Went down the youtube rabit hole and noticed 3 of Smallings goals have came against City from exactly the same situation. A free kick swung into the box and he pops up out of nowhere. A bit of this today hopefully.
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Man City 3:1 Man Utd
Thought he was about our only bright spot, which I understand for many is depressing but you just can't disregard his skills because of it. Best defender on the pitch today.
So lucky he didn't concede a pen but this feels almost a recurring theme for him in each match. He cannot defend without grabbing
Seriously? Which of those incidents are you talking about? Aguero one where they scored? Or any of the other where City players threw themselves to the ground
Yeah, he did ok considering what was going on around him.
He could have given away 2 penalties today one in the first half could have been given for handball.
Aguero threw himself easily but Smalling was stupidly all over him.Seriously? Which of those incidents are you talking about? Aguero one where they scored? Or any of the other where City players threw themselves to the ground
You guys didn't see when he took Sane out the game - that could have been given
So stupid he would have gotten the ball if it landed at Aguero's feet. Never a penalty either way. I'm sick of players playing like they are manikins, just do whatever you can.
Bad decisions can always be given. Like the "handball" you mentioned where he used his head.
You mean the counter? That was clearly outside the 18 yard box, maybe not to the incompetent ref, but to anyone else.
Why are people so concerned with Smalling and what could have been given?
Did you see Chiellini and all that could have been given against him?
Why are United supporters so adamant on finding things to criticize him for that we end up discussing what could have happened.
He was arguably our best player today. Now I just want both CBs to play well in the same match. That would be nice
He's our best defender and that says it all really. Our best defender that can't get into the England team and no one gives a shit, that alone should tell you how bad our defence is.
His passing out from the back is league 1 standard. Slow balls played behind his man and kill any speed in our build up.
In an ideal world we'll be shipping him off to Everton or something but there's at least 5 defenders who should be sold before him. That's how poor the personnel in our defence is.
His passing out from the back is league 1 standard. Slow balls played behind his man and kill any speed in our build up.
In an ideal world we'll be shipping him off to Everton or something but there's at least 5 defenders who should be sold before him. That's how poor the personnel in our defence is.
Spot on.
Exactly. Great post. He's our best defender but it's not hard to be better than Rojo, Jones and Lindelof.
That should have been a freekick too. The desperation for drama and the bias towards City is outrageous during the match, especially since the City crowd decided to turn up a bit. The boos I think was against the push on Smalling in that situation and not the "handball" tho, it was so silly. Smalling gets pushed, should have been a handball. Didn't even touch his hand
What terrible defendingDefended everything that came his way. Did not look confident on the ball since we were under pressure a lot, but I cannot remember him losing the ball.
He’s shite but all our defenders are shite. Absolute joke of a situation we have.
All 4 of City’s first team defenders are better than any we can put on pitch.
All 4 of City’s first team defenders are better than any we can put on pitch.
He shouldn't be more than a squad option. Someone who plays 10 games a year for us, the occasional League cup/Fa cup/6th CL group game or if we have a CB injury crisis. He is our first CB on the team sheet. The rest of the lot shouldnt even be at the club.
He didn't. Hyperbole as usual. Sorry but I'm sick of this shit. If Smalling played for City today we would have been impressed with his defending, not worrying about his passing. Sure a pass or two went behind his man, and he took 1 second longer than normal to pass. Who the feck cares? You know who needs more time to pass? Matic. Rashford. Herrera. Fred. Even Mata uses a long time on the ball. Smalling is a defender, I'm sick of the overvaluing of certain qualities when talking about defenders. To a certain extent I agree about the modern game and that the technical quality of defenders is of importance, but I see so much overrating of ballplaying CB's these days, and good defenders not getting their shine. Everybody wants to be play like Pep, but not everybody can and it doesn't mean that everybody that don't just suck. Its a popularity contest on many levels to me, and I don't like it and tbh for me Smalling has become sort of a symbol of that.
Who cares if nobody cares about him, because Gareth doesn't rate him? When did that become relevant for United fans? Scholes didn't even get to play enough for England for Christ sake. And back then it was because he didn't have enough pace and power. How football has changed huh
Ffs I meant the thing with Sane and not Aguero. My bad.
I was talking about Sane, have no idea why I typed Aguero
Need to ship out every single one of our CBs. Bailly can stay because he’s showed some potential and is young.
Jones, Rojo, Lindelof, Smalling... looking at those names makes me want to cry. How have we let our squad get so pathetic after spending feckloads
Jones, Rojo, Lindelof, Smalling... looking at those names makes me want to cry. How have we let our squad get so pathetic after spending feckloads
That near handball would have been such a Smalling peno to conceded. So, so pointless...
That header that wasn’t a handball. Yep some fans just slice and dice his performances and find rubbish that didn’t even happen.
Was solid today, not the long term solution, but best we have right now. How about not showing incredible bias against him and trying to support the players.
So over moaning entitled fans after every point that’s dropped. Same bile over and over again, not a single positive nor unique post made. It’s just tedious.
Chris was not at fault for the City defeat, not at fault for any of the goals and actually didn’t give away any penalties. Yet here are ‘fans’ negatively dissecting his performance.
Calm down sunshine. It wasn't a handball but it was pure stupidity, even Neville said WTF was he doing.
Not at all angry, so no need to calm me. Just over the repetitive bile posted about the usual players. It’s not constructive nor helpful and inflates the really negative vibe that’s been going on in here for ages. Best central defender we have based on his performances over the last 5 years. Not a great player. So why the need to go on and on and on about what he didnt actually do? Or just slate him for his weaknesses?
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Oh well I have like 9 posts in this thread so calm down lassie. If I wanted to slate him believe me I would. I just found that jump with his hand utterly hilarious. Watch it again it might cheer you up
Completely agree with this. Most annoyingly, people can't admit they were wrong when clearly they are. Smalling had a good game yesterday and did his defending well. Shaw at fault for the first - completely ball watching. Lindelöf at fault for the second and Matic terrible - ball watching - for the third.
Ah resorting to calling me a girl. Carry on big fella being a hard man!Oh well I have like 9 posts in this thread so calm down lassie. If I wanted to slate him believe me I would. I just found that jump with his hand utterly hilarious. Watch it again it might cheer you up
Its a pity he has no organazitional skills
Yeah, I reacted to your comment as well - perhaps you shouldn't continue with the cheer up nonsense when you were called out for being condescending, which you were.
Cheer up. Sorry Chris, I won’t laugh at you again
Not really. He came at me with a pretty mental post when all I did was laugh at his 'near handball', I never even commented on his performance. I wouldn't mind you anyway, you're a hard-core Smalling fan and the slightest bit of critique offends you. Deal with it son.
Nah, not that - I reacted to your comment to @Red_toad where you were condescending towards the poster, not Smalling. I actually think Smalling needs to up his game - he was good yesterday, but his form has been poor lately. I only think that criticizing him for fouls that could have been given is a little over the top.
Oh, and I'm not your son, mate!
We need to upgrade on him. He just isn't good enough on the ball. Fine as a backup option but not as a starter for an elite club.
I was condescending because he came at me when all I done was laugh at Smalling about his idiotic jump with his arm in the air. I understand there's some Smalling division in here but I certainly wouldn't be part of that as I really don't care enough about him to get into a heated debate. I think that poster was looking for a row with a erm 'Smalling hater' but was simply barking up the wrong tree.Nah, not that - I reacted to your comment to @Red_toad where you were condescending towards the poster, not Smalling. I actually think Smalling needs to up his game - he was good yesterday, but his form has been poor lately. I only think that criticizing him for fouls that could have been given is a little over the top.
Oh, and I'm not your son, mate!
Haha to the second part.
Yea he had a small slump but there are just games like vs City where no one else in his team can defend. Fullbacks get beaten, players lose track of their man, offside traps not right, etc. It must get depressing for him sometimes.Nah, not that - I reacted to your comment to @Red_toad where you were condescending towards the poster, not Smalling. I actually think Smalling needs to up his game - he was good yesterday, but his form has been poor lately. I only think that criticizing him for fouls that could have been given is a little over the top.
Oh, and I'm not your son, mate!
He's been the only defender worthy of the title for about 3 or 4 years now, and we still gets fans claiming near misses on fouls and 'what if' situations. Any CB will almost give things away.
How about we focus on the 3 players alongside him in the back 4 who made actual errors rather than potential ones. If we want to improve our defense it would be those three and the guy supposed to protect them I would be replacing before Smalling.
Edit - and those saying how much better citys defenders look than ours. Of course they do, it's a lot easier to defend when you have the ball. I wouldn't have faith in any of them to perform well for us the way we sit deep and invite pressure.
How about we focus on the 3 players alongside him in the back 4 who made actual errors rather than potential ones. If we want to improve our defense it would be those three and the guy supposed to protect them I would be replacing before Smalling.
Edit - and those saying how much better citys defenders look than ours. Of course they do, it's a lot easier to defend when you have the ball. I wouldn't have faith in any of them to perform well for us the way we sit deep and invite pressure.
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Another thing is that he rarely gets to have a settled defense around him. But yeah, Young in particular was just too easily beaten yesterday.
I came at you? Honestly?
If you don’t like people commenting on your posts and have to resort to being condescending and name calling. Then maybe this isn’t the forum for you.
As for what I was looking for with an ‘erm Smalling hater’, simply pointing out that you were incorrect with your statement. It was 100% a header not a handball.
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