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.
I agree.Smalling is, and always will be, better than Lindelof. Maguire and Smalling would be a great CB partnership, one of the best in Europe.
Nah,they don’t have Ed Woodward over there....Hopefully we can fleece them for 25-30m
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.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.
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.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.
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?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.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.
Smalling is, and always will be, better than Lindelof. Maguire and Smalling would be a great CB partnership, one of the best in Europe.
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.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?
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 himSmalling is, and always will be, better than Lindelof. Maguire and Smalling would be a great CB partnership, one of the best in Europe.
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.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.
Smalling playing out from the back at Roma. Has one of the best pass success rates in the league for a CB and they are not just sideways passes
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.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.Smallimg isn’t amazing but how on earth is he not at the club & Jones is. Don’t get it
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.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.
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.I don't see why he'd want to come back really.
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.Tweet
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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.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.