Why is he wandering off? Not the time to keep playing shit Chris if you want to go to the Euro's.
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?
- Status
Another really poor game from Chris...
Our defensive communication is astoundingly poor.
Our defensive communication is astoundingly poor.
Shrewsbury 0:3 Man Utd
Better attacker than Depay.
Mike's back everybody!
Clinical!
That's our Smalling!
Strong 90 minutes after a wobbly spell. I still think he has to come out to help the RB too often, that needs sorting out.
I know it was only a League One side but that was the best I've seen him play for a few weeks.
Great to see him score, I couldn't help but laugh with the finish though, it was like a bouncing bomb heading for a German dam 
He waited an age for it to bobble around, and then he gave the sloppiest technique toward the ball.Great to see him score, I couldn't help but laugh with the finish though, it was like a bouncing bomb heading for a German dam
One off, I'm sure. I remember a goal he finished expertly with a trained stretched leg in his first(?) season against City. Think it was the Charity Shield when Nani scored twice.Not regarding yesterday's match but in general, Unpopular opinion and I may get bashed a lot.
Any good CB pairing needs a CB that is brave, hard tackler and another who is comfortable on the ball, basically a central defender and a ball playing one. A vidic and a rio. Smalling isn't that physical beast , atleast doesn't play that way to be a Vidic. And his game surely resembles more like Rio. But the thing is, today there are multiple CB's who are as good defenders as him and are better on the ball. Laporte, Marquinhos, Hummels, even Blind(with a stronger CB might make a great pairing) for example. There is no lack of Rios today and it makes me wonder if we can achieve greatness with Smalling as a CB. Sure we have have bigger problems which need to be dealt with before this and this shouldn't exactly be a concern, but considering Laporte seems to be a primary target today, should be even not consider buying a CB who can complement qualities of his partner instead of buying a player whose style is similar!
Any good CB pairing needs a CB that is brave, hard tackler and another who is comfortable on the ball, basically a central defender and a ball playing one. A vidic and a rio. Smalling isn't that physical beast , atleast doesn't play that way to be a Vidic. And his game surely resembles more like Rio. But the thing is, today there are multiple CB's who are as good defenders as him and are better on the ball. Laporte, Marquinhos, Hummels, even Blind(with a stronger CB might make a great pairing) for example. There is no lack of Rios today and it makes me wonder if we can achieve greatness with Smalling as a CB. Sure we have have bigger problems which need to be dealt with before this and this shouldn't exactly be a concern, but considering Laporte seems to be a primary target today, should be even not consider buying a CB who can complement qualities of his partner instead of buying a player whose style is similar!
What...you want to find a partner for Blind?
Put Hummels alongside Smalling and we'll probs have as good a partnership as Rio and Vidic as we can possibly get.
I actually think Smalling is more Vidic than Rio if you want to pigeonhole him into one or the other. He's much quicker than Vidic ever was, but other than a good reading of the game I don't see many similarities between him and Rio.
There was a stat after 75 minutes that stated Shrewsbury had only had 12 passes in our final third.
Smalling is more Vidic than Rio as pointed out by 2MM above. Also, Rio wasn't just good on ethereal ball while not being a top defender as is the case with someone like hummels. He was an amazing defender and good with the ball on top of that, that's what made him one of the best of his generation. None of the ones you mentioned are close to his level atm so I'm not sure why you believe there are a lot of Rios running around.
One of the biggest Myths around. Thuram/Cannavaro, Stam/Nesta Adams/Bould Pallister/Bruce Maldini/Nesta Baresi/Corstacurta Ferrara/Costacurta just to name a few from my era. Don't remember them guys being any Maverick Rolls Royce types
He sure likes a good old shirt-pulling every now and then, it's very visible and I'm amazed he isn't penalized more often. You'd think the Newcastle penalty would teach him a lesson but it doesn't look that way at all. It needs to stop, it's almost Skrtel'esque now.
This, can't believe he's not been warned to stop with it, will get him in the trouble again.
He was awesome yesterday which was good to see cause I think that he has been quite disappointing since November.
However, he should practice two extra hours each day on passing and running with the ball. It is amazing to see how a good defender he is, but at the same time how shit he is at basic footballing skills like making simple passes or not running in out.
However, he should practice two extra hours each day on passing and running with the ball. It is amazing to see how a good defender he is, but at the same time how shit he is at basic footballing skills like making simple passes or not running in out.
Half of the players you mentioned (if not more) were very good at passing.
Not saying Rios per se, I mean there are better players on the ball than Smalling.
No, all I said was, we consider Smalling to be a top class defender, but he isn't that great.What...you want to find a partner for Blind?
Put Hummels alongside Smalling and we'll probs have as good a partnership as Rio and Vidic as we can possibly get.
Again 2 defenders who are no nonsense types. Two central defenders, not ball playing ones. What we are actually having are defenders who can't bully the strikers.
If anyone lists top 10 defenders of say last 20 years, there is a high probability around 8 will be those bullies, the remaining 2 may be great readers of game like Terry.
Smalling IMO is someone who can get the ball front, not someone who can put his head on the line to block a shot point blank, or maybe get into a strikers read or jump all around say Costa. I mean, he isn't in the same mould as guys like Vidic, Shawcross (not saying Shawcross is better than Smalling). He needs to instill fear that he can break your leg in 2, but never break it sort of guy
Ofcourse there are. Smalling is very average with the ball so I'm not sure why that's up for debate.
I'd say exaggerated passing ability. People seem to think just because someone is calm on the ball, they are a CB playmaker. These are a load of bullies and excellent readers of the game more than anything.
Depends what you mean by 'bully the strikers'.
Smalling regularly bullies the strikers in the sense he wins almost every physical duel. Whether it's in the air or a shoulder to shoulder battle as they go for the ball. He's simply bigger, stronger and faster than the vast majority of players out there, and he uses those gifts to go around quietly winning the vast majority of physical battles.
However, as you alluded to, there's no 'dirtiness' about him. The strikers can get frustrated by him winning everything, but they won't be scared of him. Attackers knew that the likes of Vidic, Terry, Stam, etc would happily go straight through them if they felt they needed to to get the ball. Whereas Smalling would stay on his feet and 'gently' overpower them to push them off and win the ball.
A lot of revisionism going on here. Smalling had every attacker, big or small, strong or fast, in his pocket up until November. Since then he has been about average top six standard in the league.
He showed he is as fast as Vardy over distance, stronger than Lukaku and better in the air and had him in his pocket till the player looked to give up. The same has happened to pretty much any forward. Lately, however, he has seemed a bit frustrated and knackered at times. No wonder, seeing as he often covers more ground than 80% of our outfield players. Looking at yesterday's match that is understandable, because Blind loses every single header to a normal sized attacker. He may have decent stats, but that is because Smalling takes all of those duels. It must be both frustrating and exhausting. On top of that, he has to cover against every runner as he knows Blind is easily outpaced.
Yesterday's match was perfect for a defender like Blind who is great on the ball, but even then, he lost a couple of unnecessary headers that Smalling would never have lost.
Even a Liverpool supporter I know thought Smalling was a great defender.
Rio was great because he outpaced the fastest of strikers and anticipated play very well. Smalling is better in the air and stronger in a tackle, but Rio was smarter and technically a couple of leagues above. Smalling is probably a hybrid of Rio and Vidic. When people compare Rio-Vidic to any defender, they should know there isn't a center back pairing close to them at present.
He showed he is as fast as Vardy over distance, stronger than Lukaku and better in the air and had him in his pocket till the player looked to give up. The same has happened to pretty much any forward. Lately, however, he has seemed a bit frustrated and knackered at times. No wonder, seeing as he often covers more ground than 80% of our outfield players. Looking at yesterday's match that is understandable, because Blind loses every single header to a normal sized attacker. He may have decent stats, but that is because Smalling takes all of those duels. It must be both frustrating and exhausting. On top of that, he has to cover against every runner as he knows Blind is easily outpaced.
Yesterday's match was perfect for a defender like Blind who is great on the ball, but even then, he lost a couple of unnecessary headers that Smalling would never have lost.
Even a Liverpool supporter I know thought Smalling was a great defender.
Rio was great because he outpaced the fastest of strikers and anticipated play very well. Smalling is better in the air and stronger in a tackle, but Rio was smarter and technically a couple of leagues above. Smalling is probably a hybrid of Rio and Vidic. When people compare Rio-Vidic to any defender, they should know there isn't a center back pairing close to them at present.
Not in training?
Wave goodbye to a clean sheet for the next few games if he is injured!
Wave goodbye to a clean sheet for the next few games if he is injured!
Has an injury been confirmed or is he just being rested perhaps? Imagine facing Arsenal will McNair/Blind at CB
Sky Sports says an injury.
If McNair starts any of the next two games we will lose. Would rather Blind & Carrick together at the back if Smalling is out.
lovely
Typical. He's needed a rest though.
Valencia, McNair, Rojo, Blind?
Three at the back versus Arsenal seems a given, then.
Bloody hell not another injury.
No, Rojo and Valencia are still injured. Darmian is back in training though.
http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php#c14
Valencia trained today.
Guess physioroom aren't reliable anymore then.
fecking typical.
Reliable, yes. Updated, no. To be fair to them, this is the first we've heard of Valencia and Rojo back in training.
I guess then it's a question of fitness, if we play them and they're still unfit and get injured against Midtylland again, would be pretty annoying, a gamble LVG has to consider.
- Status