Chelsea 1:1 Man Utd
He's done well against Costa today
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 55
- Clean sheets
- 24
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 13
- Red cards
- 1
-
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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Not blaming our defense for the goal, we let to much pressure build and that is because no one from the midfield can bring the ball out, meaning our forwards get deeper and deeper, you can't counter like that.
Smalling was good today.
Smalling was good today.
So it's your fault.
But seriously, where was he for the goal? Was he caught out of position wrongly, or was he actually busy with someone else? Other than the goal I thought he monstered Costa for most of the match.
He ended up swapping positions with Darmian in that play.So it's your fault.
But seriously, where was he for the goal? Was he caught out of position wrongly, or was he actually busy with someone else? Other than the goal I thought he monstered Costa for most of the match.
Him and Blind don't seem to work in partnership with each other at all. It's like they each defend on their own and hope it coincides with what the other is doing
The only time the partnership works (defensively) is when Smalling decides to become a monster and just do it all by himself - like at the start of the season.
Shame Jones is a complete crock, because I think they're class as a partnership.
I think that he was skinned a couple of times from Costa and Hazard, and like Blind was nowhere for the goal (although, the blame there goes for CBJ who played Costa onside). I don't think that neither him nor Blind was that good, today. The defense has clearly failed when the keeper has to make a lot of crazy saves.
Actually, Darmian was our only defender today who know what he was doing.
That is quite correct. In fact, I thought that they were coordinated well in the beginning, but the more they play together, the worse their coordination becomes.
It's ridiculous how many games he's played without any rest. 200 minutes more than anyone else this season, and already more minutes than any of our outfield players played for entire last season.
Yeah, that's down to Blind lacking defensive instincts due to him not being a defender. Points to LVG's poor squad management again. It's a situation that should have been rectified a while ago. Blind at centre half should be for emergency only, not all the time.
We need to get Chris a proper partner, it'll help his game develop even more and the answer isn't fecking Rojo.
One thing that i find really irritating with Smalling is his side ward passing. He's brilliant at winning the ball or taking a ball and driving into the opponents half, but it's like he gets to a certain spot and thinks 'holy shit what am i doing it here" and passes it sidewards.
Lost count how many times he's driven us forward from the back quickly, got deep into Chelsea's half, ignored the forward ball and just slows it down by meekly playing it to the side.
Lost count how many times he's driven us forward from the back quickly, got deep into Chelsea's half, ignored the forward ball and just slows it down by meekly playing it to the side.
I thought he was fantastic yesterday & I felt if he was in the center of the box, he would have organized that offside trap better & stayed with Costa. We need to sign a reliable CB to play next to him though.
Sunderland 2:1 Man Utd
Am I the only one who thinks Smalling really just hasn't been good in the 2nd half of the season, been at fault for so many goals.
Reverting back to type? He's been absolutely terrible today, and if we're honest, hasn't really been very good for the past few weeks.
Needs a leader next to him to yell at him.
Needs a leader next to him to yell at him.
He's really good at wrestling. Been shit since November.
Smalling is living off the mint performances at the start of the season, he's slowly returned to his own retarded self. He's far too thick to consistently play well, has the brain of a possum
Back to his old self. Form has dived since Wolfsburg
He's been dog shit since the Wolfsburg game, but he usually gets away with it because he was so good before that.
Been quite poor for a while.
No, you're not the only one. It's been some time since he last played well.
Yep, been shite for the most part starting with that Wolfsburg match.
I was especially disappoint at how poor he is in attack. So many opportunities in good positions but he just doesn't win headers.
surprised how he's given stick here, he's done pretty well this game and somehow ppl only remember a few mistakes and suddenly he is worst player in the world, laughable..
He needs a proper partner to settle him down. He tries to do the job of others and it is causing problems through the whole back four.
yeah also wanted to add this, he's beast in the air, his defensive headers are great asset of his but when comes head the ball to the net he's terrible, he must do better in this part of his game
The commentator was making him out to be much worse than he actually was. He was good for most of the match, and the complaints about his efforts in the opposition box were ridiculous (the first one was a good half a foot above his head, the second the defender positioned himself perfectly so the only way Smalling would get to it would be by fouling him...worth noting not a single other attacker even tried going into that area). In saying that, he absolutely fecked up for the second Sunderland goal.
He's our best defender and that says it all.
Nope. Have been saying it for months now.
He's an okay defender, who raised his game for 2-3 months, and now is back to his usual form.
He struggled today. I think the change from Defoe to Ndoye feck him up a bit as well.
Considering that Blind has outperformed him for half of the season, it is difficult to say that. When Jones tries to do other people job and fails, the consensus is that he is shit (not that I complain, he is shit indeed), but when Smalling does it, he needs a proper partner, other players are leaving him down, yadda yadda. Lets call a spade for what it is.
Poor game today, he needs a rest but unfortunately no one else can come in and Europa is starting back up
He needs a spell out of the team to refocus, but there's no one that can take his place.
He was shite today all right. What the hell was he playing at for Sunderland's winner?
A poor game from him, and he's had a few of them in the last couple of months. It doesn't reduce him to being a bad player though. He's been in our top 3 players this season comfortably. Given the unbelievable inconsistency of the whole team all season long, I think it's fair that he has 2 or 3 poor ones, and today was a terrible team performance. Very difficult for him to stand out on his own, as a centre back.
The midfield is garbage, he's been flanked by a revolving door of full backs. Seriously, how many fecking full backs have we fielded this season? He's got Blind next to him, who I do rate, but in tough physical games like this, it's clear he's not a centre back, and that leaves Smalling on his own in a back four with 2 kids and a midfielder-cum-defender.
deserves a bit of credit for only missing one game in all competitions this season, playing the full 90 in all but one. He must be running on empty.
He's the least of our problems, and still one of the best in the league. Everyone was shit today.
The midfield is garbage, he's been flanked by a revolving door of full backs. Seriously, how many fecking full backs have we fielded this season? He's got Blind next to him, who I do rate, but in tough physical games like this, it's clear he's not a centre back, and that leaves Smalling on his own in a back four with 2 kids and a midfielder-cum-defender.
deserves a bit of credit for only missing one game in all competitions this season, playing the full 90 in all but one. He must be running on empty.
He's the least of our problems, and still one of the best in the league. Everyone was shit today.
Really? If anything Blind has been a better defender than him over the course of the season IMO.
Switching off in key moments now and then, needs to get his self settled back down.
And that post is up there with the worst for the season Brain of a possum...
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