play because we've still got Rojo and Jones. If he plays, he is fit enough.
He usually chooses his XI after the press conference, because they still have a training session after.
Jones and Rojo should suffice against Villa, although I'd like to see Smalling start myself.
Distribution from the back tends to be shocking in the absence of Smalling. Jones is great at stopping things but awful at starting them. I'd be tempted to start McNair alongside Rojo if Smalling's sick.
Don't think we can afford to pick an inexperienced player considering we have to get top four. McNair is more likely to make a mistake which could cost us points than Jones or Rojo.
Should be straight back in the starting line-up next week against City IMO.
Yeah, really need him back. Let's hope he doesn't have a nightmare of a game like he had at the Etihad.
Rojo and Jones looked a lot better on playing out from the back today but we're really hurting for size and command of the pitch when Smalling isn't there. Look forward to having him back next week.
This, pretty much. The amount of times Benteke got his body in the way of Jones and Rojo was a bit worrying. We had the same thing against Kevin Davies, iirc the Preston goal started with Rojo being outmuscled/eased off the ball by him.
Yep. Rojo and Jones are hardly lightweights, but they certainly aren't going to be able to contain the true big brutes as well as Smalling could.
I hope he gets back in but it wouldn't surprise me if he misses. When Fellaini was subbed off I was worried every time Villa had a set piece. Without Smalling or Fellaini there we are so vulnerable.
Hes our best defender and its not close. How anyone can think jones is better in any way baffles me. I think people are still in love with huge and brave defenders that run around and slide tackle. Hence the potential label that jones still has even though hemakes the same mistakes.
I think it's widely accepted that he's our best CB, at least on here. Jones if anything is the most maligned of our defenders, taking over Evans' mantle from earlier on this season.
Smalling's upside/potential has always been far more than Jones. Its one of the dumbest myths that have been peddled around for so long that Jones has more potential. They're both extremely athletic defenders, but Smalling just about happens to have around 4 inches of height on Jones and is probably even quicker.
He's also always been a cleaner tackler and he's always shown himself to be a more intelligent defender.
He's also always been a cleaner tackler and he's always shown himself to be a more intelligent defender.
This. But also, playing with Smalling, Jones is by far our second best defender - not so much playing with Rojo or Evans.
I agree the Smalling is comfortably our best CB. However I think Jones has been harshly treated on here over the last few weeks. He's a bit wild but he's generally been decent for us this season.
And every good CB pair needs at least one aggressive defender. So Jones being a bit wild should not be a huge problem.
Just found out he's a fellow Judo player. Granted I doubt he does train anymore, but I've decided ive changed my views on Smalling based off of this alone and he's now one of my favourite players
Man Utd 4:2 Man City
Called it
When your defender is king in both penalty boxes you can remain calm as Van Gaal was on the bench.
So happy for him when he got the goal after his nightmare at the Etihad.
Thought he was good today, bit all over the place at the start but grew back into it.
Thought he was good today, bit all over the place at the start but grew back into it.