He played so many of our scorers onside
Chris Smalling | Roma player
- Thread starter roonster09
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If we gave them Maguire and we had Smalling tonight we’d have lost that game quite comfortably, all the people saying Smalling is better than Maguire have terrible football knowledge, They listen to far too many random YouTube personalities and don’t watch enough football. Embarrassing really.
He is a Schneiderlin level player. Nobody is shitting on him, it's just that his true level always was Southampton/Aston Villa.
He's done very well at Roma and deserves respect for that. Just back from injury and was just traumatised by a vicious burglary on his family, so he's clearly not at peak performance level yet.
But like Schneiderlin or Blind or Fellaini, he was never a Utd player.
He's done very well at Roma and deserves respect for that. Just back from injury and was just traumatised by a vicious burglary on his family, so he's clearly not at peak performance level yet.
But like Schneiderlin or Blind or Fellaini, he was never a Utd player.
Well there will always be one or two loons. But it's hardly comparable thinking that Ravel Morrison could do a job at United if he can't even find a club. And someone thinking Smalling would still be handy to have in the squad considering he did that very job at United for a long time. Even when we still won league titles and got to European cup finals. Smalling was and is a good player.
Bit harsh to lump Smalling and Blind for that matter in with Schneiderlin and especially Fellaini. Blind is the type of squad player Ferguson would have signed and who would have did a job in successful teams. Smalling actually is a player Ferguson signed and actually did a job as a squad player in title winning teams.
feck me it wasn't that long ago.
Ironically, Fellaini was the most important player to us of that lot. Was furious when we signed him, but he was a brutally effective player when played to his strengths, and he came through with quite a few important moments and goals for us.
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Did a very good job? Couldn’t control a football at United and often pumped the ball in to touch, he went to Roma and turned into Maldini according to our fan base just like Depay turned into R9. What a load of rubbish.
Someone needs to defend.
He was important because successive failing managers resorted to playing long ball tactics to him. Not his fault he was good at what he did and did well at times, scored some important goals. But as the other poster rightly says he was never a Manchester United player, he should have never played for Manchester United, Ferguson would have never signed him and Solskjaer couldn't wait to get him out the door even when he was just the interim manager.
Feck sake give over, he was at United for 10 years. Ferguson signed him he was a good player, poor on the ball but a solid defender. He had good seasons at United and did his part as a good squad player in 2 title winning teams. Facts.
He was shite at United and couldn’t trap a bag of cement, everyone moaned about him when he was here and when he left he became maldini, he’s wank and Maguire is 10x the player Smalling ever was. If we had Smalling tonight we’d have lost that game. Facts.
feck off back to the newbie forum and stop talking nonsense kid.
I might have to feck off back to the newbie forum if full members like yourself think Smalling was good at United, my Nan could trap a ball better than him. Ole got rid of him for a reason, He was shite for us. Players like Smalling, Fellaini, Jones and Lukaku were everything wrong with United before Ole came in.
If Fergie was still here he’d have binned him off a long time ago. Get over yourself “Mr my opinion is better because I have more likes than you on a random United forum”
Your position that people hold a view because they don't watch football (which is random in itself) seems quite ironic, were you watching the same game? It is total and utter nonsense to suggest the difference between the two sides was found between a couple of individuals. Roma were beaten all over the pitch, particularly in the second half and any metric including simply watching the game reasonably is going to support that. Hyperbole is not a convincing way of propping up your argument, especially when you're already on the side of it which is extremely easy to defend after tonight.
What the hell was he doing on our third goal? 
Both him and Maguire had their share of mistakes in that game, what are you on about? it's not like Maguire played perfectly.
Agent Mike Smalling didn't disappoint
He had a very poor game against us tonight and I certainly won't complain about that as a Utd fan. However, the disrespect and rewriting of history for Mike Smalling is disappointing. He's been a far better servant for Utd than Blind, Jones, Schneiderlin or Fellaini.
SAF definitely didn't think he was shite during his youth and peak years. Smalling has his limitations but he was always a decent defender, especially in the 2014/2015 season with LVG when he was eating strikers for breakfast. I wish him all the best and thank him for his service, but of course if he has another nightmare game in the 2nd leg I'd be happy with that
SAF definitely didn't think he was shite during his youth and peak years. Smalling has his limitations but he was always a decent defender, especially in the 2014/2015 season with LVG when he was eating strikers for breakfast. I wish him all the best and thank him for his service, but of course if he has another nightmare game in the 2nd leg I'd be happy with that
He was solid for us and I liked him as a player but as harsh as it sounds we don't miss him.
capt America would be a better player. The other would be more fun.
jones is going the entire season with playing a single minute.
Was coming back from injury, looked rusty and it showed. Was involved in like 5 of those goals.
beTteR thAn MaGUire
but seriously....was dreadful last night
but seriously....was dreadful last night
Some of the goals weren't down to rustiness IMO. He was sometimes just nowhere near where he had to be. While he isn't a bad defender, and also not as good as some proclaimed in the past, he isn't usually that bad
The thing that happened with the attack in his home may have been a bigger factor than rustiness. He was just not there.
The thing that happened with the attack in his home may have been a bigger factor than rustiness. He was just not there.
Him mistiming his jump and header, at 6'4, for the Pogba goal was solid confirmation that selling him was a completely justified decision. Basics of defending for a good CB.
I think this match puts an end to the debate of whether it was a correct decision to let Smalling go
Do Roma always play him on the right of a back three? This brings the worst out of him I feel. His lack of a proper technique and poor positioning is properly exposed in that position.
He was useful as a squad player but clearly not good/reliable enough when we needed him to make the step up from squad player to starting every game at the heart of our defence.
Definitely the right decision to move him on. He gets a pass from me for last night because of all the extenuating circumstances but I saw all the evidence I needed to see he wasn’t good enough for a club with our ambitions when he was still at United. Maguire and Lindelof are obvious upgrades on Smalling and our central defence is arguably still not where it needs to be.
Showed yesterday why we sold him
That would be a tragic loss for this forum mate.
No that's not the reason, the reason is you are talking absolute shite and have no desire to have any sort of discussion beyond ''Smalling is shite''. You started a conversation by claiming the other person is talking rubbish, which in my experience rarely leads to a cordial exchange of views. This isn't Facebook mate.
Maybe, maybe not but he still thought he was good enough to pay £10m to buy him and then regularly played him during championship winning seasons.
Is he still considered one of the best CB in Serie A ?
To be honest at this stage I'd be willing to give either of them a go.
I'd still have him over Bailly.
However, it was his decision that he didnt want to fight for his spot even if it meant he ended up 3rd best CB.
However, it was his decision that he didnt want to fight for his spot even if it meant he ended up 3rd best CB.
That was a disaster-class. Guess he's not fully fit, but that was awful. His positioning for our equaliser through the whole move was mind-boggling. Why was he so wide for the initial Cavani pass, and then didn't block his run effectively for the final pass.
Was thinking the same watching him last night, he had his best game in a back 3 for United in the centre of the 3. But probably their coach doesn't think he's good enough on the ball to step out into midfield if they need him to.
I would as well. I don’t think it’s that he didn’t want to fight for his place. I think he was told quite clearly that he would only be a back up, and wouldn’t be a first team player.
credit to him for deciding to go and play football unlike Rojo and Jones.
I'd largely agree mate I didn't disagree with Solskjaer moving him on. While he was our best CB at times during his career at United that said more about where we were in terms of squad quality. But I always thought he was a good defender, solid and reliable enough as a squad player.
But there was some shite spewed in here last night off the back of a poor performance. Some trying to rewrite history and claim he was never a good player for us, which is nonsense.
Come on now. Let's not revise history. He was a good servant at United. Never made it to Rio Ferdinand level, but certainly a good player in his 10 years here. I'm sure coming back from injury and have a gun to you and your families had hasnt helped his mental state recently, so let's not call him abysmal just because of last night. Jesus.
I’d swap him for Phil Jones any day of the week.
Surprise surprise the critics are out in force re-writing history.
Smalling was our best defender (both in terms of peak performances and average level of performance) for most of the seasons since Rio and Vidic left. Not great (bar most of 15/16), but certainly the best of what we had. However in his last season with us he was already showing signs of losing some speed and physicality, and another two years have passed since then. Now this season has been ravaged by injury, particularly to his knee, and just two weeks ago he and his family were held at gunpoint while being robbed. Is it really surprising that he struggled in only his second full 90 minute match he's played in over three months?
I was disappointed we didn't attempt the Maguire-Smalling combo before letting him go, but with his deterioration the previous season there were question marks over him. It appears it's another thing that Ole got spot on.
Smalling was our best defender (both in terms of peak performances and average level of performance) for most of the seasons since Rio and Vidic left. Not great (bar most of 15/16), but certainly the best of what we had. However in his last season with us he was already showing signs of losing some speed and physicality, and another two years have passed since then. Now this season has been ravaged by injury, particularly to his knee, and just two weeks ago he and his family were held at gunpoint while being robbed. Is it really surprising that he struggled in only his second full 90 minute match he's played in over three months?
I was disappointed we didn't attempt the Maguire-Smalling combo before letting him go, but with his deterioration the previous season there were question marks over him. It appears it's another thing that Ole got spot on.