Crystal Palace 0:0 Man Utd
Not his best game today but I do feel he was hampered by having to constantly mop up after Darmian.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 55
- Clean sheets
- 24
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 13
- Red cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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He has played almost every minute of our games this season, looks a bit knackered.
think it was more because of 120 minutes against Boro.....
He has played every minute in PL and CL, and he had to play even that game ffs.
We better give him some days off before we lose him to the red zone.
He should take the internationals off but there's a starting spot at the Euros up for play.
Hodgson would be nutty to not realise Smalling is his best CB. He's been so for at least a year now. Let Stones and Cahill have a couple games to see who plays beside him.
Hodgson is an idiot. Cahill has got that spot nailed on because of his incompetence, and it's Smalling and Stones having to fight for the other spot.
It's something I've wondered about a lot. Hodgson was the one who actually bought Big Chris at Fulham, no? If he saw the talent then, surely he should see just how much better he is than Cahill.
I am a big fan of Smalling, but his lack of ability on the ball is a problem with the style we are playing.
Watching Boateng at Bayern and it's amazing what a ball playing centerback can add to a team, pinging the ball wide and even spotting runs from the striker and actually hitting the target.
I'm not saying he should be replaced, but i'm not sure either that being an amazing defender is good enough nowadays.
Watching Boateng at Bayern and it's amazing what a ball playing centerback can add to a team, pinging the ball wide and even spotting runs from the striker and actually hitting the target.
I'm not saying he should be replaced, but i'm not sure either that being an amazing defender is good enough nowadays.
Boateng also flopped massively at City, so it's not all roses.
Definitely should get a rest. He seemed a little sluggish against Palace. I actually thought his passing was quite good though. Played some nice balls in between the lines early on.
Blind is much better on the ball and his distribution doesn't really help us that much.
However, Smalling has improved a lot, and I really mean a lot in that regard. He isn't great, but at least he cut out those silly long balls and giving away possession because of his overhit passes. And he actually plays one or two decent passes per game and makes some decent runs in midfield with the ball winning space. Today he had one very good situation when he won lot off space and passed the ball wide for Martial which left him running one on one with a fullback with lot of space behind.
He might as well be trying to find Rooney from the Allianz for all that matters in our team.
He actually had 2 or more of those long balls that didn't come off today and i've noticed in recent games that he has failed with them alot. Blind has had some crucial moments with his passing this year that resulted in goals. Also Blind tend to get pressed more on the ball where usually they don't press Smalling because most of the time not alot comes out of him having the ball.
I just think it's an interesting debate if we wen't down in defending and upped the ball playing abilitys would it be better overall for the team? It would mean better possession, more penetration and therefore more chance creation. Of course the two defenders doesn't have to both be good on the ball, so a good ball playing partner next to him would be fine.
Man Utd 1:0 Moscow
Mike is a colossus.
What a beautiful man.
Sensational
GOAT.CSKA chance/ Dave and Smalling to the rescue
That save/clearance. I think I am in love.
Have we got a best defender in Europe thread yet?
Absolutely world class.
Fecking love him. He should be our next captain.
Unbelievable how far he has progressed. Captain material.
It wasn't just his save, his overall performance was once again outstanding.
He should be our captain right now. There's not a single better candidate in the squad. He's sensational.
Honestly think we have the best CB in the league. Its ridiculous how good hes become.
crazy recovery
Just saved our Champions League campaign.
Just need Rooney to feck off so we can consolidate his power in captain of United and England.
Motm
He is surely undeniably the best CB in the Premier League and one of the top CBs in Europe. What a rise.
Huge moment in our season really. Another good performance too. Some of his headers back to DDG in the first-half were a bit average though.
Thank heavens Ferguson signed this lad.
He's been stupidly dominant this season. That clearance off the line was a result of a really poor decision from Smalling though.
If Young didn't slip he would have had it covered. But great block Vidic type stuff.
Love him.
The chance was actually his fault.
Dominating performance for the most part, though.
Dominating performance for the most part, though.
Jesus, how he transformed into absolut beast of a defender
I actually gave MotM to De Gea, since as @Cina said the chance was at least partially Smalling's fault, and he also got beat down the right by sheer pace. Still a good performance all in all, and I echo most of the sentiments in this thread.
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