Fine in the first half, shaky in the second. Hope he's fit for next week.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 29
- Clean sheets
- 8
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
I'm not denying he was bad, he was, I just think people are overstating how bad. I think your last sentence is a bit harsh though, you can count his bad games this season on one hand imo.
First time as captain?
His defending, free kick aside, was spot on today. He's a one man back line and made some hugely important blocks in our box. He won practically all of his aerial duels, too. Not really sure what some people were watching today.
Do you not remember him losing the ball after dribbling into midfield giving them a run on goal? Or his hospital passes?
He has way too much work to do covering left and right of him IMO, he needs a partner bought in this summer. His injury is the most disappointing aspect of today's game, hope it's not serious.
I do, I was referring to his defending in my post, though. We all know that he somewhat struggles on the ball.
That incident specifically, though, could have been avoided had Evans not put him in a sticky spot with no passing options or angles.
The amount of times he ends up on right back position defending against opposite winger one on one is ridiculous.
True, but he should have got rid. I think Evans coming on gave the whole defence the hebegebees. He starts making panic gestures with his hands as soon as he can't find a pass, he is the opposite of a strong leader out there.
It does my head in! We really need a specialist RB.
they're just frustrated so they play the blame game, SMalling's the last man to be blamed. His neverending covering for incompetent Valencia is ridiculous..
He should have got rid, definitely. I suppose this kind of thing is something we'll have to expect from time to time under Van Gaal, given he'd rather not see our defenders just boot it.
Ay, he's genuinely covering the whole right side of the pitch every week.
What annoys me is him running with a ball for X yards then even when there is more free space to run or pass,he pass it back almost to same line from he started his run.
Hope the injury was nothing serious. He continues to impress me more and more with each game this season. Felt like he was turning a corner with his injuries, but when people like Rooney are starting to pick up knocks then no one is safe 
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Should be fine for Arsenal then presumably.
Phew... But cramp?!Tweet
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The only thing here that's extreme is your criticism of Smalling. He's had an excellent season. It's baffling how you can constantly defend Valencia then jump on Smalling as soon as he has one iffy game. He's been covering for Valencia's mistakes for months. If anyone is being accommodated its Valencia and Smalling is the one having to do it.
Edit: just saw you're latest posts in the Valencia thread. Damn you
Shaw and Rooney are fine as well. So, all the meltdown due to the injuries were unwarranted
Better fitness record than useless ass Evans and Jones. Even Rojo is struggling now
Our best CB by a mile but feck me he's raw and inexperienced
Not sure about the freekick. He was the one being fouled. The ref got conned. Should he have done something differently? The guy hardly ever gives away a free kick. Im not going to jump on him over one foul.
He made one other error where he got caught in possession when he should have just put his foot through it. It was a poor ten minutes. Wouldn't say he was awful by any stretch though. His errors just seem to get more scrutiny for some reason.
He made one other error where he got caught in possession when he should have just put his foot through it. It was a poor ten minutes. Wouldn't say he was awful by any stretch though. His errors just seem to get more scrutiny for some reason.
Maybe because he's a good player?
Was one of his worst performances in a while. His first half was fine but the second I thought he struggled (though the whole defence was under siege so it's not entirely his fault). The goal was clearly not his fault. Murray was holding Smalling's arm around him, which to be fair was just smart play. He lacked some confidence bringing the ball out of defence and I thought Evans was better in this regard.
Also, he needs a RB beside him. The amount of time he gets drawn out there because Valencia's positioning is awful is just incredible.
Also, he needs a RB beside him. The amount of time he gets drawn out there because Valencia's positioning is awful is just incredible.
Glad it was only cramp.
Smalling has been one of our best players for some time now. He's really establishing himself as a very good defender
I really like him, but he wasn't good yesterday. However, people labelling him as inconsistent and what not is silly as he has been our most consistent outfield player this season.
Good defender, horrific on the ball. Whenever he has the ball he should just leather it towards Fellaini, it would be the safest thing for everyone.
Both and Jones lacked aerial dominance yesterday.
Very strange. Some days they look like Terry/Vidic-lite, clearing everything in sight.
Then days like yesterday you're shitting it every time the ball goes high.
Very strange. Some days they look like Terry/Vidic-lite, clearing everything in sight.
Then days like yesterday you're shitting it every time the ball goes high.
I'd like to think Smalling was suffering from cramp for the best part of the second half, first half was good, he started well in the second half but then wasn't his usual imposing self, seemed a little sluggish too therefore I suspect he was suffering with cramp for a while before being taken off. Maybe he caught the bug too or was recovering from it.
Anyway its about time someone made a YouTube video of his season where he's been 1 of our top performers. Credit to KaiizoHD, makes some fantastic videos, 1 of the best on YouTube.
Anyway its about time someone made a YouTube video of his season where he's been 1 of our top performers. Credit to KaiizoHD, makes some fantastic videos, 1 of the best on YouTube.
It was a free kick, he has a nasty habit of shirt pulling, I really hope he can get that bit out of his game before he gets a bad reputation for it.
The lad is class. He should be the mainstay of our defence for the forseeable future.
This.
The only issue being he's as injury prone as the rest of our defence.
He missed 6 games this season (groin and hamstring injury), 4 games last season (hamstring injury), 15 games in 2012/13 (metatarsal fracture), 2 games in 2011/12 (head injury) and 0 games in 2010/11.
Apart from that one injury in 2012/13, he's not been that bad in comparison to Jones/Evans.
Apart from that one injury in 2012/13, he's not been that bad in comparison to Jones/Evans.
Apart from the start of the season, + the Man City suspension, he's been fairly regular for us.
He would be one of the best CBs in the world by now if he would have had professional coaching since he was a kid.
He has improved at a crazy rate this year, it's great to see!
He has improved at a crazy rate this year, it's great to see!
Smalling spending all that time at time at RB was criminal and, personally, I believe it put back his development as a CB by 12 months.
Add the niggling injuries and the rotating door treatment he got playing CB to prolong Vidic/Ferdinand's careers, no surprise he's only coming into his own with the potential he always had now.
6 yellow cards in 150 games for us. One sending off.
No yellows this season apart from the double-yellow sending off at City.
Rio had 35 in 451 for comparisons sake. Not doing too bad.
(stats all from transfermarkt)
No yellows this season apart from the double-yellow sending off at City.
Rio had 35 in 451 for comparisons sake. Not doing too bad.
(stats all from transfermarkt)