This is very true.
12
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
Deserves credit for today. I thought we coped with Spurs brilliantly in center, all the danger came from sides (hardly a surprise knowing we don't have fullbacks).
Won’t be surprised if he gets called into England now.
Southgate dropped him because he's not comfortable on the ball and doesn't suit England's new style of play, not sure if good defensive performances will earn him a call up.
Otamendi.
We'd be mad to sell him
depends on the price
Only disappointing aspect today was that he didn't show the finger to Southgate in the stands after the game.
Always pointed out that him and Jones are the true defenders in our team atm. Bailly and Lindelof is more technical but no other defenders in the team came close to these two when it comes to nonsensical defending.
I know there was some brain fart moments from them, but who doesn't make mistakes in football?
I know there was some brain fart moments from them, but who doesn't make mistakes in football?
He’s not the greatest passer of the ball, but he doesn’t necessarily need to be with two better passers alongside him. Comfortably the best, most reliable CB in England at the moment.
fecking insanity if Tarkovski or similar goes ahead of him.
Who gives a rats arse about England, Smalling plays for Manchester United. If it were up to me our players would spend the World Cup resting.
Looks like Southgate might be going for Walker - Maguire - Stones as his 3 anyway.
I second that. feck the England NT with all due respect
Seriously? That sounds insanely risky. A wingback and 2 centre-backs with almost half the experience of a player like Smalling. He got balls and kudos if it works out for him, but i bet he is digging his own grave if he thinks he can pass his way out of trouble in a world cup. England is really going to suffer defensively with the likes of those three at the back.
Agree but I'm not English anyway so it's not my problem.
I'm sick of the stick he gets. Alongside Herrera this season, he's probably our most underrated player.
Stones isn’t even a regular for his team. Maguire is overrated, both defensively and with the ball. Walker as a right sided cb? That would be ridiculous.
United have dropped him several times with expensive CBs signing for us all coming in with "better ball playing skills" than Smalling. Smalling wins his place back in the team and outperforms them all. Even managers as stubborn as LVG and Mourinho understood they had to keep playing him even if he wasnt their initial choice.
We're talking about Southgate and England, not Guardiola at Barcelona.
No, England do not need a better ball playing CB than having Smalling in 1 of their CB slots and no, Southgate isnt a better manager than those who went out signing players looking to replace him and then had to put him back in due to his performances when he got the chance
Did you not watch the last two England friendlies? If not, he played Walker there and he was excellent in both games.
It worked well against Holland Italy, it remains to be seen if he's that brave for the world cup.
Said it before that if we are looking to 'upgrade' him this summer, you should be looking at a world class or really close to that level of CB. Otherwise, what's the point on gambling with another 'potential'.
And good luck finding that, and with a guarantee of staying healthy.
And good luck finding that, and with a guarantee of staying healthy.
In fairness, he's playing for the greatest premier league team of all time (tm).
The way some people talk about our Mike you'd think he's competing with relegation fodder.
Against Panama and Tunisia, they will be fine. Against Belgium, they are going to not be the team with possession and are going to have to defend. If they have an aspirations at all of getting further into the tournament and come up against the likes of Germany, Spain, France, Brazil, Argentina - playing out of the back is going to be the last thing they'll be worrying about. Defending properly will be their best hope and leaving their best pure defender at home, just naive and/or full of himself.
Feel bad for him personally because every footballer wants to play at the world cup but, that he won't be risking injury and will be rested for next season is a good thing for United.
Rock. Solid. Probably my under the radar player of the season. What a total beast, probably our best player over the last three years. The only thing he really lacks in his locker is leadership, but what a star he's been for us.
Solid performance from Smalling and Jones, Kane was pretty much nullified. Reading match day thread prior, some posters must have hated how the game went, as kept reading how Spuds and Kane were going to rip them a new one!
It really is Smalling + 1. If you think the centre-backs need work, you may look elsewhere for changes.
It doesn't matter a jot who has the highest ceiling. Phil Jones or Eric Bailly could be Beckenbauer reborn but when they aren't available regulary, it's pointless. Don't really think any of them are bad at all to be fair.
The fact is, all of our centre-backs are capable of mistakes - they've all shown it. So in a pragmatic sense, I think you need to keep hold of the ones who actually show up. As a comparison, this season Smalling has made 18 more appearances than his partner today.
It doesn't matter a jot who has the highest ceiling. Phil Jones or Eric Bailly could be Beckenbauer reborn but when they aren't available regulary, it's pointless. Don't really think any of them are bad at all to be fair.
The fact is, all of our centre-backs are capable of mistakes - they've all shown it. So in a pragmatic sense, I think you need to keep hold of the ones who actually show up. As a comparison, this season Smalling has made 18 more appearances than his partner today.
Get real will ye! Bannable comment that is.
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He is in pretty good form, another good game from him.
Great Post
Almost as heinous as failing to detect the sarcasm in a post
This. The more siege mentality the better for us.
I take your point, but maybe if we play out from the back instead of just knocking it long then we might actually have more possession.
Good luck not making any mistake with the quality of ball playing defenders and GKs in England NT rank. Even the teams well accustomed with playing out of the back can still cock up here and there, let alone a team who have many players playing different styles at club level to gel quickly in short amount of time to pull it off.
You're not a very good writer.
May as well stick Carroll and Crouch upfront and just cross it in all game and leave all the footballers at home then?
If you can pin opposition back in their own box and pouring crosses, the worst you get is a draw as Moyes' master class. It's definitely better than your ball playing CBs and GKs passing between themselves and assisted opposition.
Peter Crouch didn't do as bad for England as last few tournaments with half baked style if am not mistaken.
Edit: I forgot to add having defender who can defend.
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Btw seems like he is playing all games for a while now? Needs a rest surely?
He can rest during international break. Thanks Southgate.
Another great performance. Had Kane in his pocket.
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