He has barely put a foot right this season in the PL and cups. He has got no football intelligence or whatsoever, it's only his physique that makes an United career (short hopefully) possible for him.
[Poll] Who was your defender of the season?
- Thread starter Niall
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Smalling by miles
Obvious choice is obvious.
@Eboue voting for Evans! 
Couldn't bring myself to vote for any of them.
Smalling, but then other than Rojo everyone else was shit so it's not saying much at all.
I picked Shaw because he played well when he actually played. The rest were below what is required here. Smalling was fairly good in the latter part of the season and Valencia was OK, but it isn't enough. The rest...
TBH none of them were good enough.
TBH none of them were good enough.
Pointless thread
Smalling. Not even close.
Voted Smalling cause he was the best but McNair was the most impressive, I thought. We've seen Smalling play superbly before. It's nothing new.
This isn't even close. Only one person was reliable and strong at the back, Smalling.
Smalling easily number one followed by Valencia and Jones.
How anyone couldn't say Smalling I don't know. shouldn't GK be a choice in best defender? Otherwise DDG walks it lol
Smelling, by a mile. Don't see how a case can be made for anyone else.
They were all shit....but Valencia was less shit than the rest of them as he wasn't injury prone!
I really would like to hear the justification for people that didn't vote Smalling. The rest all had patches where they were just awful. Smalling didn't, and if he did it was never more than one bad game.
The best CB pair was Smalling and Jones, by far. Actually their statistics are quite similar, according to squawka:
Smalling (in 25 games)
Clearances-163, Interceptions-58, Blocks-16/ Avg. defensive actions: 9
Duels Won (57%)
Tackle-23/52(44%), Take on-16/19(84%), Headed Duel-67/102(66%), Fouls commited-34, Fouls suffered-11
Avg. passing accuracy-88%
Jones (in 22 games)
Clearances-175, Interceptions-70, Blocks-6/ Avg. defensive actions: 11
Duels won (57%)
Tackle-41/80(49&), Take on-16/20(80%), Headed Duel-46/77(60%), Fouls commited-55, Fouls suffered-29
Avg. passing accuracy-85%
Jones has attempted more tackles while Smalling was involved in more headed duels which can be explained by their different styles of defending. Jones is more aggressive, tries to show more urgency and get in front of the attackers to intercept the balls coming towards them. On the other hand, Smalling is more of a calming presence, the defender we rely on to deal with crosses and all sorts of threats in our box.
They compliment each other rather well and they have stepped up, as Smalling suggested a few days ago. Their stats are actually good but there is still room for improvement. Smalling has to become even better at aerial duels and Jones must learn to control himself and not give away so many fouls in our half of the pitch. For instance, Mertesacker's percentage in aerial duels this season was 70% (108/154), he committed only 21 fouls and his avg. duels won percentage was 65%.
Jones did better than ok in most cases and Smalling was the best CB this season but not by a mile. But as they say in my part of the world, you would suffer less if you lost your eye than if you lost your good reputation.
The other CBs don't even come close to those two, you can check the stats if you want. As for the FBs, i don't believe we can draw safe conclusions because in modern football their role is more complex than it used to be. Valencia was quite solid defensively (although he still has problems when he has to defend in the box), he was very important in our build up play (i believe he was the 3rd player with the most touches per game) but he offered very little in the final third. We had the same issue on both wings and it was on of the reasons we couldn't open up tight defenses.
Smalling (in 25 games)
Clearances-163, Interceptions-58, Blocks-16/ Avg. defensive actions: 9
Duels Won (57%)
Tackle-23/52(44%), Take on-16/19(84%), Headed Duel-67/102(66%), Fouls commited-34, Fouls suffered-11
Avg. passing accuracy-88%
Jones (in 22 games)
Clearances-175, Interceptions-70, Blocks-6/ Avg. defensive actions: 11
Duels won (57%)
Tackle-41/80(49&), Take on-16/20(80%), Headed Duel-46/77(60%), Fouls commited-55, Fouls suffered-29
Avg. passing accuracy-85%
Jones has attempted more tackles while Smalling was involved in more headed duels which can be explained by their different styles of defending. Jones is more aggressive, tries to show more urgency and get in front of the attackers to intercept the balls coming towards them. On the other hand, Smalling is more of a calming presence, the defender we rely on to deal with crosses and all sorts of threats in our box.
They compliment each other rather well and they have stepped up, as Smalling suggested a few days ago. Their stats are actually good but there is still room for improvement. Smalling has to become even better at aerial duels and Jones must learn to control himself and not give away so many fouls in our half of the pitch. For instance, Mertesacker's percentage in aerial duels this season was 70% (108/154), he committed only 21 fouls and his avg. duels won percentage was 65%.
Jones did better than ok in most cases and Smalling was the best CB this season but not by a mile. But as they say in my part of the world, you would suffer less if you lost your eye than if you lost your good reputation.
The other CBs don't even come close to those two, you can check the stats if you want. As for the FBs, i don't believe we can draw safe conclusions because in modern football their role is more complex than it used to be. Valencia was quite solid defensively (although he still has problems when he has to defend in the box), he was very important in our build up play (i believe he was the 3rd player with the most touches per game) but he offered very little in the final third. We had the same issue on both wings and it was on of the reasons we couldn't open up tight defenses.
Pretty unanimous for Smalling, and rightly so. He really stepped up in the second half of the season.
Hopefully he can stay fit and continue to progress.
Hopefully he can stay fit and continue to progress.
Isn't Jones "statistically" the best CB under 23 yo in the World? But yeah, I picked Smalling because I'm not blind.
Smalling walks it easily here. No one else comes close.
me vote for Smalling
I voted for Smalling and he's winning at a canter and rightly so.
This must be the biggest landslide in Caf history.
Any way oppo fans can be banned from voting?!
11 votes for two defenders who are shit. polls are now just a look at me moment.
According to this poll Valencia was the second best defender at the club this season. Valencia!!!
I don't know if that says more about those voting or the quality of the United defence but that is embarrassing.
I don't know if that says more about those voting or the quality of the United defence but that is embarrassing.
This is getting close, not much in it all now.
Goalkeeper of the season is next thread. Stay tuned.
I voted for Jones because I dont see much of a gap between them - certainly nothing like the huge difference that the Caf seems to make it.
How on earth Valencia is getting all these votes is beyond me though, he was directly to blame for several goals conceeded this season.
Yeah I understand the Jones votes moreso than the Valencia ones. He had some awful performances.
I hope this is a trap. All not voting Smalling should be banned.
Spot on
People voting for Jonny Evans
9 divs voting for smackettPeople voting for Jonny Evans
Smallsy by a country mile. Valencia did ok at RB as well but I still can't believe he's regarded as a full time right back now....Rojo did alright at times. Jones was probably second best. Other than that...well....not great.
Smalling is the answer from what I saw of United. That said, Rojo started to get it together after looking distinctly average at the start of the season so he might be one to watch next season.
Who voted Evans and Blackett?
Rojo for me when he actually got to play at CB.
The correct answer is Smalling but I don't think its that huge a compliment. I would rate his season as a 7/10.
Where is "None of the above"???