Rio scored very few goals for us, and I don’t think Vidic scored that many either. Probably true.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
He is decent in scoring as a defender but he is also an issue as he just does not seem comfortable in the ball and panics.
Wish he was a decent ball playing defender.
Don't mind him at United but he needs to be a second choice defender rather than first choice.
Wish he was a decent ball playing defender.
Don't mind him at United but he needs to be a second choice defender rather than first choice.
He's well ahead of Rio. Wiki says Vida is still a little ahead though.
Vidic = 21
Smalling = 17
Rio = 8
My mistake. I thought Vidic scored 15 for United, he scored 21. Smalling is now on 17. Rio scored 8 goals for United.
That's still very good though.
Excellent CS. Heart of a lion. Was nice to see him and Jones out there tonight
He is perfectly adequate as a 3rd/4th option who can be rotated in against more physical sides.
Ever since Kompany got the better of him with that header, he has showed exactly what he's made of. Nothing but respect for that.
feck me, I just don't understand England picking guys like Tarkowski, Mawson and Gary Cahill over him. We are hardly 2010 Spain.
Southgate is committing them to a passing game, for good or ill. It might not work in the short term but as mission statement for the future it is actually an admirable move. He might bottle it at tournament time and bring him in, if he does expect a more passive England.
It's a nice idea and all but it's not like the alternatives are that incredible at passing from the back.
It will be Stones, Maguire and one more, expect them to start with 3 at the back, maybe the third could be more of a pure defender, I think Southgate would like Jones to get a run of games to take that spot.
Made some good tackles, unlucky to be booked.
I personally think he's secured his place here for next season at least. He's been one of, if not the best CB for us this season. It feels like Bailly has barely played which is a massive shame.
Me neither. They don't even have midfielders with good technique, which is way more important if one is to believe the reasoning behind it.
He has shown some character these last few months and deserves respect for being the one constant in front of DDG. Those 2 have gotten us a lot of points. Non of these other England defenders can be a one-man defence like Chris has been quite a few games these last years. A lot of people thrive in a good setup then fade, Chris has adapted his game very well and done more than enough to warrant more respect. So little stability he gets from others, he deserves players on and above his level around him.
I also think too much is made of Smalling's abilities on the ball. People don't even remember or haven't seen him ever pass forward through the lines to an attacker. (But again some people think we struggle on corners no thanks to Chris so yeah, some things just don't register) I think Lingard is good at it sometimes but we really lack a midfielder who can find space and make himself available between the lines. We are so static which makes forward passes too big-risk, so we pass sideways, too slowly, when we need higher tempo. It is a team issue, not a Smalling-issue.
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You want him out of the team. We play with at least 2 CBs. We sign Manolas like you suggested, Smalling is still our best CB for the other spot. So you need to sign 2
Chris Smalling the goal machine.
Mike Smalling cant stop scoring goals in away games.
His goal record is actually pretty good. He's starting to show a bit of consistency. It would be good to see him get to the standards he was at when van Gaal was in charge.
Bit of a poacher, isn't he? Fair play to him.
Very good movement. The question should be, why weren't the strikers there? Not to derail the thread, it just pisses me off how often the strikers are nowhere to be found when the ball goes straight across like that. It's a really easy way of scoring a goal but both Lukaku and Rashford seems to always drop 45 deep. I miss the old Hernandez. Maybe we should play Smalling as a striker fulltime
This. From Christopher Wallace to Chris Smalling!
Our best and most reliable CB .. Leave the passing to someone else but at this defending thing he is very solid ..great goal .
Better of the two but I still worry about how poor we are on the ball at the back.
Herrera was having to drop so deep to get the ball at times as neither Smalling nor Jones were comfortable in playing it forward.
I am impressed with his scoring run though, I’ve always felt he could be more of a goal scoring threat.
Herrera was having to drop so deep to get the ball at times as neither Smalling nor Jones were comfortable in playing it forward.
I am impressed with his scoring run though, I’ve always felt he could be more of a goal scoring threat.
I thought the same. Great work for Smalling, but why was it our central defender who was the only person attacking the goal in that situation.
Smalling has more PL goals then Alexis since the latter arrived, not sure if that's a good thing or not..
Good movement for the goal. Happy we got a clean sheet too.
We've still never not won a game that he's scored in...
Least according to a stat I read somewhere.
Least according to a stat I read somewhere.
His tweet about making a late run for the golden boot is just brilliant.
Indeed, this is a very annoying aspect to our play. I think with the size and skill level of our current team now we all thought we'd be beasting it from crosses this season, but it hasn't transpired. The biggest reason we haven't from lofted crosses is poor delivery, particularly from corners, but the reason we haven't done much from crosses driven across the box is this persistent lack of a gamble from the striker. The players seem massively out of sync in this scenario to the point where such a ball is obviously the last thing on any of the central players' minds.Very good movement. The question should be, why weren't the strikers there? Not to derail the thread, it just pisses me off how often the strikers are nowhere to be found when the ball goes straight across like that. It's a really easy way of scoring a goal but both Lukaku and Rashford seems to always drop 45 deep. I miss the old Hernandez. Maybe we should play Smalling as a striker fulltime
As an aside, were you actually that pissed off about United's issues last night given who your profile says you support?
Lukaku has very good movement in the box unless he's dropping to claim the ball and drifting to the wings. He wasn't on the pitch on the first goal was scored.Very good movement. The question should be, why weren't the strikers there? Not to derail the thread, it just pisses me off how often the strikers are nowhere to be found when the ball goes straight across like that. It's a really easy way of scoring a goal but both Lukaku and Rashford seems to always drop 45 deep. I miss the old Hernandez. Maybe we should play Smalling as a striker fulltime
Agreed. The idea that CBs need to be great on the ball is fashionable at the moment but in the latter stages of a tournament I'd much prefer have a CB who can actually be relied on to defend properly.
We need that at United too hence his consistent place in the team. He's the one defender we have who is strong in the air, quick and actually looks like he's tuned in defensively at all times. The others all fall down in one area or another. Hope we manage not to sell him this summer
Yes, you put words to it. Very good explanation, that's exactly what I was thinking.Indeed, this is a very annoying aspect to our play. I think with the size and skill level of our current team now we all thought we'd be beasting it from crosses this season, but it hasn't transpired. The biggest reason we haven't from lofted crosses is poor delivery, particularly from corners, but the reason we haven't done much from crosses driven across the box is this persistent lack of a gamble from the striker. The players seem massively out of sync in this scenario to the point where such a ball is obviously the last thing on any of the central players' minds.
As an aside, were you actually that pissed off about United's issues last night given who your profile says you support?
Aside: Well, any other game than against United and i favour Bournemouth. I would like to remove it tho as i didn't really get that it would be visible like that when i wrote it. Don't know how to edit it.
After all the criticism he gets (some deserved, some harsh) he does nothing but play for the shirt, put in a shift and is actually an extremely good defender. No he's not the best at passing the ball from the back, but from some of the comments made on here, elsewhere by fans, and even by the media and Southgate you'd swear he's a Sunday League player and not someone who has played over 275 games for the club and won 2 league titles, an FA Cup, The Europa League, The League Cup, and 3 Community Shields.
No worries mate, it's a good mix of teams and Bournemouth are by no means hated on the caf. How did you come to support both out of interest?
This is very true. I myself rated him as the central defender most likely to leave given Jones and Bailly were first choice at the time, Rojo was reportedly on his way back from injury and was great last season and Lindelof had come through his tricky spell and was starting to look the part.
Fast forward to now and the former three are suffering from worrying injury records (Jones is Jones, but Rojo and Bailly have missed a ridiculous amount of football too) and Lindelof still looks like one for the future, not for now, while Smalling has been there come rain or shine. This alone puts him head and shoulders above the rest, and while I do have reservations about his ball playing and his occasional defensive lapses I have to acknowledge I was bang wrong about him being the first out.
There are genuine doubts about him that he needs to work on, he's a player approaching his prime and should be able to instill confidence in those playing around him, which I'm not sure he does consistently yet. However I do think when he plays consistently his voice gets louder and he becomes more of a leader. He was very good against Bournemouth and was definitely the most vocal of the back 5.
Agreed. The negatives I have about him are the ones we've all mentioned ad infinitum in this thread and then just a nebulous, nagging feeling of doubt that he isn't 'United quality' and we can and should have a better class of senior centre back at the club.
However as you say when he gets a run of games and enjoys the trust of his manager he is a solid, consistent performer in terms of pure defending and shows his leadership qualities. Whether or not you see Smalling as a genuinely top class United CB it is a fact that at the moment he's the only one we have who gives you that, so that alone should dispel talk of moving him on.
Man Utd 2:1 Tottenham
Two fingers up to Southgate from Smalling with that performance. Completely neutralised England's golden boy.
Smalling gets a lot of criticism that I think is undue - he's given the most threatening assignment at corners every week and usually does a great job of it. As far as I remember the BBC punditry/commentary team (who were woeful) failed to really mention him at all but he was colossal today.
Mou will be singing his praises in the dressing room and rightly so.
Smalling gets a lot of criticism that I think is undue - he's given the most threatening assignment at corners every week and usually does a great job of it. As far as I remember the BBC punditry/commentary team (who were woeful) failed to really mention him at all but he was colossal today.
Mou will be singing his praises in the dressing room and rightly so.
I wonder at what point people will begin to challenge their preconceptions about Smalling.
What a game from him. Proper defensive performance.
- Status