[Rossa]

He's back in form after a patchy period. He and Blind have been sublime is the last few weeks.

They really have. I have been very skeptical of Blind, but they compliment each other well, even if there are things I would like to see improved.

 

[Rossa]

Think it was good to have a game like that just before the match on Saturday.

I was worried that he may have been injured, but thankfully he ran it off. Another game like this against Lukaku on Saturday will be great.

Isn't Lukaku already too far inside Smalling's pocket to show up for the match on Saturday?

 

[MadDogg]

Isn't Lukaku already too far inside Smalling's pocket to show up for the match on Saturday?

Lukaku climbed out of Smalling's pocket for our match against them a couple of weeks back. Of course, on that occasion he climbed straight into Blind's.

Hopefully both of them can do the job against him again on the weekend.

 

[Loublaze]

Lukaku climbed out of Smalling's pocket for our match against them a couple of weeks back. Of course, on that occasion he climbed straight into Blind's.

Hopefully both of them can do the job against him again on the weekend.

He's currently in Sakho's pocket

 

[Rossa]

He's currently in Sakho's pocket

A little too fond of pockets perhaps?

 

[Devil may care]

Glad the own goal didn't end up costing us, he went with the wrong leg but why was he over Blind and Rojo';s side to begin with?

 

[prath92]

Glad the own goal didn't end up costing us, he went with the wrong leg but why was he over Blind and Rojo';s side to begin with?

Because he was marking lukaku and lukaku came in.

 

[DWelbz19]

Glad the own goal didn't end up costing us, he went with the wrong leg but why was he over Blind and Rojo';s side to begin with?

Yeah, I think the fault is mainly on Rojo for gifting a player so good at crossing such space to put it into that area. Smalling should really be doing better though.

 

[limerickcitykid]

That is just an idiotic mistake to go with your right foot in that situation. Give him a bollocking for that and he won't do it again.

 

[Bwuk]

Not his best performance. On another day Lukaku would of had a hattrick.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Very poor mistake.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Poor decision from Smalling to lead with his stronger foot rather than the foot that would have put it out for a corner. His instep has just curled it in.

He had a decent game bar that mistake though. Not his very best, but he handled everything else pretty well. Lukaku was doing everything right apart from the finish, and was tough to handle.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Unfortunate to see, thought he was coming back into form recently.

 

[nemanja15]

He had a good game, error aside, did another good job on Lukaku.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Good performance but its always true that one mistake can ruin your day as a CB and that wasnt a great moment. That being said all players make mistakes and his overall performance was class.

 

[No11]

Awful defending for the goal.

 

[Mike09]

Doesn't deserve the own goal because I thought he played well. But one single error can change everything. I have seen smalling used his left foot to clear the ball so to me he loses his concentration for a moment and made that silly error.

 

[2mufc0]

Normally good against the big powerful forwards but Lukaku was all over him today. Don't think he will go for a silly clearance like that again.

 

[Sylar]

Probably the worst mistake ive seen him make since his sending off against City. But glad it didnt cost us.

Overall I thought he had a good performance (bar that) and his handling of Lukaku was well done. Hes handled Caroll, Kane, Lukaku (twice) really well.

 

[KikiDaKats]

I thought his game was riddled with mistakes today..
The early Lukaku chances were all avoidable and a series of episodes in the second half were he kept losing his position and not recovering well enough to stabilise the backline. Thought he is the reason it was chaotic on our right side of defence.
That said he made it very uncomfortable for Lukaku and won the psychological battle.

 

[Revan]

Probably the worst mistake ive seen him make since his sending off against City. But glad it didnt cost us.

Overall I thought he had a good performance (bar that) and his handling of Lukaku was well done. Hes handled Caroll, Kane, Lukaku (twice) really well.

Blind handled Lukaku on the first match, not him. Even yesterday, for a large part of the match, Blind was on Lukaku.

He missed Caroll for his goal.

He definitely handled Kane well in both matches. though.

I think that he has been very average (to not say poor) for the large majority of matches since end of November. Don't have any idea what people are watching.

 

[Sylar]

He missed Caroll for his goal.
Don't have any idea what people are watching.

When did Carroll score past us?

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Another good performance from Smalling, apart from the own goal, of course. This is something he'll have to try and get out of his game, though. It's not the first time he's gone with his furthest foot when clearly. Unfortunately, it resulted in an own goal yesterday. Other than that, he did a good job.

 

[Revan]

When did Carroll score past us?

Sorry, it was his assist(essentially Smalling completely lost Carroll and then Carroll returned the header for a tap in to some other player).

Around 3 min in the video:

 

[Sylar]

He was blocked off, that happens in set pieces. For those occasions however second ball is always important.

Also Smalling was on Lukaku as much as blind if not more during open play. eg the deflected OG he moved across with him a few times. Still Lukaku should have scored a few, but the only one that could be resultant of Smalling is the one where his bad touch meant he had to kick it straight at DDG from out wide.

 

[limerickcitykid]

He was blocked off, that happens in set pieces.

Emenike hardly got in his way and he was completely lost by that point anyway. Carroll lost him on the turn and Smalling was a good yard behind from then on. It does happen on set pieces, quite often too, because for how good Smalling has been and how good he is in the air, he can't mark a man on a corner for shit.

 

[Devil may care]

Because he was marking lukaku and lukaku came in.

Shouldn't he have handed him off to Blind when he went into his zone though?

Yeah, I think the fault is mainly on Rojo for gifting a player so good at crossing such space to put it into that area. Smalling should really be doing better though.

He went with the wrong foot on his wrong side, slow thinking on his part but unlucky as well. Rojo is our b biggest liability in the back 4 right now I'd say.

 

[Shimo]

Eh on the own goal. Had he gone with his weaker foot and that had gone in, people would be saying he had time to make a simple clear with his stronger foot. It actually did look like a simple clearance but, obviously with the speed of the cross, was slightly mistimed and came off the shin. Pretty much happens all game to every player, not making the right contact. Played quite well overall - so onwards and upwards.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Eh on the own goal. Had he gone with his weaker foot and that had gone in, people would be saying he had time to make a simple clear with his stronger foot. It actually did look like a simple clearance but, obviously with the speed of the cross, was slightly mistimed and came off the shin. Pretty much happens all game to every player, not making the right contact. Played quite well overall - so onwards and upwards.

People would be idiots then. You clear that ball with your left foot every single time.

 

[kr0nix]

He's good at what he does generally, but you get the sense that he doesn't trust his technical ability in certain situations. This is most obvious on the numerous occasions that he tries to bring the ball out to start attacks, but then opts for the safest pass from promising positions. Prior to the own goal, there was an instance where Smalling was on the ball, and the best option available to him was a long pass to a stationary Valencia out on the wing, but he just seemed reluctant to attempt it. He did play the pass in the end, but it was overhit and went out of play.

It seemed to me like the own goal was an extension of that same reluctance and lack of trust.

 

[Bwuk]

Don't understand how people can say he had a good game.

Lukaku should of had at least a hattrick. In a game where so many clear cut chances are made, often by the striker himself, how can either of the CB's have a good game?

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

Don't understand how people can say he had a good game.

Lukaku should of had at least a hattrick. In a game where so many clear cut chances are made, often by the striker himself, how can either of the CB's have a good game?

Yeah he didn't have a good game really. Lukaku not scoring was through a combination of poor finishing, great goalkeeping and luck rather than us marking him out of the game or anything. I suppose we did well in last ditch blocks and clearances off the line but you won't get away with that every week. And the own goal was just poor, tried to clear it with the wrong foot because he was panicking.

Smalling hasn't been as good as he was pre Xmas and he's had a few dodgy moments in the last few months but he's still been one of our better performers this season.

 

[Devil may care]

Strange game from him, seemed less involved than usual and didn't tuck up Ulloa the way I expected.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Oo0AahCantona]

Madness. He was a rock before christmas for certain, but De Gea once again, and even arguably martial has had a larger impact.

EDIT: Perhaps not madness, thats too strong.

 

[Skills]

De Gea

Martial vs Liverpool

Think Smalling will win the players' player of the year award anyway.

Called it.

 

[Kag]

Fully deserved.

 

[DWelbz19]

Well deserved. Players weren't going to vote De Gea again and he'd been the next best. Bit unfortunate for Martial but what can you do.

 

[Skills]

Madness. He was a rock before christmas for certain, but De Gea once again, and even arguably martial has had a larger impact.

EDIT: Perhaps not madness, thats too strong.

It's the players award. Most self respecting players wouldn't have been happy about De Gea pratting about at the start of the season wanting to leave.

 

[Zoo]

Well done Chris.