Anyone still want him sold?
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
Seems loads better in a 3 man defense. If you just leave him to defend and ask nothing else, he's pretty good.
Still think his passing is absolutely unacceptable for a professional footballer, but we minimised that today by having Jones and Bailly in charge of getting the ball up the pitch.
Still think his passing is absolutely unacceptable for a professional footballer, but we minimised that today by having Jones and Bailly in charge of getting the ball up the pitch.
Those who hate him will just bide their time, peck at him for small issues and wait for his first big mistake of the season before unloading the big guns.
Hoof ball into the abyss aside, defensively he was very good.
He has a 5 or 6 yard head start on Alli. He just doesn't react very quickly.
Usually dislike Smalling but I thought he was really good today!
Decent performance. Seemed a bit slow for Dele Alli's big chance. Lack of confidence and ability on the ball evident.
Never got this notion that he was anything other than a top defender. I blame this obsession with ball-playing defenders, which has probably coincided with a decline in actual defending ability from centre halves in general.
What is this based on? Bailly and Jones were erractic with the ball today. They both almost cost us goals with misplaced passes. Smalling was just fine in this respect
Such a myth, incredible that this keeps getting repeated by posters over and over.
Clearly that was a peach of a ball by Eriksen and Alli's movement was brilliant. Any top defender would've struggled with that. You're thinking of a perfect center back and there isn't one in the world
Solid, and has been since coming into the team. Will be interesting to see who Jose goes with when he goes to a back four.
I'm far from Smallings biggest fan, but I thought he was excellent today.
Comfortably the best of the back 3 today IMO. I was surprised to see Jones getting nominations for MoM on MUTV etc over him as I thought Jones was shaky today.
Quietly has been back to his Mike best, he is a very useful tactical weapon and will play a role even if he isn't a 1st XI player.
It's not really a myth though. I've never been a fan of that slow turn and telegraphed pass he learned to do under LVG. He seems to have cut down on that recently and I've been very happy to see him make some one touch passes which leave the recipient enough time and space to move the ball forward. He's always been solid at the defensive side of the game, like he was against Spurs.Such a myth, incredible that this keeps getting repeated by posters over and over.
This - He's nowhere near as bad on the ball as people make out. I actually think his first touch is very good for a CB. His passing is limited but he rarely gives it away.
Was very solid again, probably our second best player after Young yesterday.
It's a myth that our other defender give much more passing wise, because they don't. There are hardly any examples during the game to show that our defender do much more passing wise than Smalling, and yet he is the only one criticised for his passing. If anything, I bet he gives the ball away less in dangerous situations than any of his partners. Last year stats proved that he passes it back to the keeper less than Jones(and Bailly I think), and yet he is only accused of passing it back to keeper all the time.
Blind is the only one who is excellent passer from the back but then he doesn't play as a CB under Mourinho.
I'm not accusing him of giving the ball away dangerously or passing back to the keeper. What he did do last year was every time he received the ball, to trap it, slowly turn towards the player he intends to pass to and then play the obvious pass at a slow tempo. It meant whoever he passed to was already covered when they got the ball and had to pass backwards to him or DDG under pressure. Jones and Bailly receive and release the ball a lot quicker. However, Smalling's improved on this recently and I really hope he can keep it up, because he's excellent off the ball.
Exactly, it was a De Bruyne-esque ball. Defenders can’t always antipate that trajectory, and even if they can, can’t stop it.
His passing is basic, but that’s adequate if he has players around him to delegate possession to, which he does.
He’s been a rock since getting back into the team and it should probably be Smalling+1 in an orthodox back 4, because he’s the least erratic defender of those available, and the only aerially dominant one too.
Yeh. Against Spurs, Whoscored rated him the highest in the team, at 7.71; with Lukaku and Bailly on next at 7.34 and 7.27.
It's pretty impressive rating for a CB.
Man Utd 2:0 Benfica
Credit where its due hes been pretty good in our last 2 games. Loved that turn at 65 min tonight!
He's been excellent for some time, not just two games. Our best defender this year, IMO.
I think Jones takes that honour but Smalling has been good. Hopefully he gets back to his Mike days
He's the one holding that backline together. He's played with a shit Lindelof and kept three clean sheets now he's doing the same with a shit form Bailly
Vital block after Baillys mistake. Just Smalling defending well as usual.
My man of the match. Him or Matic. Both had to do the job of two
Consistently solid. His ball playing has improved somewhat this season. His passing tonight was good. Hasn't put a foot wrong for some time.
Thought he was sightly off tonight. A couple of times in the second half he over committed to tackles and was bypassed. One when De Gea made a sharp save and the other which led to a corner. Bailly's impulsiveness spreading.
By his standards he has been a little more ambitious with his passing, though it is not saying a great deal.
By his standards he has been a little more ambitious with his passing, though it is not saying a great deal.
Made one silly mistake but overall very good.
He's been bailing out Bailly all season imo.
He has been really good for a good while now.
That is quite a superhuman feat considering they've played a mighty two/three games together this season
The hyperbole around these parts is numbing, crazy extremities with hardly any middle ground
That being said, smalling has been solid lately and long may it continue
Top form at the moment. Has done better on the ball as well recently although it is still the weakness no doubt. Last season the injuries really fecked him, but now with a run of games we can see him at his best again.
Just keep up this form!
Just keep up this form!
Aye for someone who is supposedly like Bambi on ice with the ball at his feet that was a pretty confident and slick turn.
I don't know whether he is a good defender or not ..donot even how to describe Smalling. He seems neither a ball playing nor a tough tackling defender.
IMO, hes a penalty area defender. When in there, he seems comfy, especially balls coming into the box.
When hes outside, im not confident watching him.
He's in a good run of form, bounced back well after a hit and miss season.
- Status