Zlatattack
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2017
- Messages
- 7,374
1. Would they be our best CB pairing?
2. Would they be good enough to win the league/compete in the CL with?
2. Would they be good enough to win the league/compete in the CL with?
It's fair to say that Smalling is very underrated here. He is a better defender than both Bailly and Lindelöf. Brilliant header off the ball and very quick. Great natural ability but not good on the ball. I would say that Maguire and him would be our best pair.1: No Smalling had been here a decade and has proven he’s nowhere near good enough. He is decent as a pure defender but has no composure on the ball and wouldn’t get in modern progressive teams. Lindelof and Bailly are both better players by a distance.
2:No (see above)
I expect on usual people will rush to his defence.
1. Possibly, although only because the other non-Maguire options are so bad - maybe Bailly is marginally better though1. Would they be our best CB pairing?
2. Would they be good enough to win the league/compete in the CL with?
Yes and yes, if he came back it would be our best CB partnership, but Ole has decided to move on and Smalling, although not exactly old, is not getting any younger.1. Would they be our best CB pairing?
2. Would they be good enough to win the league/compete in the CL with?
Smalling is ridiculous quick, especially for someone his size. His recovery pace is probably his greatest asset.Maguire does everything Smalling does but better, Maguire really needs a partner with pace rather than someone like Smalling
Smalling's greatest asset is far from pace, it's his ability in the air and physicality. He's a great tool when playing against someone like Deeney but those players are few and far between now and like I said Maguire can deal with those sorts now and do it betterSmalling is ridiculous quick, especially for someone his size. His recovery pace is probably his greatest asset.
Of course it is, he was recorded as one of the fastest players in the squad various times. When he played in a high line under LvG, his recovery pace when the opposition got in behind was what he was best at.Smalling's greatest asset is far from pace, it's his ability in the air and physicality. He's a great tool when playing against someone like Deeney but those players are few and far between now and like I said Maguire can deal with those sorts now and do it better
Sums the situation up perfectly.Other than his ability (or lack thereof) on the ball, Smalling is a far more natural partner to Maguire than any of our other options. So it depends on what balance you want to hit between ability on the ball (where he's our worst option) and actual defensive ability (where he's our best option) as to where he sits in the pecking order. Ole obviously wanted more of the former.
On what planet does smalling not have pace?Maguire does everything Smalling does but better, Maguire really needs a partner with pace rather than someone like Smalling
The point of why Ole didn't plan to make him a regular from the pre season last summer because of he probably wants to play from the back. Having Smalling will just ruin what the manager wants the team to play especially that Ole loves counter attack and it's even more effective to have defenders who can pass the ball not only to defend. I'm sure Smalling realised that with his age and how the manager wants to play from the back will limit his chance to play regular as he becomes less favourite to the younger centre back & centre back who can play from the back. I'm not surprised if Smalling himself is looking for a new club as well.1. Would they be our best CB pairing?
2. Would they be good enough to win the league/compete in the CL with?
I never understand how there's a small portion of our fans who have watched Smalling play for years and still seem to think he isn't fast. He's still probably our fastest central defender despite the fact that I think he's lost a touch of pace over the last year or two, and there aren't many out there that are faster. At most you could say that he can take a couple of steps to really get going if he gets turned, but that's going to be true for anybody with his size.Maguire does everything Smalling does but better, Maguire really needs a partner with pace rather than someone like Smalling
I think Martial has improved enormously to be honest. His finishing is much more varied than the typical far post finish, even starting to score more ugly goals. He has added parts to his game that nobody really saw before. His link up play is fantastic, his movement has improved and even aerially he's becoming a threat e.g. the City game where he was a huge help in defending set pieces and goals such as Chelsea away. He's improved so much from just being the silky dribbler in his first season.Ole improved the likes of Shaw, fred, Mctominay, Rashford, Martial's play by 10 - 20 % and in my opinion we were starting to see this with potentially Bailly
Oh I agree, I just held back on the percentage not to over hype the manager and the players too much when they could improve further. Martial has improved from whatever Ole does to alot of the squad- it's hard to see what exactly - but feels like a sense of freedom to their gameplay maybe? Martial has obviously improved from becoming a striker again which is still the managers work.I think Martial has improved enormously to be honest. His finishing is much more varied than the typical far post finish, even starting to score more ugly goals. He has added parts to his game that nobody really saw before. His link up play is fantastic, his movement has improved and even aerially he's becoming a threat e.g. the City game where he was a huge help in defending set pieces and goals such as Chelsea away. He's improved so much from just being the silky dribbler in his first season.
You can see just how much he is benefiting from playing with Bruno and how much he's enjoying that. Prior to that he was feeding of scraps.