You don't become s*** over night. His game is off but he's young so let's not write him off just yet. I just wish he'd take a touch instead of hoofing it.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 36
- Clean sheets
- 18
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 0
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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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It actually angers me how poor he is on the ball.
You are completely spot on, mate! People have such agendas it is really quite incredible.This is incredible, he is literally our only player who is good at defending tonight yet he gets more criticism than anyone. Jones looks literally drunk, and Rojo and Darmian keep proving they are terrible fullbacks, but somehow it's Smalling's fault. This place is great, I wonder what people are watching.
He's 27 and looks like he's never seen a ball in his life when in possession.
Definitely looks the most at risk of our 4 centre backs to be replaced in the summer.
Even the commentator on my game moaned at him pumping it aimlessly in touch
Even the commentator on my game moaned at him pumping it aimlessly in touch
It's good that Guardiola chose Stones and then Bravo then, isn't it?
Mourinho won't tolerate much more of this, I'll wager. Smalling will be back in London before the summer's out.
Doesn't excuse his lack of awareness of Dawson who he was marking in a corner kick just seconds ago.
Plus as has been said, he has NO composure on the ball. He has got the physique, got the pace to bring the ball out from the back when the midfielders are marked. Yet, just dilly-dallies on the ball before hoofing it or shifting responsibility to DDG.
So when people point out the other face of the coin, don't go about accusing them of agenda.
Can you fecking pass it chris???????
Yup. That that young 27 year old scamp.
I've never been a fan, he's just not ever going to be a world class defender. He's decent.
Are you Moss? Get off Caf, officiate the game properly, please.It's not even a penalty
He is slightly better than the other two, but by no means good. Smalling is just not very good. He gets criticised more than Jones because he is 27 and people started to wake up and realise he is actually not the top CB that we got promised or hoped he would become.
Obviously some on here still praise him for some reason, but i guess they just have fear of the inevitable, Smalling getting sold. Found out big time this season. He has actually regressed on the ball and is a total nervous wreck. His pure defending can be good at times though.
Obviously some on here still praise him for some reason, but i guess they just have fear of the inevitable, Smalling getting sold. Found out big time this season. He has actually regressed on the ball and is a total nervous wreck. His pure defending can be good at times though.
He has defended better than anyone else in our side. Good headers and a fantastic tackle.
On the other hand he's so poor in possession we end up having do more defending because of it.
On the other hand he's so poor in possession we end up having do more defending because of it.
The people having a go at those criticising Smalling just don't get it.
As good as he may (or not) defend, his atrocious ability on the ball will always make him a liability at a top club.
He was already shite on the ball but this is a whole new level I've never seen at the club before. Its embarrassing.
As good as he may (or not) defend, his atrocious ability on the ball will always make him a liability at a top club.
He was already shite on the ball but this is a whole new level I've never seen at the club before. Its embarrassing.
He's like a lumbering oaf with the ball at his feet. Does he not do extra training on some basic ball and passing skills.
Must be one of the most embarrassing feints in football to see him maraude forward like he's Messi, promptly shit himself, pass it 5 yards sideways or hoof it aimlessly; before running back hoping no one noticed.
Must be one of the most embarrassing feints in football to see him maraude forward like he's Messi, promptly shit himself, pass it 5 yards sideways or hoof it aimlessly; before running back hoping no one noticed.
Pulling the shirt in the box always runs the risk of conceding a penalty, funny that used to be a criticism of Smalling last season.
It's not even a penalty
Plus, Jones and Rojo haven't played well enough to avoid criticism if everyone is going to jump on Smallig's back. Meylor keeps getting in on Rojo's side and Jones is all over the place postionally including conceding needless corners.
People really see what they wanna see. I'm not denying that distribution is a weakness for Smalling but why do people act like he's our only defender that hoofs it? Rojo does it quite a lot too. Smalling actually has a better passing accuracy for the season (90.1% v 86.1) according to WhoScored in a similar number of matches (25 for Smalling and 27 for Rojo).
The only thing that may save him from being shipped out is the fact he's homegrown.
I think he's a penalty box defender who can make last ditch tackled and head the ball away when under pressure
But the ball at his feet? He's always been poor. He can't pass forwards or he runs forward into space and then turns around and passes it back or out of play
But the ball at his feet? He's always been poor. He can't pass forwards or he runs forward into space and then turns around and passes it back or out of play
Ah the old agenda line. Not seen that for a few weeks. It's no agenda, he just isn't that good in reality. Is definitely 4th choice at the moment for me and that would make him a contender to be out the door in Summer if we buy Lindelof.
The power you must have at Manchester United is quite impressive. Anyone else you have decided to be out the door?
How many of those were left back for smalling? How many were crosses
Or are those just cb vs cb comparison?
But generally I agree Rojo punts it quite a bit
Resorting to personal swipes because your favourite player just isn't very good. Nice.
You can say there's no agenda but could you imagine if it was Smalling that gave away the penalty? There would be pages of posts calling him braindead or similar. Rojo's thread hasn't even been bumped.
Yeah, I did think of that after I posted so it is a bit of an unfair comparison in that regard but at the same time Rojo has probably played less than a handful of games at LB this season.
It's an issue of who's in front of Jones and Rojo. And again who's in front of Smalling and Darmian.
Darmian-Smalling-Jones-Rojo
Lingard - Herrera- Pogba-Rashford
Jones and Rojo are positionally all over the place because Pogba and Rashford are doing feck all to help them. Herrera and Lingard might not be as talented like for like. But Smalling and in extension Darmian are better protected.
Funny he talks about an 'agenda'. If that's the route he's taking then he's the biggest 'agenda' driven poster in here. He fecking bumped the thread tonight ffs with some smart arse shite. Hilarious really.
Touché
Never rated him, always get the impression he is scared of his own shadow!
He's not good. He's not alone in that though. He has his own personal flaws which are annoying.
Definitely not a centre back we can build a great side around.
Definitely not a centre back we can build a great side around.
Jesus Christ what am i reading? Jones broke the offside line? Feckin hell where? On the Hull's half? My God, Meyler was coming back to his defensive duties when Huddleston decided to hoof it for the sake of it, Meyler was never in an offside position. The truth is our defensive line is shocking, and it has been for a while. To say Smalling is a liability on the ball would be an understatement, he is a time bomb with the ball at his feet. We lack leadership, and we lack it badly
I'll gladly say Rojo is not of the quality I want in a United defender.
The thing is though, he's not rated as the second coming of Jesus by anyone, so it's not something worth mentioning in my head (though people are starting to say he's good enough to be a first choice cb... which i find baffling and it will likely make me comment on his faults soon enough).
Only CB we have that makes me feel he can become a 1st choice is Bailly.
Jones, Smalling, Rojo & Blind are all backup-quality that on form can be good-to-great fill-ins, but Jones is injury plagued, Smalling can't handle the ball at all and is prone to brainfarts, Rojo just lacks quality overall and Blind is slow & lacks physique. If Jones gets rid of his injury plagues and Smalling improves on the ball a bit and stops fecking up every other game, sure those can become good enough, but after so long I've lost my faith in them as first choice cb's, and want to see us move for someone who can be nailed on as a top class cb instead of wishing and hoping that people turn it around.
If it's Jones, Smalling or Rojo who has to make way for that signing, then i'm all for it either way, but in general I think it's Rojo who should go based on general lack of quality, and then Smalling based on his inconsistency when he plays.
TLDR: People don't rate Rojo in general, but some rate Smalling so high that they'd rather see him get unlimited time to improve rather than see the club buy a better CB and sell him (or rojo/jones) to make space, that's why Smallings mistakes gets highlighted whilst Rojo's gets brushed over, just as people brush off Baillys faults because he shows huge promise, is still adjusting, and is still young.
Ever since hes come back in, we've been shite.
I don't think thats a coincidence. He can't play the ball out from the back and he constantly boots it up the field. And then theres his marking/shirt pulling issues and the fact that he always switches off during set pieces and crosses.
I'm sick of complaining about him. Its amazing he still has fans who think hes great.
I don't think thats a coincidence. He can't play the ball out from the back and he constantly boots it up the field. And then theres his marking/shirt pulling issues and the fact that he always switches off during set pieces and crosses.
I'm sick of complaining about him. Its amazing he still has fans who think hes great.
That's completely fair if you don't rate any of them as good enough. Personally I think they're all good but have clear weaknesses at the same time.
The thing that gets to me and is the main reason I come in here to defend Smalling is the fact that people criticise him for being poor with the ball but ignore the fact that Jones and Rojo aren't much better. They both play it to De Gea or play it aimlessly forward regularly enough too but it's never brought up as a stick to beat them with.
Because I disagree with people who can't say a positive thing about our own player? He's won every header out there and is defending very well.
Almost all players defending corners shirt pull to some extent, it's such a weird thing to make an issue out of. Rojo has now given away the same amount of penalites for it as Smalling has.
Is Smalling my favorite United player? You must be telepathic as well - of course you are wrong, but hey.
Not at all. I believe I can say both positive and negative things about all United players,but when some posters can't for the life of them find it in them to say anything positive, then I think they are agenda driven.
I agree, he's been ok/good at the defending-part today, but his passing is part of the problem when we try to build an attack, and losing the ball due to bad passes is bad for the defense as well because we're likely to be off-balance.
Of course you can disagree with people, but you're not just disagreeing with people, you're talking about everyone who disagrees on Smallings qualities as someone with an agenda against Smalling.
I think all of us here who are United fans have an agenda for united, we just see what is best for the club in different ways.
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