Gary Neville’s focus on Smalling marking Crouch then was bizarre. Failed to point out that none of the midfielders tracked their man and criticised the only defender doing that very job. 
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
Fair assessment I agree with.
Think he’s growing into the game so hopefully an improvement in the second half.
Worst he has played this season. Thankfully it will not matter but been very nervy tonight in the defensive side of the game.
I'm a big fan of Smalling, but today is not his best game, at all. The weird thing is that he is fine and even good for most of the match, but he is responsible for most of Stoke's chances - not a good sign at all. Not the worst game to have a day off, however.
He’s been good of late but poor again tonight. I hope we have aspirations of better cb’s.
Very poor today. It was only Stoke so he escaped with it but he made several crimes. He has been good for most of the season though.
Looked good. Those "easy" clearances, which we've been making a complete hash off in recent games were authoritative. Stepped in well and did a job taking the ball forward as well when given the opportunity instead of the normal easy route out.
He wasn't awful but certainly outperformed by Jones.
I think only Chris Smalling can get away with the kind of performance he had tonight.
Lindelöf or Rojo perform like this and they are given a 4-5 by the MEN and everybody spams their threads about how shit they are and that Tuanzebe should be given a chance instead.
Lindelöf or Rojo perform like this and they are given a 4-5 by the MEN and everybody spams their threads about how shit they are and that Tuanzebe should be given a chance instead.
Can you please specify these crimes
Both Ireland chances and the last chance they got in the game when David saved it, in all of these his positioning was very poor.
So mistakes on a football pitch in your opinion. Not crimes. What a shitty post that was then
Not his best game today, must say. Still he's built up a lot of credit this season, I'm not gonna jump on him for one poor game.
Obvious you have no replay at all.
I don't get why he has to swivel 90 degrees to the direction he's passing to all the time. It really hurts our build up play badly. Southgate did have a point it must be said. The direction that the game is heading doesn't reward defenders of Smalling's type. You have to be able to deal with pressure without hoofing the ball and he keeps hindering our rhythm.
Replay? Of crimes? I suggest you go to the police if you want to track down CCTV footage
Meh. I won't drag this any farther for the sake of the thread.
You are confusing weird/awkward passing technique with hoofing the ball. Smalling does not hoof in possession, only the clearances from inside the box. The hoofer in possession is Rojo.
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That last chance was quite funny. He managed to miss out on the ball and then end up falling, whilst at the same time taking out Luke Shaw 
It was comedy.
I dont mind Smalling. but I dont think hes good enough for us to move forward. I dont think hes progressed like he should have.
It was comedy.I dont mind Smalling. but I dont think hes good enough for us to move forward. I dont think hes progressed like he should have.
Clumsy performance. Looked too focused on his own tasks defensively and got caught out a couple of times missing the big picture. He also played his part offensively more than a few times this game, which is nice to see. Lets hope that continues. Jones did very well i thought but when you storm out and throw your body around like he does, eventually you will leave a lot of space behind in dangerous positions. I think Smalling & Jones has fair potential as a pairing but they need to trust each other a lot more. Doesn't always seem like there is an understanding between them
Not a fan at all. He always makes me nervous. Very poor tonight.
Probably his worst performance this season as he looked all over the place.
Overall he was very good this season though, so not sure people are writing him off again.
Overall he was very good this season though, so not sure people are writing him off again.
He's having a solid season but not his best game at all. Phil Jones looked better last night, but as a pair, it was quite dysfunctional, which is concerning. Both are more than capable but the pair was exploited with ease.
Stoke's tactic was basic. Crouch pulls off at the far post, the centre back of whichever side Crouch was at had to occupy him, Crouch pulled wide leaving loads of space in the middle. Both Smalling and Jones got pulled apart a couple of times each, leaving an acre for a late run in to the box and it's concerning we didn't prepare for that, as what else were Stoke going to do with a 36(?) year old 6ft7 centre forward?
Mourinho being Mourinho, you'd have thought we'd have been ready for that. I think Matic should probably have been responsible for tracking Ireland running on from midfield, or the CB not occupying Crouch should perhaps fill the space, but Smalling didn't do that when Jones challenged Crouch, and vice versa. Basic stuff that we were fortunate to get away with.
Smalling's defending was ropey at best, but I thought he was better with the ball, stepped out of defence a few times, and made some good forward passes.
Stoke's tactic was basic. Crouch pulls off at the far post, the centre back of whichever side Crouch was at had to occupy him, Crouch pulled wide leaving loads of space in the middle. Both Smalling and Jones got pulled apart a couple of times each, leaving an acre for a late run in to the box and it's concerning we didn't prepare for that, as what else were Stoke going to do with a 36(?) year old 6ft7 centre forward?
Mourinho being Mourinho, you'd have thought we'd have been ready for that. I think Matic should probably have been responsible for tracking Ireland running on from midfield, or the CB not occupying Crouch should perhaps fill the space, but Smalling didn't do that when Jones challenged Crouch, and vice versa. Basic stuff that we were fortunate to get away with.
Smalling's defending was ropey at best, but I thought he was better with the ball, stepped out of defence a few times, and made some good forward passes.
I thought that was Smallig in a nutshell to be honest.That last chance was quite funny. He managed to miss out on the ball and then end up falling, whilst at the same time taking out Luke Shaw
I dont mind Smalling. but I dont think hes good enough for us to move forward. I dont think hes progressed like he should have.
I’m going to have to watch this game again as I thought he was good, but reading some of the posts I must be wrong.
He was just clumsy with his body in certain situations but i get why you thought he was good, he did some things very well too. I've read this thread before and its often a lot of people who don't seem to understand its possible to do both good and bad things in a game.
Like this. I've seen Ramos, Pepe, Varane, Rio, Vidic do exactly the same type of clumsy mistakes now and then, but they are still forgiven right away and appreciated because they are already rated as classplayers. Somehow Smalling makes those mistakes once in a while and it sticks to his reputation, like "Smalling in a nutshell". That's ridiculous! He is not rated, that's just it. Seems like we are now not supposed to have a good defence, and even though we're certainly not perfect we always gets criticised quick for our defence. It seems like a lot of people miss out on some excellent defending, because they are not looking for things that doesn't fit their overall perspective. I just don't get it (Sorry for bad English on this)
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He needs more variety in his passing. All he ever does is take an age to swivel and pass it wide to Valencia. It completely stifles our build up and makes it predictable and slow.
He can't break a line and give it forwards with speed. He's terrible on the ball.
He can't break a line and give it forwards with speed. He's terrible on the ball.
To be honest this is a feeling I often have with Smalling. I think I must just be a fan of his style of defending because I generally think he's excellent then read people slating him on here.
I think Smalling himself would tell you he’s offended to be named in the same sentence as those guys.
He’s the Barthez of defenders.
Smalling wasn't even at fault for the second Ireland chance, it was Matic who who was ball watching for that. The Smalling critics will always find a way to blame him though, unsurprisingly.
I have been praising him all the season. If you searched my replies in the thread you'll find the bold part pure nonsense. He deserved criticism in this game, so be it.
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Criticize him by all means when he deserves it. Look at the second Ireland chance though, you can't blame him for it.
Well, I'll try and see it again but there are still 2 other mistakes that could have been converted to goals if we were playing a better team.
Anyone has video of their 3 chances yesterday?
Thats a new stat innit? You can probably the say the same thing in almost every game we play, no matter who starts at the back. Nothing glaring
A keeper like Barthez would actually love to have Smalling in front of him, clearing all those high balls and limiting shots to positions more suited for his untraditional keeping-style. Not so very unlike De Gea in that regard. Also, i didn't name him in the same sentence with those guys. Different sentence altogether, and it also meant something completely different than what you think.
I take it you don't rate him at all, which is fair of course, but do you know why other players (such as the class-players i mentioned) doesn't get labelled for similar accidents during games (which you has to know really happens)? I certainly don't think you can prove he does those things more often than those mentioned, so why? You just don't rate him, isn't much else to it is it
Please don't twist my words again, just ask if i was unclear about something.
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If a defender made a mistake that could have lead to a goal, I suppose that obvious thing is to criticize for that ?
What I meant by "he is the Barthez of defenders" is that he does a lot of things well that a defender should do but has moments in his game that could/do turn out to be costly mistakes which won't always be exploited but in a high pressure situation against high quality teams would make all the difference.
Aye it’s Just I can’t recall any mistakes other than he fell over once when there was no danger. He even looked decent on the ball at times coming out passing it about and even then his passing was crisp and not played to the back foot as I’ve seen some criticise him for.
Happy to see that he's more or less guaranteed a starting spot when Bailly is out. I hope he gets to start when Bailly is back as well, as I still think he's our best defender.
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