Thank you for your service, Mike Smalling......good move to Italy for your career
Christopher Smalling - Tribute for the man with the big chest and high voice
- Thread starter FujiVice
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Some fond memories from me, particularly from the period when he was one of the best finishers, from corners, at the club! Good defender, would have benefitted from a regular and solid partner, but still did his best.
I wish him well and hope his career continues strongly at AS Roma - having lived for 10 years as an expat, I also respect the transition he has made so well, it doesn't work out for everyone and takes some effort to adapt.
I wish him well and hope his career continues strongly at AS Roma - having lived for 10 years as an expat, I also respect the transition he has made so well, it doesn't work out for everyone and takes some effort to adapt.
Liked him as a player, even though he looked a little clumsy at times.
Good for him moving to Italy - enjoy football, life, the world's most beautiful city and some good food!
Good for him moving to Italy - enjoy football, life, the world's most beautiful city and some good food!
All the best Chris, he was a good servant to this club. Not many of the current players can say the same.
Wish him all the best, other players could have left first but it is the wish of all parties involved! Hope he has a second renaissance. Could have ended up much worse than Rome and Roma for a living. Best of luck!
Great servant to the club, wanted him to stay and reignite his career with us but wasn’t to be. He played well last season and scandalous he doesn’t get picked for the England squad.
A bit underrated for me, even with some of his obvious shortcomings. Unfairly grouped as some kind of comedy duo with Jones when in truth that has never been a long-standing partnership of any sort.
Still think it’s criminal we’ve not even tried him and Maguire as a partnership but what will be will be.
Best of luck for the rest of his career.
Still think it’s criminal we’ve not even tried him and Maguire as a partnership but what will be will be.
Best of luck for the rest of his career.
Stop grouping Rojo with jones. He tried to go to Everton last year, then he joined Estudiantes on loan and then tried to stay at Estudiantes but we wanted more money than they could afford. He has basically been Romerod.
You have to respect someone who played 10 years, it’s basically his whole career. I’m not shedding any tears though, and he would have been moved on by Fergie quite a while back I’d imagine. I remember some of his mistakes more than I do good moments, which probably says a lot.
Definitely didn’t deserve to leave before Jones/Rojo, but we did well to get the money back for him.
Definitely didn’t deserve to leave before Jones/Rojo, but we did well to get the money back for him.
Been a good player for us and I still believe he should be a starter today. Wish him well, though, I can understand why he'd rather live in Rome and start games.
Not as bad as some on the CAF made him out to be. Also a thorough professional. Scored some big goals against City. Hope he does will at Roma.
Goodbye and good luck, Mike.
Thanks for the laughs Mike
Bye mike. Good luck
Fought hard to make it, chise ti leave for a new club, culture and country rather than stay and steal a wage. Decent defender, nice bloke. Good luck smallingini
Good luck in the future! Like how he seems to go his own way nutrition wise and I think he will make it even better his second year in serie a.
Sad that he's gone yet Jones and Rojo are still here.
exactly. That’s the problem.
personally I always thought he was a better option than Lindelof, but understand the manager thinking differently. Just a shame that he’s the one to go when Jones. Rojo and Bailly are still here.
I understand that there’s different opinions on Bailly, but I don’t imagine there’s a single Utd fan that wanted him gone ahead of Jones and Rojo.
good luck Mike.
Unfairly lumped in with Jones a lot of them time when it was fairly obvious he was much better then that. Could be an absolute monster on his day... I've yet to see Maguire put in something that's anything close to Smalling's best performances for us.
I miss his 360 degree turns.
I miss his 360 degree turns.
Very good defender. Always had a soft spot for him. I genuinely think he's better than all our CBs, apart from Maguire maybe(jury still out).
He deserves to play consistent football and seems happy in Roma, so this was the best solution!
He deserves to play consistent football and seems happy in Roma, so this was the best solution!
I'm not a big fan of Bailly personally. He's one of them guys that will put in a world class performance one week and the following week he'll get possessed by the ghost of Titus Bramble.
Load of waffle. He was never first on anyone’s deadwood list. There was Darmian, Jones etc etc. He was a good defender.
Best of luck to him and his family with the permanant move.
He was a good defender when he had someone reliable next to him. What I'm not sure he ever was, was the defender that could be the reliable one for another player.
He was a good defender when he had someone reliable next to him. What I'm not sure he ever was, was the defender that could be the reliable one for another player.
The last 13 months have said a lot about his attitude and character. Could probably do with a bit of that right now. Sad to see him leave, error by ole in my opinion, would have had him starting with maguire personally.
He killed the Everton deal with ridiculous wage demands, so no, he stays with Jones who has made no effort to leave but hasn't had a single offer either.
Rated by three well-respected managers Hodgson, Moyes and LvG, and two of the best managers ever, Mourinho and SAF. Disrespected by Southgate and Solskjaer, two shocking, clueless managers. I think this speaks volumes for his ability. He is a good pure defender, far better than Maguire and Lindelof, who should never have been sold. Ole and Southgate talk about his ball-playing abilities, yet both us and England play shit football.
Good defender, but not top tier.
However this 'we need a ball-playing defender!!!' bollocks really was unfair to him.
It's not as if Maguire and Lindelof are tearing the house down with their raking long passes.
However this 'we need a ball-playing defender!!!' bollocks really was unfair to him.
It's not as if Maguire and Lindelof are tearing the house down with their raking long passes.
Glad he got his move. I always quite liked him but now was the right time for him to move on, hope it goes well for him at Roma.
The club pulled the plug on it in a similar way to the Romero one where it was said the feared Everton would be completion with us for a top 4 spot
That was a story his side put out but most of the coverage was on his wages being the block.
A fine player and a good professional but just like Evans he never became a top CB, who made some amazing progress from Maidstone to Fulham and then to us. All the best to him, he truly deserves to be a starter just not for us. Νot that I consider our other CBs any better, mind.
I will have fond memories of his time at United, he was mainly good defensively and his grabbing tendencies were so outrageous that I ended up finding them amuzing. The fact that he wasn't a modern ball playing CB wasn't that big of an issue in my opinion.
Well we will always have the winner vs City.
Good pro during his time here. One of the more likeable of that group we’ve had this decade that didn’t live up to the standards but still managed to survive at the club.
Will most fondly remember his “Mike” Smalling spell under LVG where for a short period he was dominant and looked like he could fulfill his potential of becoming an elite centre-back.
Wish him well. That’s two managers now that haven’t fancied him due to his weak play with the ball but he does have some valuable attributes which will hopefully serve him well for the remainder of his career.
Will most fondly remember his “Mike” Smalling spell under LVG where for a short period he was dominant and looked like he could fulfill his potential of becoming an elite centre-back.
Wish him well. That’s two managers now that haven’t fancied him due to his weak play with the ball but he does have some valuable attributes which will hopefully serve him well for the remainder of his career.
Good luck Chris in your Italian ventures.
A chapter has ended. @Andycoleno9 @Ekeke
A quality player, he was never one of the best around, but his reputation has been elevated by the inept business we've done in the transfer market when it comes to defenders since Woodward took over the club. Somehow we went from saying he was okay but limited about two years ago to being so bad at the back these days that his return would have signified an immediate improvement. An example of be careful what you wish for. I think he hasn't been treated well by Ole at all, being made to train alone is pretty poor form. Obviously he is not a darling of the board like Pogba who can do whatever they want safe in the knowledge the manager won't do anything about it.
Good luck in Rome Chris. Top pro and underrated.
Two managers who pretend to have better standards than they actually do and have a relegation on their CVs.
Good luck to Smalling who was fairly untreated by these two, he did well in his time at the club.