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He had 4 years with them. He is 1 year younger than Evans and 3 years older than Jones. His final year under SAF was actually the one in which he made the least starts.
I know. 20 year old defender hasn't improved in 8 years because he wasn't first choice 8 years ago. Makes senseMaking fun of Smalling and Jones is banter that has turned into confirmation bias for opposition fans. They joke about how crap they are for the lols, because Jones makes funny faces and Smalling is lanky and awkward - then any mistake they do will get highlighted as reasoning for them being crap. They don’t actually care about any good performances they have, because they’ve already made up in their mind and can’t be objective.
This.
As we didn’t concede a goal and couldn’t score, it’s obviously Smallings fault! Get with the program...
Yeah jeez @villain . Pick up that pitchfork and go for him.As we didn’t concede a goal and couldn’t score, it’s obviously Smallings fault! Get with the program...
As we didn’t concede a goal and couldn’t score, it’s obviously Smallings fault! Get with the program...
Ahhhh yes, pass me a spare pitchfork
Well, he has become a starter because he has won it against his competition by putting in performances. He managed to get rid of his injuries or are playing through them more often, either way he stays fit to play for large periods of time which has given him more opportunities to prove himself, and in return his consistency has improved to that of a top CB. If you have talent, getting that consistency and reliability is what makes you. For a player like Smalling who lacks a few of the qualities that a modern CB is expected to have, to have that consistency in his defensive performances is what separate him from midtable run of the mill CB's. Does that make him top of the line world class? Not necessarily, but it makes him capable. It makes him valuable to big clubs, even if he is a defenders defender more than a Ramos type.
Great post, especially the last point.
And that's exactly what he is. Capable. He's not useless just as he's not great. He's got more faults than simply on the ball skill but he's always fit and you know what you're getting from him. Personally, i think its settling for mediocrity. Just because he's playing most games for us doesn't mean he's good enough and its frustrating watching him at times.
Yep.
The majority of opposition fans don't watch us enough to make to educated opinions about our players. Their analysis is mostly biased and based on small samples taken from the few full games they'll watch us play, usually against their teams and other big teams. Most opposition fans will not watch a full United game against a minnow unless they tuning in and out in hopes of an upset. I tune in to a Crystal Palace-Liverpool game and the score is 2-0 to Liverpool im not wasting my time. Do you watch any of our opponents week in week out? Full games?
I watched Spurs v Chelsea yesterday and just finished watching Bournemouth v Arsenal and will be watching Wolves v Huddersfield shortly. Also caught most of the United Women's game earlier. Opposition fans watch us when we play them. They watch our players during internationals. Over the years that is more than enough to form an opinion on a player. During transfer season, we all have opinions about who we want to bring to the club. And what is that based on??
I agree - Smalling and Bailly can stay the rest need to leave
Often word of mouth, youtube clips etc. Generally some sort of hype from football fans. And you should know that hyped up players doesn't always work out despite the thousands of "youtube scouts " opinion. I think you put too much value on the opinion of others, and also seek validation on your view in here from other clubs fans. Why are you on a United-forum if you don't think our opinion matter?
Speaks volumes about the intelligence levels of some of those who frequent the player threads. In defence, a lot of the posts are quite rightly praising Smalling.
Would you take him at Bournemouth? And who would he replace?
No sir, you are a piece work for giving credence to the opinions of mostly ABU scum who tend to be biased against United players, the same opposition fans who who are usually bereft of objectivity in their views of United players, even the better ones. Again, why do you give a feck what they think?
I am a delusional United-fan first and I support Bournemouth more in the ways of a second team than anything, so according to you my opinion doesn't matter. Oh how I wish I supported another club more so my opinion had more weight. Sillyness aside, Bournemouth would be even more of a force with Smalling in their side, just as David Luiz would be considered a heavyweight for a lesser team than Chelsea.
Little bit of all of the above. Smalling and Blind were a pretty useful partnership and did well together, but we did tend to hog a lot of the ball limiting how much teams attacked us.
By the end it was a decent partnership, but when Blind first went to CB it wasnt working that well and there were plenty of questions asked about it
I said even Southgate. I have not praised Southgate.
I think the problem is that a lot of people who defend him, feel obligated to do so because otherwise his performance threads end up being incredibly inaccurate otherwise.
Don't forget to pair Bailly - Lindelof with a Pogba - Andreas - Fred midfield too because you know, who the feck needs any balance or actual ability to defend.
It's worrying how many think that 5 would be our best combination of CB and CM and that we'd be top 4 even title challenging material with it.
Could be. Jones can handle himself in physical duels, so Smalling leaves him to it. With Lindelof, you can see that Smalling is more apprehensive.
