He has played 1 game where VAR was used, and fouls are irrelevant cause VAR doesn't check for them (unless it is a red card).
Chris Smalling - does he start at any other top 6 team?
- Thread starter Reiver
- Start date
This thread is a joke. I wouldn't swap him for any other defender. He's the best in the league. Sorry to tell you guys, but he will stay here for years to come and will continiue to be first choice CB.
He played last season too when VAR was used.
I think he'd surprise people and get into the other sides more than most would expect, but I think the rest of the top six try to play out from the back more and his reputation is that he's bad on the ball. He is a better defender than most CB's in the Premier League, but I think that counts for little these days in regards to the top sides.
Watching Matip giraffe his way forward yesterday, over running it every time, I'd say he'd have a good chance at liverpool right now.
At least Smalling tends to realise his limitations in that regard and plays an easy ball or turns back. And in terms of defending he's one of the best.
At least Smalling tends to realise his limitations in that regard and plays an easy ball or turns back. And in terms of defending he's one of the best.
I fully agree with this. Don’t know what has happened but look everything but solid right now. I think people rate them because they have played well before, but now is another story.
He shouldn't be a starter for us in my opinion so that is all I care about.
Good squad player to have though.
Good squad player to have though.
Totally. He’s really underrated by some of our fans. The way some are talking you’d swear he couldn’t pass water
He is yes indeed. One of the top defenders in the league.
Clap clap clap
Overreaction
Another one of these threads. 
Kept hearing how he wouldn't get into Solskjaers team. Solskjaer wouldn't want a player like him blah blah blah. But predictably he walked into the team and kept his place as soon as he recovered from his injury.
So now we need to move onto some other hypothetical situations where we can pretend he isn't good enough.
Kept hearing how he wouldn't get into Solskjaers team. Solskjaer wouldn't want a player like him blah blah blah. But predictably he walked into the team and kept his place as soon as he recovered from his injury.
So now we need to move onto some other hypothetical situations where we can pretend he isn't good enough.
He'd start for all of them bar City with how they play out the back. He's very underrated for us.
And definitely Spurs. So what is the fuss? He may not be 1st name on the sheet but certainly a good partner in the middle, particularly against mid-table team with aerial threat. Keep it simple for Smalling and don't ask him to do too many fancy stuff, Smalling should be reliable.
In every way apart from defending consistently which is the most important thing for a CB. He's been involved in almost every Arsenal bottle job and hammering since he's been at the club
Man City: Possessionbased and better alternatives. No.
Liverpool: VVD and Gomez ahead. Close call with Matip. No.
Tottenham: Verthongen and Alderweireld ahead. Close call with Sanchez. No.
Chelsea: Rudiger and David Luiz ahead. No.
Arsenal: Maybe in big matches when they have a more pragmatic/defensive approach.
Liverpool: VVD and Gomez ahead. Close call with Matip. No.
Tottenham: Verthongen and Alderweireld ahead. Close call with Sanchez. No.
Chelsea: Rudiger and David Luiz ahead. No.
Arsenal: Maybe in big matches when they have a more pragmatic/defensive approach.
How do you figure that when Smalling made the joint 3rd most interceptions for a CB last season with Koscielny a little behind in 7th, 32nd most clearances from a CB ahead of Koscienly's 38th, 9th most shots blocked from a CB with Koscielny joint 35th.
Smalling's natural instincts, positioning and reading of the game are his strong points as shown by every metric that would require a player to be in a good position and read the game well to take action.
Smalling hasnt played as well this season as he did last season and Koscielny has only started 9 league matches which is very few. He's done quite well but you need more than 9 matches. For now last season is a better comparison until Koscielny has played in at least half of Arsenal's matches
This nonsense will go on forever. Our best defender bar none. Part of all our best partnerships, all our best defensive set-ups, first choice for all our managers when fit. But by all means, let people continue to peddle the tripe about his passing and the magnificence of every other error-prone, goal-leaking, centre-half in world football. I don't care if he can't do 20 keepy uppies or whatever we're judging him on this week. We're better with him in the team.
Yeah. I was arguing about this with the guy I sit next to at Old Trafford. Back in December, he asked me which CB I thought we should go for in the summer. I replied that I'd be far more interested in our players having a manager instil confidence in them and actually coach them to see what they can really do. I genuinely don't believe our centre backs are the problem. Under Mourinho, they were being undermined and the team as a whole was low on confidence. It's the holding midfielder screening them which needs addressing as a bigger priority.Another one of these threads.
Kept hearing how he wouldn't get into Solskjaers team. Solskjaer wouldn't want a player like him blah blah blah. But predictably he walked into the team and kept his place as soon as he recovered from his injury.
So now we need to move onto some other hypothetical situations where we can pretend he isn't good enough.
In short, if we put Smalling on the market in the summer, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal would all be interested. Liverpool and City likely would too, but rivalries mean we won't sell to them. He's a talented, English centre back. Nationality is important for squad quotas too.
Its actually quite interesting. People are so desperate to downplay his accomplishments (including players player of the year and trophies) and abilities that things which don't actually happen are used as reasons why he isn't good.
He might give away penalties with the VAR system.
So might everyone else.
He might give away the ball because his passing isnt his strong point.
Every CB he's played next to has given the ball away more than him because they are more confident to try riskier passes. Smalling doesn't take risks so he's an incredibly safe passer to have in the backline.
Its like these people want him to try hollywood passes all the time so he starts giving the ball away in dangerous areas and they can say "see, I told you for 10 years that his passing would one day cause us to concede a goal. You all owe me an apology, I was right"
I say people because I don't regard these posters as fans. Not every player is going to be your preference but when the facts hit you in the face (player of the year, passing not causing a problem for all these years, manager after manager relying on him as first choice because he's who they can count on) and you continue to lie to spread negativity about your teams own players, you arent supporting the club. You're just supporting your agenda.
He might give away penalties with the VAR system.
So might everyone else.
He might give away the ball because his passing isnt his strong point.
Every CB he's played next to has given the ball away more than him because they are more confident to try riskier passes. Smalling doesn't take risks so he's an incredibly safe passer to have in the backline.
Its like these people want him to try hollywood passes all the time so he starts giving the ball away in dangerous areas and they can say "see, I told you for 10 years that his passing would one day cause us to concede a goal. You all owe me an apology, I was right"
I say people because I don't regard these posters as fans. Not every player is going to be your preference but when the facts hit you in the face (player of the year, passing not causing a problem for all these years, manager after manager relying on him as first choice because he's who they can count on) and you continue to lie to spread negativity about your teams own players, you arent supporting the club. You're just supporting your agenda.
Smalling would be comfortably ahead of Mustafi/Koscielny at Arsenal.
The Smalling defenders (excuse the pun) on here are some of the most deluded supporters of a player on the caf. They would have us believe Smalling isn't poor on the ball, that shirt pulling isn't a problem and will not be a problem with VAR. They also manage to make him seem like a better defender than he really is. Been in the league for 10 seasons and hasn't been in a single PFA team of the year.
He's a very solid defender but his peak of 2015/16 has come and gone. He wasn't good enough to sustain that level beyond a season yet some go on like he's still the same Smalling.
If I was a liverpool fan I'd never want Smalling over Gomez likewise if i was a Chelsea fan I wouldn't swap Rudiger for Smalling. Objectively speaking, Arsenal is the only team he gets in with no debate.
Yeah right...
Spurs play with 3 CBs very often and I'd easily start him over Sanchez if I was in Pochettino's shoes. He's just a much better last line of defence. Move Alderweireld at RCB (used to be a RB himself) and Vertonghen to LCB with more freedom to move forward and partake in the build up.
He's also without a doubt a much better actual defender than David Luiz. And now that Chelsea play 4 at the back and 3 CMs with Jorginho there, they don't need Luiz to act as a sort of playmaker from the back like he did for Conte. So tick there too, for me.
As for Arsenal you gotta be joking, he's better than anything they have defensively.
And then there's United where he's definitely good enough to be starting.
So 4/6 for me. Not bad for Mike
Rudiger and Gomez havent been in the PFA team of the year either. Smalling has been players player of the season
The Smalling defenders (excuse the pun) on here are some of the most deluded supporters of a player on the caf. They would have us believe Smalling isn't poor on the ball, that shirt pulling isn't a problem and will not be a problem with VAR. They also manage to make him seem like a better defender than he really is. Been in the league for 10 seasons and hasn't been in a single PFA team of the year.
He's a very solid defender but his peak of 2015/16 has come and gone. He wasn't good enough to sustain that level beyond a season yet some go on like he's still the same Smalling.
If I was a liverpool fan I'd never want Smalling over Gomez likewise if i was a Chelsea fan I wouldn't swap Rudiger for Smalling. Objectively speaking, Arsenal is the only team he gets in with no debate.
Arsenal would take him.
Liverpool and Chelsea might put him on the bench. Van Dijk does everything he does and more. He's better than Lovren and Matip but they need something different next to VVD. Hard to say with Chelsea, Luiz is shocking but at least he's a confident player and Rudiger is decent too.
He'd be nowhere near City or Spurs.
Liverpool and Chelsea might put him on the bench. Van Dijk does everything he does and more. He's better than Lovren and Matip but they need something different next to VVD. Hard to say with Chelsea, Luiz is shocking but at least he's a confident player and Rudiger is decent too.
He'd be nowhere near City or Spurs.
He would definitely start at Liverpool,Arsenal and Chelsea....
Spurs have conceded more than Liverpool and the same amount as Chelsea
Lindelof is better than him, so no, he is not our best CB.
Being first choice ahead of Jones, Bailly and Rojo doesn't prove much bar being better than three mediocre defenders. And even there, every manager started the season with one of them ahead of Smalling.
Well that's a silly response. They haven't been in the league for 10 seasons and no one is claiming they will get into nearly all the top 6 sides.
Do better Ekeke.
And by mid season Smalling was our first choice and most reliable CB in every season except arguably this one
Its your own metric for judgement. If its silly its because your metric is silly.
Lindelof isn't better than Smalling. In fact, I doubt he'll ever be a better defender than the current version of Smalling (who has actually declined a little). The masses will realise this, when we bring a new CB in this summer and then Chris Smalling will still end up being first choice with Lindelof relegated to the bench.
If you read it carefully, my post said he was our best defender, not our best centre-back. And whether they started him as first choice or not, they all ended up playing him as their first choice.
Blind was the main CB under Van Gaal in the second season. Agree that Smalling was the main CB under Mourinho, though I think a lot of that had to do with Mourinho not liking Blind there (actually, our best partnership under him was Smalling and Blind during the end of Mourinho's first season).
The fact that every manager uses him only after the other CBs repeatedly continue embarrass themselves show that Smalling is a problem in the team. If we get another good CB (not necessarily great, just someone in Lindelof's level), Smalling won't play too much. He plays now a lot cause he is better than the other three, but so are half or so of league's defenders.
Probably an overreaction, but he does walk a very fine line with regards to shirt pulling. There again it could be considered a skill of his in ‘unobserved’ shirt pulling, perhaps he has exceptional spatial awareness with regards to officials locations and which part the shirt to grab, or there again perhaps he has been lucky due to poor and/or inconsistent refereeing!
Smalling is very useful in the "Mourinho system". Sitting low, defending from crosses, not playing out of defence and not interested in possession. This approach is used by some of the top teams against other top teams. In these instances he would play for them.
Against weaker teams where you are the one in possession he will not be among the starting 11 (assuming everyone is fit). His ability on the ball, while improved since last season, is still below the other players mentioned, and will be an issue against teams where moving the ball quickly is key (teams parking the bus).
He is already better than Smalling has ever been or will be IMO. For a start, he looks like a footballer and doesn't think that ball is a bomb and be scared from it. If we sign a good CB, Smalling won't play too much for us.
if its inconsistant then surely he would be penalised at times and get away with it at others
When the truth is hes played a lot of games over 9 years and you could count how many times hes given away a penalty on one hand
What a heck does this mean? Both him and Lindelof are centerbacks, so he cannot be our best defender if he is not our best centerback.
Second point shows that manager didn't trust him. He was more 'lesser of evils' like a bit better than the others, who well, are not that good.