[Rozay]

He's an excellent defender, and has been since he's been here. There has been no mythical 'post City' turning point, he was excellent just the week before against Chelsea for instance.

He is as good as any centre half in the league, and virtually unbeatable one on one .

 

[SkeppyRed]

His demeanour gives the impression he's not as good on the ball as he is. He's not Nesta but he's very capable with the ball at his feet.

Its not an illusion. Although not awful, he is uncomfortable in possesion when under pressure. His technique is far from fluid and he definitley doesnt have natural ability on the ball.

Of course being a CH his footwork doesnt have to be brilliant. Im glad we have him. Good character, good athlete, fecking strong and most importantly a great defender who's getting better all the time with his peak in front of him.

On the other hand if im being completely honest I do feel his potential has its limits and there will always be small group of CHs who are a level above him. We will need to find someone from this group if we are to acheive anything great in the near future in my opinion.

 

[RedSky]

Any chance of renaming this thread as Mike Smalling for a bit?

 

[Spielmacher]

Any chance of renaming this thread as Mike Smalling for a bit?

"Mr. Mike Smalling". Now is the time, Mods.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

 

[Mali_Zeus]

Mike Smalling sounds better than Chris Smalling anyway.

 

[Red-Man-Walking]

Any chance of renaming this thread as Mike Smalling for a bit?

Mike "The Chris" Smalling.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Maybe LVG just calls everyone Mike...

 

[Raw]

Tweet

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He took it well

 

[Scorpy]

good lad

 

[pseudo_canadian]

I think it's fairly clear that this thread now needs to be renamed "Mike Smalling 2015/2016 Performances"

 

[Skills]

I prefer Captain Chris to be honest.

 

[vodrake]

Tweet

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He took it well

My favorite reply:

Tweet

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[Getsme]

My favorite reply:

Tweet

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[DWelbz19]

I prefer Captain Chris to be honest.

Agreed.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Interesting choice to name him third captain, I'd have thought if De Gea leaves, Mata would get it.

 

[United22]

Interesting choice to name him third captain, I'd have thought if De Gea leaves, Mata would get it.

I think most of us on the caf have better captain qualities than Mata. The guy is too nice

 

[Sandikan]

Smalling's one of those guys that most people who don't support United think is sh!t.

I'm sure we've been through similar scenarios at one time or another with the likes of Ferdinand, Carrick, Rafael etc.

Eventually it'll just be accepted that he is pretty decent, like with Carrick, and for all but pure ABU's Rio!

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Tweet

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He took it well

 

[Parma Dewol]

I'd be so impressed if he came out for the Spurs game with 'Mike' on the back of his shirt.

 

[::sonny::]

Smalling's one of those guys that most people who don't support United think is sh!t

I support United and I think he is very limited player and not good enough

 

[Sam]

So, back to being third choice behind Jones and Blind?

 

[Devil may care]

He's such a strong defender and I think at Chelsea he'd be nailed on to start, but he is not very good on the ball and I think that will see him in and out under LvG.

 

[Ekeke]

Nah im pretty sure he's just in the 2nd team so we can play the kids and not have Barcelona score a hatful. Remember he said he's 3rd choice captain

 

[slir32]

Smalling will start against Spurs, he is currently our best defender.

 

[ZDwyr]

I genuinely think LvG sees Jones and a 'LCB' ahead of him.

 

[Jerch]

Nah im pretty sure he's just in the 2nd team so we can play the kids and not have Barcelona score a hatful. Remember he said he's 3rd choice captain

I think so too. And Herrera was in the second team with the same reason. Imagine midfield with Mata and Fellaini against Barca... As i said in other threads this "first 11" is not the one which will play against Spurs.

Smalling is class, better with every game. Saying that Jones was good too, i just hope they can stay injury free this season.

 

[DWelbz19]

Nah im pretty sure he's just in the 2nd team so we can play the kids and not have Barcelona score a hatful. Remember he said he's 3rd choice captain

Let's hope this is the case.

 

[Obiorahking_]

Smelling played a really nice pass against barca. Overall looked solid.

 

[Escobar]

I assume he played Smalling because he was the third captain and our 2nd team needed a captain and leader. In addition, just to play youngsters at the back could have ended badly for us so they had a senior defender in there. Well, that's just my optimistic theory. I think Smalling will start most of our games if fit

 

[Mali_Zeus]

I think LVG doesnt rate him.

He even rates Evans more then him..

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

He's our best "defender", but not as good on the ball, he can improve that and I think he will become 1st choice again very quickly.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

I genuinely think LvG sees Jones and a 'LCB' ahead of him.

Wouldn't really make sense to call Smalling his third captain though, don't you think? To me, that's an indication he's his first choice CB (and rightly so).

 

[ZDwyr]

Wouldn't really make sense to call Smalling his third captain though, don't you think? To me, that's an indication he's his first choice CB (and rightly so).

Fletcher was third choice last season though, and he never played.

 

[Getsme]

Wouldn't really make sense to call Smalling his third captain though, don't you think? To me, that's an indication he's his first choice CB (and rightly so).

Fletcher was vice Captain last season for a short time.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

Fletcher was third choice last season though, and he never played.

That's a good point, though I would put forward that the context was different and that Van Gaal didn't have the benefit of a whole season behind him (and Fletcher looked ok in pre season last year, and I think was initially meant to be a starter until we realized he couldn't handle the pace of the league anymore). In this case, Chris is in this position with the benefit of 12 months under Van Gaal's management and I don't think he'd name him 'third captain' if he didn't view him as a starter.

 

[Bojan11]

Glad Mike started. One of our better players this half.

 

[marjen]

Kane's kryptonite.

 

[Sammyjunn]

He's a rock, once again. Kane stands no chance against him.

 

[Ish]

Love me some Jäger bombers!