I've liked your latest posts better. Anyhow, why don't you think Maguire and Smalling would make for a good partnership? You might be right, but to me it logically should be our best partnership since Rio and Vida. The balance is quite similar to that partnership. Everything that is logical doesn't happen though, there could be some unforeseen issues with communication etc, but I can't see any big reasons for why it wouldn't work.
We'll know by the end of the season if Tuanzebe and Lindelof is trustworthy going forward, and if not then we should just bring Smalling back. As you said, we have other positions more urgent to strengthen. We have to get rid of Jones, Bailly and Rojo as well and in that case there is very little back up and especially quality. Think we need to be ruthless much earlier with certain players who just haven't kicked on like we thought.
Both Smalling and Maguire have the skills and desire to meet the ball high up and clear it with power. This is one reason why I don’t think it will work. Of course you can train Smalling to stay back and cover, like
Lindelof, but then you are not really playing Smalling’s strengths. With Lindelof it works well because he is not the defender who seek up those situations but he is good at seeing potential danger in other areas and position himself to cover. Also why I hesitate a little with Tuanzebe who is drawn to the ball like a magnet.
It sounds logical to have a fast defender next to Maguire because he is both slow and often caught on the wrong foot. But in reality I don’t think United have conceded many goals because of that. The goal they conceded when Maguire missed a header and wasn’t fast enough to recover: Lindelof was fast enough to recover and protect his side, Rojo was already positioned to cover but failed.
There have been situations where he is caught on the wrong foot, but I don’t think a fast partner would help in those situations.
I also think that they have built up a calmness at the back where they feel secure to pass around even under strong pressure. I don’t think this is possible with Smalling.
All that said, it is mostly feelings I have. I like the style Maguire and Lindelof have together and maybe that deludes my judgement. I really like Smalling however. He was one of the absolute best defenders in PL 2017/18 and it was a disgrace he was not picked for the WC.