Smalling played in a total of 38 games last season. Jones played in 39. Evans only managed 25.He played 32 out of 38 Premier League games last season, that's a massive step up on Evans who played 17, Jones who played 26 and Smalling who played 25.
Don’t get me wrong I think they should all be replaced eventually, what’s annoying me is the piss poor attempt by some to convince themselves that all will click into place when we get rid of Jones, Evans and Smalling and to a lesser extent Rafael.Quite a lot of posters realise that they all have enough talent or are good enough, if they would stay injury free. They don't though and that's reason enough to look for replacements. To answer your question, our team won't be able to build a solid relationship at the back, since they are or won't be available for a prolonged period of time, at least the past suggests as much. Van Gaal will be aware of their injury records and he probably decided to trust them to turn it around, since he was confident of his own capabilities as a coach, he probably was wrong and will react to that. With all of that being said, the unlikely might happen and they turn it around, but I don't believe it anymore. Ferguson put his trust in Rafael, Smalling, Jones and Evans, for quite some time I did too and still rate all of them highly, still any sympathy I had for them is completely gone this season. They could've have stepped up since Ferguson retired, but since then they actually look worse, bar Rafael who has improved again under van Gaal, I don't see any reason not to look at potential alternatives. Van Gaal also did Smalling and Jones a favour in not playing them at right-back anymore unlike his predecessors. Obviously the change of training regime might have caused injuries to them as well, but it's always them. In my opinion it's completely normal and justified that supporters are beginning or already have lost all their faith in them or one of them.
I agree that Vlaar isn't the solution and Vertonghen simply doesn't convince me. Unlike others I've actually liked Rojo's performances so far given the circumstances.
Don't think we need to really, RB, and CB is the major issue, and maybe LW, not going to need to blow £150 million on the those positions to get them sorted, especially with money to come from player sales too.People seem to be ignoring FFP too. We can't spend again like this summer in Jan/next summer without falling foul of it, especially with falling revenues.
If there were lots of excellent defenders out there for us to buy, that'd be one thing, but there really aren't.
Even Hummels isn't a great fit for us imo. Obvious upgrade on what we have, but he's not fast, has injuries and will cost a fortune.
I'm sure LVG has a plan.
Yeah, I agree with that.Don’t get me wrong I think they should all be replaced eventually, what’s annoying me is the piss poor attempt by some to convince themselves that all will click into place when we get rid of Jones, Evans and Smalling and to a lesser extent Rafael.
Given the circumstances the defensive players have had to play under this season I believe they have come into unfair criticism, people tend to focus on the negative which mean they cant see any of the good. Smallings idiocy aside, the defence have coped quite well over the last couple of months, in fact I don’t think any team could have coped as well. It seems there always has to be a scapegoat and people tend to pick on the easiest target(s), it gets tiresome after a while.
Schär, who is out of contract next summer, Musacchio, Juan Jesus, AstoriEveryone is saying get rid of the three injury prone ones and replace them with quality but it's nowhere near that easy. Hummels seems to be most people's favourite but he's gonna be very hard to get and he seems quite injury prone himself. Laporte has a huge release clause for a player his age. Then we're linked with people like Shawcross and Vlaar. Shawcross is nowhere near good enough and I don't think Vlaar is either, although I would much rather him to Shawcross. Pique is another that we've been linked to but he has regressed massively. Who else is left after those?
