Do Jose and LVG know less than Southgate?
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 4
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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We know where we are with Smalling, good, but not fantastic, and always hindered by his ball control and distribution, Bailly on the other hand has not shown his full hand yet, and on his first season could be the real deal, so is cut alot of slack, not saying it's right but that's the reality.
Smalling changed my mind last season, he was a shining light amongst a bunch of unreliable injury prone teammates, fair play.
Bailly is very easy to like, stylishly chaotic mode of play, he might mistakes, but he looks great doing it. Everyone brings up Smalling's limitations on the ball, but it is mostly bashing him for not being great at setting up attacks. If you are looking for times when his use of the ball, even his touch, have directly lead to goals at the Utd end there are very few examples(Newcastle away this year a possible exception). The guy playing LCB for Saudi Arabia today is what you would think that Smalling is like on the ball based on his rep, constantly putting his team into trouble.
Trust me if jones could stay fit he’d be ahead of Smalling. Assuming we don’t sign a CB and all are fit it will be bailly and Jones who start the season (as it was this).
Jones has serious talent and rated. Him to be included has nothing to do with Smalling exclusion, unless one take the Smalling injuring Jones joke seriously. Smalling has flaw but overall this season, he is one of the top performing CB in the league and among the English one. Only for Southgate fantasy & belief with one way passing football when his teams don't possesses such supreme ball playing talent, that's Smalling being excluded.
Jones being ahead of Smalling in ideal world doesn't mean, Smalling can't find a spot in that squad with how many CBs and defender were picked.
Sorry but I agree with the England managers choice on this one. Jones is a far better cb but he has been plagued with injuries but when fit (as he is now) he gets the nod over Smalling every time.
You seem to be caught in notion of Jones or Smalling. There are other CBs in that selection that was not worth their inclusion. Fullbacks too if you expand the scope of examination.
Trust you? You sound like you're guaranteeing it. Do you know the managers? Jones was fit for months while Smalling kept his place this season. Bailly, Lindelof and Jones were taking turns partnering Smalling. Can you explain that?
I can tell you this. Jones is not being sold this summer and will get a new contract in December, if he plays well early part of next season. I don’t give a shit if you don’t believe me.
In answer to your question Jones was always coming back from injury, Lindelof was being eased in and bailly plus rojo were injured.
On my must be sold list, he's way below Mr Jones.
Well done on bumping a 3 week old thread to shit on the only defender who looked like an actual defender this season just gone.
Bye
Well said. Too much moaning from some posters.
The problem is too many posters on here, don’t dare saying anything negative about our players no matter how poor, due to so many posters on here jumping down their throat. Let’s all just worship each and every player at united! Close the caf!
Like it or not some people get upset when players of a below par standard play for the club on a regular basis.
And what do you base this theory on?
Just to remind you again. Jones in his United career has missed over double the amount of days that Smalling has.Can we include average performance rating, when played, ideally with an unbiased source!
It’s not even worth going there.
Smalling arrived a year before didn't he? He's certainly be less injury prone over the last 3 seasons Smalling but people have short memories of before then
No. You moan. Criticize a player for when they play poorly, but not like you do; bumping threads just to moan about Smalling being excited about next season. Your tag line is very apt.
Also, your obsession with Jones being superior to Smalling just solidifies the argument that you care more about individual players than the team. Smalling has outperformed Jones for their entire careers at United. Stop talking about ceiling and talent. See what their contributions are. Smalling has been our most trusted cb for several seasons and played well. That is despite having to switch partners every week.
Stop moaning about the same things over and over. If he fecks up, please do entertain us; however, that is a two way street. Give him praise when he deserves to.
Sorry for my lousy writing- I hate typing on the phone. Getting old, I suppose.
There was an average per season that showed the exact same trend. Are people actually arguing that Smalling is as injury prone as Jones? Now is what counts. Smalling is reliable. Jones is not.
Yup, Smalling joined 10-11 and Jones a season later 11-12.
I think Jones is probably one of the most injury prone players to have played for United in the Premier League. He's not even had a long injury in his career like Smalling, Rojo or Bailly. I think his longest injury is 59 days. Compared that to Smalling on 105, Rojo on 211 days and Bailly on 100 days.
Once upon a time yes, now it seems not, though its understandable some will never be truly convinced
You thought your theory was worth something though, which is why you made the prediction. Would be strange if it isn't based on anything at all.
Personally i don't see how Jones survives what is it a 14th or 15th transfer window at United given his ridiculous injury record. Of course he could end up staying if we don't sign any defenders. But i'm sure we will sign at least one CB, in which case Jones is surely first out the door.
My judgement is not based on one game so my complaints aren’t based on one poor performance. Smalling has not been great for seasons. He’s the only player I have seen in a united shirt that literally has to face the direction he’s about to pass the ball. Just to remind you he’s playing for Manchester United.
My ‘obsession’ with Jones being better than Smalling is not unusual, watch the World Cup.
The reason for referencing potential or ceiling as you call it, is because jones has the potential to be a great cb for Man Utd where as Smalling does not.
It’s not a theory. He’s bought Michael Carricks box for the next season has had direct reassurances from Jose.
This loyalty towards Smalling really is bizarre??
I think its funny you're still talking about potential despite him being 26. He's been at the club for 7 seasons now and yet we're still talking about his potential. It's a bit weird. I'm not sure he'll ever change his current style of play and that style of play costs us goals by him making silly mistakes. They both do it, both Smalling and Jones. The only difference is that Smalling is now realible enough to be fit for the majority of the season, Jones is not. That is why Smalling is a constant fixture in the United team.
Ah so you're an ITK, say no more.
Jones will be 27 in the coming season, the time for speaking about his potential has long since passed. At 26 he should be the finished article, but in the short breaks between injuries when he manages to be fit for a game we see he's basically the same player we signed in 2011. He's hasn't developed much if at all, sadly he will almost certainly never develop into the defender some thought he would.
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That is not why you moan tho, is it? Especially evident when you're advocating on Jones behalf while shitting on Smalling
What? Jones doesn't play on a regular basis so its ok for him to be below par People say negative stuff all the time about our players, most of which is unwarranted. Its depressing.
It's not really. You gotta put those buffoons on ignore and let them deal with their own issues.
Rubbish. Jones was always coming back from injury? He was dropped after the Newcastle loss! Rojo was already fit at that time and simply wasn't making matchday squads. Lindelof was only being trusted against bottom clubs. Smalling was the only CB guaranteed a starting spot even in games when you thought Mourinho would rest him. At least Smalling doesn't need three injections to impress South fecking gate for a few mins in pointless friendlies.
I don't understand why you try. Smalling is one of those threads that has some cult like contribution against him. Any suggestion that Smalling might actually be a valuable player and you'll be met with the same tired arguments. Lingard's thread is similar, they'll always be someone talking about how he's not good enough despite being one of our better performers in their area.
Smalling has clearly been our best centre back this season, and at worst he'll be a squad player. I'm guessing that he'll be a mainstay in the defense as he has shown to be a consistent and solid player across multiple seasons.
That's fair enough. I get that he's cut some slack, and I understand a lot of it. But many speak about Bailly being far and away our only good centre back and that he's already destined to be world class, meaning that Smalling should not only be dropped down the pecking order, but shunted from the team completely, which is crazy to me.
For me, Bailly has it all to prove, and he has to show why he should be starting ahead of everyone else. We've seen flashes of it, but he can't be considered our concrete starting CB until he maintains some consistency in both performance and fitness. Until he does, Smalling is the best we have (unless we bring in someone of top quality in the summer, but those options are very limited).
I also don't care that Southgate didn't pick him and I don't think that should be used as a yardstick of quality. Fergie, Van Gaal and Mourinho all have rated him. I'm going to take their collective opinion over a manager who has only taken three central midfielders to the world cup.
Unsurprising to see patient zero posting bollocks leading to another silly debate trying to reduce the several galaxies of daylight between Smalling being our best defender and the rest of the pack.
His Twitter page is absolutely hilarious. Looks like his only fanboys congregate here for the mutual appreciation. Seriously hoping there's an ounce of substance in the West Ham rumours. Couldn't care less where he goes though to be fair. I'll take the bench for now if we get a proper CB this season.
A proper cb wont put smalling on the bench. He will be right there alongside him
Agreed!
West Ham rumoured to be in for him - his level
Smalling is our best CB now and the most reliable defender with Valencia. We should be glad we have the two players and appreciate their service, both players could be upgraded but there is not many players out there who wouldn't cost less than 50m and be a clear upgrade. If we bought Toby then he would probably play alongside Smalling rather then being his replacement. Dalot fix our right side for the future, he will be Valencia's understudy and will be given a chance to impress here and there.
I think Mike's best season is yet to come with a proper CB next to him, so far it was him raising the game of players around him, you could notice he complements well any of our CBs, playing less aggressively with Bailly and Rojo and more with Blind. Glad he's gonna have a rest and go to the tour to cement his place, in fact all of our cbs bar Jones will have a chance to create some sort of relationship on tour which is good ahead of the next season..
I think Mike's best season is yet to come with a proper CB next to him, so far it was him raising the game of players around him, you could notice he complements well any of our CBs, playing less aggressively with Bailly and Rojo and more with Blind. Glad he's gonna have a rest and go to the tour to cement his place, in fact all of our cbs bar Jones will have a chance to create some sort of relationship on tour which is good ahead of the next season..
Always sad to see our fans with fundamental lack of understanding with regards to Defenders and defending. We've been lucky to have had the likes of Rio and Vidic at the club in the past 10 years and a lot of fans didnt learn from what they were doing on the pitch.
Smalling is a very, very good defender. He's just little else. No bells and whistles or fancyness thats going to see Real Madrid and Barcelona try to sign him. He just does his job as a CB very well.
Smalling is a very, very good defender. He's just little else. No bells and whistles or fancyness thats going to see Real Madrid and Barcelona try to sign him. He just does his job as a CB very well.
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