Chris Smalling | Match Performance Thread

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Playing him at RB made sense because of his height and Rio needing a game. But it was pointless really, we probably would have scored a few more with Rafael at RB. Him and Valencia would have ripped them apart... save it for Chelsea.
 
Concussion i would suspect..... the Holland player looked concussed a bit as well.. heck he looked as though he'd been out cold before he hit the ground...

Fergie on Smalling: "There's no concussion but he's got quite a nasty cut," Sir Alex said. "Whether we can patch it up, I'm not quite sure. We need to tread carefully and see what he's like tomorrow.
 
Goal apart I thought Smalling did well. He was possibly our best player.
 
Thought Smalling was excellent today. Firmly believe he'll go on to become the best defender from the young defenders at the club. If he's allowed an extended run in the team he'll be hard to dislodge.
 
Would agree with that. Got everything a top centre half needs and more. If he hadn't got injured when him and Evans were playing regularly he'd probably have been first choice for the rest of the season.
 
Should be an interesting battle between Rio, Evans and Smalling next season to play with Vidic providing Vidic is fit and firing when he comes back.
 
Yeah, should be an interesting battle. Each will know they will have to perform to remain in the team.
 
Gutted for him, had a real chance of becoming first choice with Vidic this season. That's Evans and Smalling missing the start of the season, we're looking really thin at the back now as they both add versatility.
 
Missed this news, big blow for him. At least it's happened now and not midway through the season. Seems to be quite injury prone he missed chunks of last season too.
 
Phelan: Phelan: "At the moment, Chris Smalling is going to be a bit longer in his recovery. He's had a setback, an injury, and he's progressing slowly. Jonny Evans will hopefully be available when we get back [from Europe]. He's back doing light work on the training ground. We hope he'll be available for the start of the season. He won't have had the games under his belt but if he's fit and progressing well we'll push him forward."
 
Brilliant news about Jonny. Sad news about Chris. Would be nice to have a lot less injuries than we did last season, hasn't started well but that doesn't really suggest much, we didn't have any injuries before the first game last season. So maybe we'll get all the injuries out of the way now.
 
Yeah very. I was expecting him to have a very good season, hopefully he's back a bit sooner.
 
Very disappointing and worrying if someone else gets injured, Berba could be kept as a CB at this rate, I joke. Hoping this is getting our annual defensive injury crisis out the way now.
 
Fergie: "The only one who has chance of coming back is Smalling. He has started training on the football side and that helps us particularly as we have problem at centre-back. Jones is still out."
 
Big boost. Think Smalling could become first choice this season if he stays fit and plays well when he gets a chance. Like a lovechild of Rio and Vidic. Got things to improve on though. Stoke, Arsenal and Chelsea after the international break gonna need more than just Rio and Evans.
 
Fantastic news. All 3 have the potential to do much better than they have done so far for us.

Along with the 4 United players that played the other night, these 3 could also start for England.
 
I always have liked Smalling over Phil Jones, who i find to be overrated.

Off Topic - United will soon have 7 starting out of the 11 in the starting England lineup. The Ex-Liverpool manager will have to keep SAF happy.
 
First time I've heard anyone call him overrated. A highly talented work in progress is more applicable. Smalling is a better defender at the moment but he's also 2 years older.
 
One of the best players around in his age group. Not many play 41 games for United at 19/20 years old. I think we played him too much last season and as a result his form dipped. Think he was playing with injury at times too. Don't think he'll play as much this season. When he does play it'll be interesting to see where he plays. He's a very talented footballer but doesn't have a definitive position right now. I don't think that's completely important right now but hopefully by the end of the season there will be signs of where his future lies.
 
Sideshow Bob said:
Why do you find Jones to be overrated?
Click to expand...

Some people have said he is as good as good or maybe even better than Duncan Edwards. I don't like those comparisons. He has to prove himself first.

What position does he play best? Even that isn't known properly as of now.

I'm not bashing him, I love Phil Jones, but i would maintain my thought. He is over-rated by many.
 
Who has said he is better than Duncan Edwards? No one as far as I know. He's been compared to Edwards by Bobby Charlton who I think is better positioned than pretty much anyone alive to make that comparison, but he certainly didn't claim he is better.

I've not come across anyone saying Jones is a finished project. He's a good player as it is but has a lot of room to improve, I'm pretty certain he'll end up in central defence and become a top player. Some of his plaudits last season went a bit over the top but people getting giddy about his potential doesn't make him overrated.
 
Fergie on Smalling: Chris Smalling isn't quite at full fitness but is making good progress.
 
Sir Alex: "Chris Smalling trained this morning with Warren Joyce's outfit. He's trained with them for a couple of days. It's non-contact for him at the moment. The encouraging thing is that he's getting closer."
 
Smalling starts. Great to have him back and hopefully his return means we won't see Carrick at centre back.
 
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