[DeOddi]

Have you watched EVERY game over the past 12 months? I have. Today is Chris Smalling. He was overrated playing in LVGs system and he's ALWAYS good for a mess up.

"Always" good for a mess up is just nonsense. When played at centre-back for United he has generally been a very solid (and 6 month of very good performances under Van Gaall) player for us. A few mistakes don´t change that.

It´s especially funny when you look at the much heralded (and rightly so) Jones and Rojo lately. Both showered with hate and criticism before their run of games. They were called "worst United players we´ve ever had", "braindead", "make mistakes every game"... etc.. And now they´re praised every game and even mistakes are forgiven, because the results are going our way. Only recently Jones completely misjudged a long ball, which was a lot worse than what Smalling did today, and was just lucky Rojo covered for him, or the opponent would have been through on goal. Smalling didn´t have the luck that Herrera actually bothered to track Leadbitters run and just stood there watching. And i don´t think i have to start with Rojo who should have been sent off two times already, and both also actions that were a lot worse than what Smalling did today.

It just seems to be a thing on redcafe to always have a player who gets unproportional dislike and criticism on here, and everything they did right gets overlooked. It wouldn´t surprise me if in a few month and maybe a few injuries or 1-2 bad games it´s back to Jones and Rojo being "useless".

 

[devilish]

The haters are having a field day here. If Bailly was the defender closest to the scorer he'd be absolved of all blame. We've conceded some similar goals during Jones and Rojo's run in the first team. It was a well taken goal. But no, its all Smalling's fault

If Bailly was the defender closest to the scorer then he would figure out that he should try and do something about it

 

[spiriticon]

He's just on shite form. Happens to everyone, including Jones and Rojo.

No need to be shipping him out just yet.

 

[Champagne Football]

He's a soft defender. You can see it for England and also Utd under Van Gaal how many soft goals they both conceded when he was in the team. He'll 100% be shipped off to Leicester, West Ham, Celtic or China at the end of the season.

 

[sizzling sausages]

If he goes for it he has to win that header. Terrible decision and terrible attempt.

He didn't make up his mind on whether he should go for it or cover the run and ended up doing neither. Half went for it but didn't actually challenge Negredo and in doing that moved out of position to cover the run.

The overreactions are pathetic though. Other than one bad moment I thought he looked alright for someone who hasn't played in so long. People calling for him to be sold are crazy, he's been arguably our best defender in all of the 3 previous seasons.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

He's a soft defender. You can see it for England and Utd under Van Gaal how many soft goals both teams concede when he's in the team. He'll 100% be shipped off to Leicester, West Ham, Celtic or China at the end of the season.

How 100 percent is this 100%?

 

[derace]

not good today but he was out for so long so its hardly a surprise. we will become good again i'm sure.

 

[Revan]

"Always" good for a mess up is just nonsense. When played at centre-back for United he has generally been a very solid (and 6 month of very good performances under Van Gaall) player for us. A few mistakes don´t change that.

It´s especially funny when you look at the much heralded (and rightly so) Jones and Rojo lately. Both showered with hate and criticism before their run of games. They were called "worst United players we´ve ever had", "braindead", "make mistakes every game"... etc.. And now they´re praised every game and even mistakes are forgiven, because the results are going our way. Only recently Jones completely misjudged a long ball, which was a lot worse than what Smalling did today, and was just lucky Rojo covered for him, or the opponent would have been through on goal. Smalling didn´t have the luck that Herrera actually bothered to track Leadbitters run and just stood there watching. And i don´t think i have to start with Rojo who should have been sent off two times already, and both also actions that were a lot worse than what Smalling did today.

It just seems to be a thing on redcafe to always have a player who gets unproportional dislike and criticism on here, and everything they did right gets overlooked. It wouldn´t surprise me if in a few month and maybe a few injuries or 1-2 bad games it´s back to Jones and Rojo being "useless".

Every player makes mistakes, but Smalling has made too many for more than a year now. Since that match against Wolfsburg he has been dogshite.

So yep, when you make mistake after mistake, you're going to be criticized more heavily than making mistakes rarely. It has always been like that.

 

[Ekeke]

Every player makes mistakes, but Smalling has made too many for more than a year now. Since that match against Wolfsburg he has been dogshite.

So yep, when you make mistake after mistake, you're going to be criticized more heavily than making mistakes rarely. It has always been like that.

For more than a year

 

[Robbie Boy]

He's a soft defender. You can see it for England and also Utd under Van Gaal how many soft goals they both conceded when he was in the team. He'll 100% be shipped off to Leicester, West Ham, Celtic or China at the end of the season.

Be a good signing for Celtic alright.

 

[Revan]

Hodor is big and tough but not very bright

 

[Revan]

For more than a year

Yep, from the beginning of last December (the Wolfsburg match) up to now is slightly more than a year.

 

[Jed I. Knight]

Nowhere man for the goal, but a cockup is not unreasonable to expect from someone who hasn't played a match for months.

Playing him was, in isolation, fine, but swapping both centre backs was mind boggling. Bailly also didn't look entirely assured out there today, which spreads discomfort across the back line and increases the chances of grave mistakes.

 

[SATA]

Thought Bailly was carrying him today. Nowhere to be seen when we were defending

 

[Ekeke]

Yep, from the beginning of last December (the Wolfsburg match) up to now is slightly more than a year.

He was our best CB for half a season in that timeframe. Talk about over the top

 

[Revan]

He was our best CB for half a season in that timeframe. Talk about over the top

No he wasn't. Blind was miles better in the second half of last season, and carried him. And of course, playing in a defensive team makes you look a bit better.

 

[villain]

Thought Bailly was carrying him today. Nowhere to be seen when we were defending

Eh?!

He was clearing out balls aerially and covering for Blind on multiple occasions, lost concentration for the goal, but he wasn't the only player at fault (Leadbitter was Herrera's man, and he just stopped tracking him)

 

[Escobar]

Currently our 4th CB, all others are in much better form.

 

[spiriticon]

I think people have to accept that Bailly, Smalling, Jones and Rojo are not Ferdinand/Vidic. All are just a level below their predecessors. Their perfomances will rise and dip with form and injuries. We can only hope that they don't all hit poor form at the same time.

Then again, even Ferdinand was prone to a few errors and Vidic got raped by Torres a couple of times.

Key lesson: Nobody's perfect.

 

[Ødegaard]

Smalling fans to his defense as always. It's amazing.

 

[Loublaze]

If Bailly was the defender closest to the scorer then he would figure out that he should try and do something about it

Sure

 

[mu4c_20le]

Smalling fans to his defense as always. It's amazing.

If by that you mean any fan with a memory longer than a year then yes, he still deserves a chance to find his old form.

 

[devilish]

Sure

He doesn't come across as a defender who will sit out doing nothing while the striker close to him scores the goal

 

[villain]

Smalling fans to his defense as always. It's amazing.

You could say the same for literally every single player, except maybe Fellaini, Depay & Young.

Should we just turn on our players every time they make a mistake?

Smalling has to earn his spot back ahead of Jones, Rojo & Bailly, but thankfully Mourinho isn't as reactionary as some of our "fans"

 

[rooney2009]

Not match fit but he needs to harden up

 

[Champagne Football]

How 100 percent is this 100%?

Guaranteed. He's not a Mourinho type defender. Not aggressive enough and lacks the desire that the best have. Himself and Shaw will be gone if the right money is offered in the summer.

 

[sizzling sausages]

He doesn't come across as a defender who will sit out doing nothing while the striker close to him scores the goal

The only thing you're basing this on is the fact you like him more than Smalling. Do you remember Bailly standing off Iheanacho against City and leaving him set up a goal with a free header? Same situation as today.

 

[Ødegaard]

If by that you mean any fan with a memory longer than a year then yes, he still deserves a chance to find his old form.

He deserves feck all, and people with a memory longer than back to those 6 months he was good will remember that he was a fringe-player who needed to show that he consistently could produce top quality defending.

He has shown that he can have good form, but before and after he has shown himself incapable of being a first choice defender for a club with ambition of winning the league and compete for the Champions League.

I've said it before, he isn't a horrible player, he is a good PL cb, but he is not good enough to be a starter for where I want Manchester United to be. That is my gripe with him and he continues to make stupid decisions that shows that he isn't good enough.

Saying that people who don't rate him as top class lacks the memory of the short period he was great is downright stupid, and the rest of us can go the same route and ask if you guys with such a great "long term memory" traded in your eyes or brains to keep it.

 

[devilish]

The only thing you're basing this on is the fact you like him more than Smalling. Do you remember Bailly standing off Iheanacho against City and leaving him set up a goal with a free header? Same situation as today.

I have no 'liking' to anybody, I am a United supporter not this or that player supporter. However its evident that Bailly is a better defender. Also if he's in Smalling situation he'll probably opt for the tackle (even if it a rash tackle) then the passenger option

 

[Ødegaard]

You could say the same for literally every single player, except maybe Fellaini, Depay & Young.

Should we just turn on our players every time they make a mistake?

Smalling has to earn his spot back ahead of Jones, Rojo & Bailly, but thankfully Mourinho isn't as reactionary as some of our "fans"

Reactionary? This is built up over time, the same as those of us that wanted Moyes and LvG gone built up that view. We don't see one bad game and say the player has to go, but if he again and again proves that he lacks the ability to make it as a first choice, or is shown to be considered a squad alternative by the manager, people will naturally want a proper player to replace him in the squad.

He is good enough for the squad, but not good enough for a starter role, and him being at United prevents us from getting a top class pairing and a solid, stable defense.

 

[Dec9003]

I just don't see it with Smalling unfortunately. A lot of people will want to give him more chances, but for me he's had too many already, he's just too passive and is lacking in quality. In the summer he should be gone really for me, I can completely understand why Mourinho still seems to be looking for a centre back.

 

[spiriticon]

We should just sell Smalling, Blind, Jones and Rojo and play Bailly in a one man defense

 

[Ødegaard]

We should just sell Smalling, Blind, Jones and Rojo and play Bailly in a one man defense

Or get 1 more top class cb and have Bailly + 1 as our main pairing, and let the others be squad players for when the main guys are injured or need a rest, if they accept the role, and move on if they don't.

 

[RedPed]

If by that you mean any fan with a memory longer than a year then yes, he still deserves a chance to find his old form.

It's the blind deluded loyalty that's laughable really, pretty much like the Schneiderlin followers who always claimed that he was a world beater. This irrational attachment to Smalling really is beginning to piss me off even though he has been dogshite for ages now and looks like he's getting left behind in what we are trying to achieve now. He's just not the way forward anymore. He can move to PSG when LVG takes over.

 

[sizzling sausages]

He deserves feck all, and people with a memory longer than back to those 6 months he was good will remember that he was a fringe-player who needed to show that he consistently could produce top quality defending.

He has shown that he can have good form, but before and after he has shown himself incapable of being a first choice defender for a club with ambition of winning the league and compete for the Champions League.

I've said it before, he isn't a horrible player, he is a good PL cb, but he is not good enough to be a starter for where I want Manchester United to be. That is my gripe with him and he continues to make stupid decisions that shows that he isn't good enough.

Saying that people who don't rate him as top class lacks the memory of the short period he was great is downright stupid, and the rest of us can go the same route and ask if you guys with such a great "long term memory" traded in your eyes or brains to keep it.

See, this is the shit that annoys me on here. Why the need to downplay the amount of time he's been good for? He was very good in van Gaal's first season too, besides the City game (which his detractors still bring up for some reason). He was then excellent for the first half of last season, before falling off in the second half. Although he still wasn't half as bad as people now make out. Even when Moyes was manager he was impressive, being one of our best players in the games against Bayern.

As for him being a fringe player, it was only really in Fergie's last season where he was undoubtedly a sub even when fit. In all other seasons here he's generally been in the team when fit.

 

[villain]

Reactionary? This is built up over time, the same as those of us that wanted Moyes and LvG gone built up that view. We don't see one bad game and say the player has to go, but if he again and again proves that he lacks the ability to make it as a first choice, or is shown to be considered a squad alternative by the manager, people will naturally want a proper player to replace him in the squad.

He is good enough for the squad, but not good enough for a starter role, and him being at United prevents us from getting a top class pairing and a solid, stable defense.

The goal was as a result of a lack of concentration and he wasn't the only person at fault either. It was his first start a few months and made one mistake, before that he cleared his lines well, was aerially dominant and made no mistakes.

When our other defenders make the same mistakes they aren't judged as harshly as Smalling.

He isn't good enough to be a starter right now, considering Rojo & Jones' improvement, but to suggest he's not good enough period is ridiculous.

Put Carrick in front of the back 4 like RoJones have had, and he'll put in similar performances as them, which shows great depth we have in defence.

 

[spiriticon]

Or get 1 more top class cb and have Bailly + 1 as our main pairing, and let the others be squad players for when the main guys are injured or need a rest, if they accept the role, and move on if they don't.

Bailly isn't the complete picture yet, and I am dead certain any new CB who joins will have a period of crap form as well.

 

[Kag]

Idiots out in force, I see. Wouldn't know good defending if it smacked them in the teeth. This sudden narrative that he has been carried by Van Gaal's negative system is one of the more hilarious things I've read on here. Especially when you consider that Smalling defended very well under Ferguson, then Moyes, and then Van Gaal.

He defended pretty well today, really. He, alongside others, were caught out for the goal, but it happens from time to time. Football is so reactionary, and I really can't fathom how people can follow the sport with such vigour but have so little understanding of it. It's quite sad.

 

[sizzling sausages]

The goal was as a result of a lack of concentration and he wasn't the only person at fault either. It was his first start a few months and made one mistake, before that he cleared his lines well, was aerially dominant and made no mistakes.

When our other defenders make the same mistakes they aren't judged as harshly as Smalling.

He isn't good enough to be a starter right now, considering Rojo & Jones' improvement, but to suggest he's not good enough period is ridiculous.

Put Carrick in front of the back 4 like RoJones have had, and he'll put in similar performances as them, which shows great depth we have in defence.

I don't think this part is true tbf. All of our defenders are harshly judged on here, I don't think people realise just how hard it is to go a full game without making any mistakes. And unfortunately for defenders their mistakes often lead to goals.

 

[mu4c_20le]

It's the blind deluded loyalty that's laughable really, pretty much like the Schneiderlin followers who always claimed that he was a world beater. This irrational attachment to Smalling really is beginning to piss me off even though he has been dogshite for ages now and looks like he's getting left behind in what we are trying to achieve now. He's just not the way forward anymore. He can move to PSG when LVG takes over.

He's been here a long time and has shown that he can be a solid defender under different managers and cb partnerships. That's the difference between him and Morgan, who I and a fair few others never wanted here in the first place. I'm just confused as to why Smalling is not even rated by some here like @Ødegaard, hence the 1 year memory remark. If we are simply looking to get rid and free up space for a potential world class signing, why not Jones, who is even more injury prone? Or Rojo, who has been dodgy and brainless for years, but only started showing good form at cb in the past few weeks? With that said, if Mou feels that he cannot get the best out of him anymore then I"m fine with him leaving, but that's up to the gaffer.