Smalling loan watch

ManchesterYoda

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Smalling is, and always will be, better than Lindelof. Maguire and Smalling would be a great CB partnership, one of the best in Europe.
 

RUCK4444

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I didn’t see a lot of posters bigging up old Mike Smalling when he was here.

I have always thought he was our best central defender by a distance, Maguire is an upgrade but it shouldn’t have been at the expense of letting Smalling go.

I’ve said before I would have liked to see Maguire and Smalling would have made a good pairing.

Maguire clearing out aerial threats like as he’s better in the air. Smalling adding a bit of pace to the pairing and is also good 1 vs 1.

I thought it could potentially be a poor mans Rio & Vidic type pairing.
 

TRUERED89

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Under LVG I don't think he was terrible on the ball, somehow this has been exaggerated. He wasn't great but he wasn't exactly bad either.
Everybody looked good in possession under LVG, safe and easy, side and back passing. Smalling was hoofball or sideways post LVG. Saying all of that I'd have him back for his tackling and aerial ability over Lindelöf! Maguire can be the one to play out from the back, leave Smalling to focus on just being a defender.
 

11101

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I didn’t see a lot of posters bigging up old Mike Smalling when he was here.

I have always thought he was our best central defender by a distance, Maguire is an upgrade but it shouldn’t have been at the expense of letting Smalling go.

I’ve said before I would have liked to see Maguire and Smalling would have made a good pairing.

Maguire clearing out aerial threats like as he’s better in the air. Smalling adding a bit of pace to the pairing and is also good 1 vs 1.

I thought it could potentially be a poor mans Rio & Vidic type pairing.
A massive part of the reason Vidic and Rio were so good is that the midfield and full backs were able to leave them alone and press further up the pitch. They could defend on their own and they could also move the ball forward on their own. The rest of the team trusted them. No back line with Smalling is ever going to be able to do that. You always need 2 to 3 safe passing options within close proximity.
 

Meep

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Smalling has had his chances at united. Get over it. Great to see him making it in Italy. Let him blossom in the southern sun.
 

MikeKing

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A massive part of the reason Vidic and Rio were so good is that the midfield and full backs were able to leave them alone and press further up the pitch. They could defend on their own and they could also move the ball forward on their own. The rest of the team trusted them. No back line with Smalling is ever going to be able to do that. You always need 2 to 3 safe passing options within close proximity.
You really only need the 1 safe one for Smalling, which is the obvious pass he goes for 9 out of 10 times, the same as Lindelof and pretty much any CB out there. If the opposition cuts that one out, then another player should make himself available. They should make themselves available for the fullback too so that he doesn't just pass it right back where it came from. Our movement ahead of our CB's have been a way bigger problem than the quality on the ball from our defenders. It's such a weak point you are making as City doesn't play out from the back with no passing options, they create triangles and really the more options they have the better conditions to keep the ball moving. City defenders hoof or clears the ball like every other team when there is no passing options in front of them, what else are they doing that I'm failing to see?
 

RUCK4444

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A massive part of the reason Vidic and Rio were so good is that the midfield and full backs were able to leave them alone and press further up the pitch. They could defend on their own and they could also move the ball forward on their own. The rest of the team trusted them. No back line with Smalling is ever going to be able to do that. You always need 2 to 3 safe passing options within close proximity.
Yeah of course, I’m not directly comparing the two pairing as there is absolutely no comparison, Rio and Vidic are one of the best partnerships ever.

I just like the idea of pace and presence between the two potentially. Shame we haven't been able to sample that as a partnership.

While Smalling has his faults I do still believe bringing him back at least as a backup option would be better business than spending a load on an unknown prospect.

If we let him leave for pennies it will be a disgrace, up there with letting Blind go for peanuts.
Smalling and Blind on our bench would be a massive improvement on Rojo and Jones!
 

11101

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You really only need the 1 safe one for Smalling, which is the obvious pass he goes for 9 out of 10 times, the same as Lindelof and pretty much any CB out there. If the opposition cuts that one out, then another player should make himself available. They should make themselves available for the fullback too so that he doesn't just pass it right back where it came from. Our movement ahead of our CB's have been a way bigger problem than the quality on the ball from our defenders. It's such a weak point you are making as City doesn't play out from the back with no passing options, they create triangles and really the more options they have the better conditions to keep the ball moving. City defenders hoof or clears the ball like every other team when there is no passing options in front of them, what else are they doing that I'm failing to see?
Watch some highlights of us with Smalling. The right back and centre back always stay available for him and at least one centre mid drops right back to him. We're not perfect now but we are better, and watch us with Rio/Vidic or watch City and Liverpool. As soon as those CBs are on the ball the centre mids are looking to receive on the turn and break through the midfield line and the full backs are facing up the pitch and looking to pin their opposite number back.

He would be a useful backup option for us but he doesn't want that, and with Rojo and potentially Tuanzebe we have players who better fit the style we want to play if the main pair are missing.
 

Bobcat

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Smalling is, and always will be, better than Lindelof. Maguire and Smalling would be a great CB partnership, one of the best in Europe.
Hes a better defender than Lindelof mostly because the latter tend to be physically bullied too much by big CF's, but Lindelof id better at reading the game and is MUCH better at distributing the ball than Smalling who tends to panic and hoof it every time another player gets within 10 yards of him

Imo, neither of them are really good enough if we hope to challenge for the league. In fact none of Smalling, Lindelof, Jones or Rojo really are. Hopefully Tuanzebe has what it takes
 

MikeKing

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Watch some highlights of us with Smalling. The right back and centre back always stay available for him and at least one centre mid drops right back to him. We're not perfect now but we are better, and watch us with Rio/Vidic or watch City and Liverpool. As soon as those CBs are on the ball the centre mids are looking to receive on the turn and break through the midfield line and the full backs are facing up the pitch and looking to pin their opposite number back.

He would be a useful backup option for us but he doesn't want that, and with Rojo and potentially Tuanzebe we have players who better fit the style we want to play if the main pair are missing.
I can't remember ever seeing Smalling in the setup you're talking about so I have not much of a reference for that. If you look at our games without Smalling under Mourinho, Van Gaal and Ole last year and compare it to those with him you would see the same pattern you're blaming on Smalling.
 

Ekeke

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Lukaku and Smalling are in the top 20 performing players in Serie A this season.

Rashford is our best in the premier league at 36th.

Of course I'm sure everyone agrees the premier league is tougher than Serie A, but I think they're both showing they werent problems at United and we've had problems this season without them. So its time to stop scapegoating them and address what the real issues are, because they're still here.
 

ash_86

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Much needed change for him. We had all called him enough names(chuckle brothers being latest) during his tenure here. Even on his good days he was demolished by several for no reason. I hope he gets the permanent move out of here.
 

worldinmotion66

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He's always been a very good defended from a purely defensive point of view, he's just not the archetypal modern defender. He's also always impressed in a high line because he has phenomenal recovery pace. He and Blind under Van Gaal were our best defensive partnership for some time, it's a shame that we didn't build on that and went for a manager that plays a deep back line. If we were to revert to a more proactive style on the front foot, he'd still be a great option for us and a good complimentary partner to Maguire.
 

devips

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I pity those agenda posters who have a heartburn because Smalling is playing well at Roma. I sometimes wonder :are they really United fans or trolls from other clubs!
 

Hughie77

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I cannot understand, how they left him go on loan, and kept, Jones! It's a no brainer to have Smalling on bench or rotating with the others than Jones, it was a utter useless waste of a CB who would be a lot better than Jones.
Ole starts on Sunday with 3 CBs, ok but 1 of them was a disaster, Smalling in there or Tuanazbe was a better fit.

Hope Smalling is called back in Jan, and Jones sent out on loan.
 

Rafaeldagold

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Smallimg isn’t amazing but how on earth is he not at the club & Jones is. Don’t get it
 

Shimo

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Smallimg isn’t amazing but how on earth is he not at the club & Jones is. Don’t get it
Simple, it had been made clear he was 4th choice at best and so Roma inquired about him and it was presented to him and he took the offer and Ole was fine. No one came for Jones. Everton did try for Rojo and Baily was injured.

Also, Ole simply is Gareth Southgate lite when it comes to his philosophy. Would rather have defenders that look better on the ball than ones that can actually defend at a high level. Southgate had dropped Smalling because he didn't look right on the ball, so Ole followed off the bat it was going to be Lindelof next to Maguire and Tuanazebe would get his chance because of the youth philosophy. Even if Smalling had stayed, the way it looked in preseason, he'd have been behind pretty much everyone if not for injuries.

What's sad is if Ole decided to actually not try build Rome (no pun intended) in a day with this idea of playing from the back requiring to passers, given the Maguire/Smalling partnership at least a shot, along with the approach of playing a higher line and a renewed emphasis on possessing the ball, he might have benefitted from a stronger CB pairing without that much of a loss in ball playing ability for this season.
 

Gordon S

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Smallimg isn’t amazing but how on earth is he not at the club & Jones is. Don’t get it
I'm sure i read somewhere that Smalling wanted to be guaranteed lots of playing time and Ole couldn't do that, so he wanted to leave to be a starter somewhere else. Jones should have been out of the club long time ago though.
 

M16Red

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What's sad is if Ole decided to actually not try build Rome (no pun intended) in a day with this idea of playing from the back requiring to passers, given the Maguire/Smalling partnership at least a shot, along with the approach of playing a higher line and a renewed emphasis on possessing the ball, he might have benefitted from a stronger CB pairing without that much of a loss in ball playing ability for this season.
This, that same high line has dropped two goals just from the last game. Smalling is really quick across and really good at 1 Vs 1.. Rojo and Jones are so bad.
 

arthurka

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Would take him back in a heartbeat, Rojo, Jones, Bailly and Lindelöf aren´t as good as Smalling. I am really happy for him, Ole clearly made a huge mistake there.
 

FujiVice

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I don't see why he'd want to come back really.
Its his home. He's won the league twice with us. Played over 200 games for us. Captained the club. We pay him more than he'd get elsewhere etc.
 

DoomSlayer

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I have to admit in being a bit of Smalling basher at times, but with our current defense, I'd say we need to bring him back as early as January and send the likes of Jones and Rojo packing their bags.
 

Isotope

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At this rate, Juventus might offer him a deal. They're good with "older" player, and they didn't mind to have a non-ball playing CB like Chiellini with massive success.

Also it's nice to know that Ole is still in contact with him, and doesn't mind taking him back. It reminds me of SAF who didn't mind to admit, selling Stam was a mistake.
 

dev1l

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I have to admit in being a bit of Smalling basher at times, but with our current defense, I'd say we need to bring him back as early as January and send the likes of Jones and Rojo packing their bags.
Sometimes a change can work miracles. The Smalling we re seeing this year is top notch, even if he s playing in an inferior leagues.
But if he got his confidence back, as mitten suggests,he may as well be able to play at a higher level.
 

Dr. Dwayne

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I'm very pleased for Chris and happy that he's excelling in Italy. For a player of his age and experience it's probably the perfect league for him to play in. What an experience it must be.

That said, I don't think he had a future here so it's good that he's gone.
 

Velvet Revolver

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He was never going to get the starting job at United so good on him for moving to a different country to try, he is excelling there so that is good for him. But I would have rather we sold Rojo and Jones and kept him. Smalling has his issues but he is definitely a better defender than all of the ones we have except maybe Maguire.
 

Amar__

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What a difference in mentality between his and majority of players playing for our club, good to see there are couple of characters left too.