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Are you sure? From the angle i've seen on youtube (will check sky recording in a bit) it looks like the ball was heading for the edge of the penalty area? Smalling slows him down to prevent Benteke getting a shot off, gets Benteke to switch his body and face away from goal. He's stopped the initial danger at that point. The problem is that Townsend is in acres of space on the edge of our box (he's not even on the edge of our box, about 6 yards out when Benteke spots him). Pogba realises he's fecked up once Benteke releases the pass as he suddenly accelerates to Townsend but it's too late (and a great finish from Townsend too).
Talk about being a hypocrite.
Why are you lying ?Talk about being a hypocrite.
Smalling waves his hand at the foul then is ready to react when the quick freekick comes.
Matic not looking at the ball, complaining to the referee.
Freekick taken quickly, Lindelof deepest playing the attacker onside. Would have been offside otherwise.
2 seconds later Smalling is appealing for offside before reacting and trying to get back to the attacker.
Again, Smalling shouldnt be doing this. Ideally he'd just play to the whistle. But if Lindelof was in line with the rest of the defence his offside appeal would be correct.
It wasnt correct because of Lindelof's error. Valencia gets back slower, Matic is the one who has made a huge blunder you wouldnt expect from one of our most senior players taking himself out of the move completely when its his job to help the defence.
So yes, Smalling is still closest to doing exactly what he should do but it isnt great defending. Would have been pretty good if his partner hadnt made a mistake though. So Smalling being singled out is laughable.
I came here just to say it was a tale of two halves with him today and he was poor for the second goal and somewhat the first but took his goal well and did better towards the end of the game.
It's probably just the constant negative posts that some posters churn out. For example, you've both praised and critised him (that's fair, I did the same). Yet you have other posters who have ignored his goal and great 2nd half and concentrated on breaking down every aspect of every goal against us (sometimes not even a goal) and try to pin the blame on him.
Are you are career hypocrite or something? Is that your gimmick?Why are you lying ?
I've already shown you the screen grab from when the ball is played, trying to take a screenshots several seconds afterwards when the ball has reached the player to try to make it out as Lindelof is playing him onside is fecking pathetic.
When the ball is played, is on the right side of the line, including Smalling. So no, even if the other players were level with Smalling, it still wouldn't have been offside.
Again, please stop lying....It's 2018, getting screen grabs is pretty easy
I actually missed that very early action but I see from those pictures that it is a counter-attack. 2 vs 2 with several players coming late. You don't sell yourself in these situations.
At least Valencia and Matic is quick when running back into a defensive position. Use the picture to compare the distance with those players and Pogba, and it's clear to see who is the main culprit for that goal. I feel alone because I actually rate Pogba's defensive capabilities, but his defensive awareness is terrible there, really poor and just lazy.
Pogba was ball watching for a lot of that goal. Don't think he really took in Townsends position and movement until it was too late. Just very sloppy.
Yupp! And i just realised i was beating a dead horse with my last post, as it was mostly already said in here.
Well deserved MOTM called by the boss. Smalling’s goal and attitude helped fire up the team.
Seriously dude if you don't have anything relevant to add you should sometimes just learn to shut the hell upI came here just to say it was a tale of two halves with him today and he was poor for the second goal and somewhat the first but took his goal well and did better towards the end of the game.
But then I read stuff like this and I don’t understand why this obsession with you to put him on a pedestal? Considering he’s been here the longest and the other defenders bar Jones who rarely goes in the box, have been here 1-2-3 years respectively why is that even relevant? So weird the way you need to somehow show his worth with irrelevant crap like it’s dependant on his tenure. Are you related or something?
Also do one of you @Rossa and @Ekeke take turns in defending his errors? I see it’s the latters turn this week
Well said. Smalling deserved his man of the match award as he had a decent match. Haters just want to hate I guess and some just always think they know better than everyone else no matter what the subject is.
This. Its like you can't even give him any kind of praise without haters like @Ultimate Grib spewing some verbal diarrhea, its pathetic. As long as Smalling stays fit Mourinho will continue to pick him much to the chagrin of his detractors.
I'm not just talking about goals here, also when he heads the wall in defense. Every game there will an open man to his right and he'll head it forward. He often just gives the other team possession again.
I thought Young should have picked him up tbh. Bit of both i guess
Benteke is right-footed. Smalling does not dare to tackle him because he'd always bully him with his strenght.
Oh, I was 100% sure he was left-footed and thought the commentator said it too...Was he referring to the other big striker Palace had?
You have those that see the negative and those that are unable to do so. Both as bad as each other at exaggeration. Both unrealistic in their views.
Chris is the tallest defender we have.
You need help reading other peoples posts. Try google reader.
He showed him were we had the support to deal with it. Townsend had three people around him. He shouldn't have got a shot away if either young or lindeloff pushed him or pogba tracked him
Our manager says otherwise. Gave him motm
The way some members here micro-analyse every opponent goal-making or potentially goal-making move (after every match) to find fault with Smalling is hilarious. They need to acquire a life!
It's pathetic. What's worse however are those that just parrot some criticism they heard on twitter without even bothering to analyse his performances. He has bad days like everybody else but what I find ridiculous is often he gets the exact same level and type of criticism on his good days. There are plenty of games when he's absolutely superb and it doesn't seem to even register with the typical United supporter. It's as if the performances don't matter.
They are both at fault but this is the Mike smalling thread. Valencia has a shocker untill he executed a great pass for smalling to score a great header. Ironically they were both involved in getting us a foothold to get back into the game. But ultimately we would not be in these situations had they on this occasion and others been making so many mistakes and when they are not making mistakes they are not adding anything of the level we need.
Also some have this opinion that other great CBs never gave away any chances for opponents. Was watching some West Ham show where West Ham player was talking about 2000s West Ham, they showed few wins against ManUtd, Rio was so poor losing tackles, his marker. But if we read Redcafe, past CBs never made mistakes, at least Rio and Vida never gave away any chances at all.
People see what they want to see. For the last few seasons he's typically been partnered with converted wingers as full backs (or Darmian), CBs who are too fecking weak or slow (Blind and Lindelof) or can't stay fit (Jones, Rojo, Bailly). Yet over that time we've had an excellent defensive record. Dea Gea and Smalling have been the ones generally holding it all together. He deserves more praise for his part in that imo.
Exactly and good point. Partnerships in defence is very important and we have one CB rotating every week and LB no one knows who will play there.
