Smalling Watch

[ArmchairCritic]

Over thinking things at the moment, it will pass. Once he becomes more assertive like Evans did he will be a fabulous player.

 

[RDCR07]

Find it a bit strange that no mention has been made of our young centre-half starting two World Cup qualifiers in a week for England. Thought he acquitted himself quite well overall. With a run of games in our first-team, he can cement that international spot.

To be honest, I think he has kinda already cemented that spot. He is the only consistent performer for them. Cahill is in and out, Lescott is the not the same player anymore, Jagielka is injured, Caulker is an option but Smalling is better, Terry and Ferdinand arent there anymore. Anyone else I miss?

 

[Genius Me!]

Phil Jones but he isn't really challenging yet.

 

[RDCR07]

Yeah I forgot Jones but half the time he is used in central midfield and the other half he is injured.

 

[Rozay]

To be honest, I think he has kinda already cemented that spot. He is the only consistent performer for them. Cahill is in and out, Lescott is the not the same player anymore, Jagielka is injured, Caulker is an option but Smalling is better, Terry and Ferdinand arent there anymore. Anyone else I miss?

You kind of glossed over Gary Cahill there. He is first choice at present I'd say. He is currently Chelsea's best centre-half and starts when fit.

 

[Eugenius]

You kind of glossed over Gary Cahill there. He is first choice at present I'd say. He is currently Chelsea's best centre-half and starts when fit.

That's not saying much when the alternatives are a half-crocked and aged John Terry and David fecking Luiz. Cahill is at the age where CBs should be starting to see their prime and still has some big flaws in his game, especially getting caught in behind.

 

[Amar__]

Monster defensively, excellent game for him today.

 

[ghaliboy]

Take a bow. Just had an absolute blinder of a game.

 

[ArmchairCritic]

Young player looking more accomplished after playing a few games on the bounce shocker.

 

[Ekeke]

Yep did very well.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

His touch and passing seems to be getting worse though. Regardless, very strong in pure defensive terms. He got a really important toe on the ball near the end that just took it away from McClean having a good chance.

 

[ha_rooney]

Excellent performance. The headed clearance in the second half was fantastic defending.

 

[KingEric7]

Monstrous performance. Won everything in the air.

 

[Fergus' son]

Decent defending but he's awful with the ball.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He was a rock today. Some absolutely cracking headers.

 

[Sam]

He was immense today, just faultless. That header he won against two Sunderland players, at the back post a few minutes after the De Gea knock was, Vidic-esq.

 

[Fergies Gum]

Good defending from Smalling today and made some great headers especially the one (that others have mentioned) in the 2nd half.

 

[Buchan]

We should just deploy Kagawa around Smalling's feet so whenever he has the ball, he can give it to a footballer immediately. As natural defenders go, though, there's few better in the league. Superb today in that respect.

 

[Dargonk]

Great defender, but I still don't like him at RB. He did fairly well going forward today, but you can tell it doesn't come naturally to him. He is going to be a beast of a centre back though.

 

[Nate Dogg]

His passing is a bit meh

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Can not believe someone on here actually said that he's average and will only be a squad player.

The guy is insane. Reads the game so well - and doesn't lose in the air. In 5 years time, he'll be incredible.

 

[massey]

Absolute beast in defence won everything In the air isn't as bad at passing as some label him for. Will take over at centre back one day with Evans no doubt about it.

 

[AttackingFlair]

For someone so good on the ball it's strange how his distribution isn't good. Great defending today though.

 

[Brwned]

For someone so good on the ball it's strange how his distribution isn't good. Great defending today though.

He's very composed but very clumsy a lot of the time too, IMO.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I think it was a very good thing he came on for Rafael. In the second half, we were a little stretched, and he tucked in alot, with Valencia tracking back, and won alot of aerial battles which little Rafa may not have even got involved in. When not in possession, it looked like we were almost playing a back 3 with wing backs.

I don't mind him at RB, albeit a very defensive one, like we had in Wes Brown and John O'Shea. He's not quite the ballplayer to be doing what Rafael does, but I don't mind that, as he can certainly be counted on defensively as a fullback. I also think he's a much, much better RB than Jones, who really shouldn't be playing there at all, in my opinion.

 

[KingEric7]

Must admit that this massive decline in Smalling's ability on the ball is mind-boggling. It was one of his stand out attributes in his first couple of seasons and he put in some decent attacking performances at right back. His running into space with the ball was quality and not far behind the level of Jones, but now he's a bit clumsy and slack at times with his distribution and ball retention from the back. Not oafish by any means but the difference is pretty remarkable.

Still though, there's very little chance of this being a lasting problem given his ability and you'd expect him to at least get back to a Wes Brown-ish sort of standard in this respect. That's all we need from him because his ability when it comes to actually being a defender is pretty special.

 

[nemanja15]

^ Er, he didn't, Evans came on for Rafael?! Smalling started.

Fantastic game though, one of his best for a while.

 

[Plechazunga]

Must admit that this massive decline in Smalling's ability on the ball is mind-boggling. It was one of his stand out attributes in his first couple of seasons and he put in some decent attacking performances at right back. His running into space with the ball was quality and not far behind the level of Jones, but now he's a bit clumsy and slack at times with his distribution and ball retention from the back. Not oafish by any means but the difference is pretty remarkable.

Still though, there's very little chance of this being a lasting problem given his ability and you'd expect him to at least get back to a Wes Brown-ish sort of standard in this respect. That's all we need from him because his ability when it comes to actually being a defender is pretty special.

Thought he looked on the way back to his best today, some really nice touches and confidence on the ball.

 

[TheReligion]

Thought he looked far better on the ball today than he has all season. Played some nice composed passes. The two England games have done him good.

The Caf is a funny place!

 

[KingEric7]

Thought he looked on the way back to his best today, some really nice touches and confidence on the ball.

Not saying he was bad today for this, but in general he was miles better when he first came here. He used to go running through the centre of the pitch taking a few midfielders out of the game on occasions, where as now he's a bit more of a 'get rid' sort of player. Again though, that's not to be overly critical. I genuinely have to restrain myself a bit when the Smalling threads/discussions are bumped because I rate him that highly. I just don't see any defensive weaknesses in him whatsoever and find it incredible that we've a talent like that waiting to step up when Rio calls it a day. Thought it'd be more of a Carrick for Keane type job with us finding a different alternative that complimented a partner well, but we've instead got someone who could actually go on to be similarly good.

 

[Shark]

One of the biggest positives for me today, was Smalling looking close to his composed best. Much improved on the ball.

 

[Rossa]

Smalling looks a bit clumsy, but he rarely gives the ball away. We've been spoilt with Rio who is ridiculously good with the ball, not just for being a defender, in terms of technique and distribution. Smalling isn't too bad, he just looks weird doing it, that's all. Amazing pace and strength though.

 

[MoneyMay]

Poor first half, but that was largely down to the lack of protection he received from Valencia. He was, however, one of our best players in the second half. He shouldn't play as a right back in these games.

 

[MoneyMay]

Very good performance thus far.

 

[Sam]

He looks a different player at centre back.

 

[marjen]

That's because he actually is a centre back.

 

[Ballache]

Happy to see him given a game at CB and he's done well.

 

[ha_rooney]

He's been superb so far and has usually performed well when he's played at CB.

Hopefully gets a chance to play there more often as Rio's not been at his best so far.

 

[Ekeke]

Yep, overall a good performance that half from him. Certainly looking more on top of things than Evans tonight

 

[Sam]

That's because he actually is a centre back.

Yep. This right back nonsense needs to stop.