When the feck was he garbage as a CB? What a ridiculous post!
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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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I've never really viewed him as garbage, to be honest. Always thought he had plenty of potential that he struggle to fulfill for a long period. He's went from sometimes good to very good, in my eyes. He's now got to make that step up and try to reach a world class level.
I thought he was a bit off the pace again. But Liverpool playing without a striker helped
Not even easy trying to position yourself correctly when the other centre back can't even judge the bounce of a ball. Smalling can never assume that Blind wins a header, because even though his stats are quite decent, he mistimes so many bounces that he loses them without an opponent present. Subsequently, Smalling is forces to play both sides at CB whilst having to cover for Darmian/Young who are both all over the place positionally.
Thought Smalling was good today. The booking was pathetic from Clattenburg considering all the shite Lucas got away with.
He does look half knackered is what I think. He needs a rest, but as someone pointed out above, we can't give him one.
Think he's just lost a bit of focus. It is still worth remembering how young he still is for a Cb, so he's still approaching his peak in terms of consistency.
Secondly, if he's off his game it's so clearly noticeable because those around him aren't good enough. I reckon, the likes of Rio and Vidic also had slight off patches individually that were barely noticeable because the rest of the unit was very competent.
Secondly, if he's off his game it's so clearly noticeable because those around him aren't good enough. I reckon, the likes of Rio and Vidic also had slight off patches individually that were barely noticeable because the rest of the unit was very competent.
@Rossa Should have worded it better. I was taking into consideration his constant knack of picking up injuries when I rated him as "garbage". I've always felt that he's been decent for us. I'm just not convinced he's a top class defender, just yet.
Very true. If Rio was off the boil there was always Vidic and vice versa. Also, they had a solid Neville and world class Evra as fullbacks, rarely injured. The extent Smalling has to cover for the right back is ridiculous - isn't that normally what midfielders do? I'd much rather he stays in the box.
Well then you definitely worded that wrongly if that is what you meant?
Agree that he struggled with form through injuries and being shunted out wide, but as a centre back, he has been mostly very solid. He needs a top class defender next to him. Blind struggles with any type of player. Rio had Vidic who struggled with pacy players, so he would cover for him (also, you had the rocket that was Evra next to Vidic), and Vidic would take the biggest brute off Rio's hands. Smalling has to take on all of them, and he can't trust Blind not to get skinned by any attacker, and thus Smalling has to cover his position and Blind's - I can't see that Blind's defenders can't see that.
He was much better, not quite as imperious as he has been at times this season, but I agree with those who say he looks tired and thought that could have explained Tuesday's showing too. At least we have a week before our next game now.
I feel as if Blind is actually a good partner for Smalling. I think their differential skill set compliments each other really well. People are still expecting Blind to give way, at some point, but he's still going and is far from a weak spot in our defense.Well then you definitely worded that wrongly if that is what you meant?
Agree that he struggled with form through injuries and being shunted out wide, but as a centre back, he has been mostly very solid. He needs a top class defender next to him. Blind struggles with any type of player. Rio had Vidic who struggled with pacy players, so he would cover for him (also, you had the rocket that was Evra next to Vidic), and Vidic would take the biggest brute off Rio's hands. Smalling has to take on all of them, and he can't trust Blind not to get skinned by any attacker, and thus Smalling has to cover his position and Blind's - I can't see that Blind's defenders can't see that.
Looked very leggy today and all over in terms of positioning.
I thought he done ok. It's not fair pairing him with a CDM (No fault to Blind). We need a ball playing LCB for them to share responsibilities i.e. aerial duels etc
He needs a rest but we cant afford to give him one because weve put ourselves in a position where we will struggle without him (and the other options are injured or 18)
I'm standing behind what I said after the Newcastle game - He looks much shakier without Schewinsteiger or Carrick in front of him. The Schneiderlin/Fellaini partnership doesn't offer anything like the same cover, so too much is asked of him.
What a load of drivvle, whenever he has been played at centre back he has looked the business bar a handful of games. Right back I will give you but I hope you don't need telling that he isn't a RB.
I've already owned up to my mistake, don't expect another one.
It's the fellaini part, he leaves his central partner complete on their own.
I don't agree. Blind is repeatedly making mistakes that midfielders do, such as mistiming the bounce of the ball, which isn't that dangerous if you play in midfield, but it's very hazardous in defense. Smalling has to cover that so often that it is no wonder that Smalling tries to go for all headers - there is just no telling with Blind. He is of course a very good passer, but too slow, too weak, too small to play as a centre back.
The bolded part is the essence: he has to play as two centre backs and fullback. No wonder he sometimes run as much as our midfielders. He has been superb this season, and without him and his athleticism we would have struggled immensely at the back. Our positioning at the back today was shocking. Darmian in particular was all over the place in the first half.
Has Smalling had even a single game off all season? One or two at most, I would think. The man needs a rest.
Listed at 1m80; lots of legendary CBs have been less than that. His problems are a lack strength to win duels, and his defensive positioning which is sometimes very naïve. The pace thing is also an issue, but specifically to our (normally) pretty high defensive line under LVG.
He isn't in great form like in first half of the season, basically, since the injury, but he is definitely asked to cover too much space on his own. We have questionable fullbacks, and even those fullbacks are rotated too much from side to side. Then we have Blind next to him who isn't natural CB and doesn't do his share of aerial and physical duels at all, and our midfield is far from great when Schweinsteiger isn't playing. When you look at it, Smalling is pretty much the only one capable of winning headers in our defence, only Darmian is decent for a fullback from the other three defenders.
I would give him a rest one game or two as soon as Jones comes back for his own good, I am sure it would do him wonders, he could come back refreshed and full of energy again. He is probably overplayed, apart from one game he has played every single minute in PL this season, and every single minute in CL this season, plus few cup games.
I would give him a rest one game or two as soon as Jones comes back for his own good, I am sure it would do him wonders, he could come back refreshed and full of energy again. He is probably overplayed, apart from one game he has played every single minute in PL this season, and every single minute in CL this season, plus few cup games.
I'd say it's the lack of a proper ball player in front of him which makes him panic. There is just no outlet.
With Carrick, you might not have the ground covered, but if you give him the ball you know 99 times out of 10 it's going into the feet of a forward player if we're playing from the back. With Schneiderlin, it's probably going to Young or Darmian.
I think that's fair too, but you're talking about when we're on the ball. I was talking about when the opposition are on the ball and attacking.
He was alright. Still a bit below what his level has been. Would like to see him get a rest.
Thing is, the quality CBs who were listed at 1.80m, were all very athletic; fast, strong, great in the air. Blind has neither of those, and therefore at the defending aspect, Smalling can't trust him and needs to cover for him as well as trying to keep his position. Also, the number of times he lets the ball bounce over him is getting ridiculous.
Smalling covered the fifth most distance in our team against Liverpool. He was also our fastest, and the pitch's fastest player. Considering he didn't venture often beyond the centre line, too much is asked of him in defense, covering for too many and having to take too many duels.
Man Utd 0:1 Southampton
He really has to take on every challenge in that defense, doesn't he? It's ridiculous at this stage. Everyone else shies away from every duel there is, so he has to come flying in from right back to left back getting the ball off the attackers.
For fecks sake, he is always pulling at someone's shirt when defending corners. So risky, and cost us against Newcastle.
Pretty much like every single premier league defender.
Skrtl says hello. Every defender does that.
It happens at all levels of football, it's hard to believe anyways who's played or watched football for any extended period of time hasn't realised that yet.
Something like Newcastle was over the top though - where he took the man down.
It was over the top, but it was a free kick the other way around. The Newcastle player looked to rip his head off. On another note, Smalling looks the only defender likely to win a challenge.
It is getting more and more attention now and we might concede more pens from the shirt pulling.
If he has a proper partner in defence, he wouldn't have to do everything. Blind is not a central defender.
Actually think Blind's been doing better than him lately.
On today's performance Smalling is a ballon d'or contender whilst Blind is a contender for best championship defender, don't let his passing fool you into thinking he's good at defending
He has so much ground to cover back there, I thought he had a solid game and won some important tackles and headers, even if it was for naught in the end.
He was back to form today, hopefully he keeps it up now.
Smalling won 3 out 7 aerial duels, Blind won 3 out of 4. Smalling made 2 out of 4 successful heading clearances, Blind made 5 out of 5. Shane Long beat Smalling in the air on several occasions.
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