Chris Smalling | Match Performance Thread

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Great news. Surprised by it though. Hopefully does well, glad we don't have to play Carrick there anymore. Carrick's alright there but always best to have a proper CB.
 
Did well considering it was his first game. Thought he improved as the game wore on.
 
Sideshow Bob said:
Did well considering it was his first game. Thought he improved as the game wore on.
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Yeah. There were moments in the first half where you could tell he was finding his feet. Remember De Gea shouting at him a couplae of times. Only gave ball away once which is impressive for his first game in 6 months (?).
 
Did well for first game back. Hopefully he'll stay injury free for the rest of the season.
 
Goal apart Smalling did well. He seemed to win the majority of his aerial duels.
 
Made a mistake but bounced back and that was good to see. Think all defenders made mistakes today but on the whole did well. Talked about this a few weeks ago, need more consistency over the 90.
 
Think he did very well for his 2nd game in 6 months. Benteke has been a handful whenever I've seen him and for the most part he dealt with him well. Give him more games and he'll get even better.
 
Yeah, I have high hopes for Smalling too. He is potentially a top class defender.
 
Smalling and Evans our future centre back partnership or Smalling and Jones.
 
Agree with se7en. I think Jones' long term position is centre back, but I'm not 100% certain. He's still learning the ropes, but that's to be expected given his age. Looking forward to having him back.
 
Phil Jones is a tricky one. Massive potential but nobody seems to know where to play him. Ultimately I think centre back but maybe his energy and physicality means we play him in midfield at the moment.
 
I think people look at Jones and think he will the new Keane. I think Evans and Smalling will be the future CB partnership.
 
Jones definitely has the technical ability to play as a holding CM. He is made to play as a CM in a 4-2-3-1 as one of the deep CM's.

Smalling had a very solid game, and for the goal he just needed to realise the situation. 50-50 against a brute of a Striker in the corner of the field; all you need to do is let Benteke have it facing the sideline and go from there. Don't risk an all or nothing shoulder barge when it isn't required.
 
Just another learning experience for Smalling. He knows what he did wrong and hopefully he'll learn from it and won't do it again.
 
Was worried when he came on, his "mistake" last season that conceded the goal and he's looked a bit off the pace since coming back but he was brilliant. As was Jonny in the first half. I'd really like to see more of them together, Vidic back means they may not though. Rio's starting to have senior moments and got away with one today, moments of class still there though. Having both Rio and Vidic fit will be great, I don't think they should play together though. One of Rio/Vidic and one of Evans/Smalling.

Individually I'd prefer Evans and Vidic. But from what i've seen in the past, I think Smalling is better with Vidic and Evans is better with Rio.
 
I was worried every time he was a one on one situation in the box but he held firm and dealt with what came
 
As impressive a cameo of defending I've seen in a long time. Every question he was posed with whether it be in the air, one on one's, balls in behind he dealt with everything superbly. Takes a lot of character to produce a performance like that under the circumstances presented today.
 
To come into a game of that nature and play as well as he did shows just how composed he is for a young lad. Him and Evans are going to give us one of the best CB partnerships in the world soon.
 
Individually 2 of the best young CB's in Europe. Just need to develop as a pair. Experience of Vidic and Rio will be key until then.
 
Not been convinced by him at right back this season. Would be nice to have Rafa back soon.
 
Yep. Was pretty poor vs Newcastle and today. Did his job in the air but gets turned inside out by wingers.
 
Yeah, I agree, he's less convincing at right back. He's a limited attacker as well. He can do a job if absoulutely necessary, but both Rafael and Jones are way ahead of him. I thought he was lucky not to concede a penalty early in the game. I don't know who the West Brom player was, but Smalling seemed to make contact with the player rather than the ball. I've not seen a replay of the incident so I could be wrong.
 
That's because Long threw himself into Smalling, wasn't interested in the ball.

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Yeah that was an odd one, was miles away from the ball, ref didn't give a corner or a foul. Think the WBA player was looking for the pen. I'll have to see it again though.

Edit: Yeah Long was running away from the ball, probably trying to get in front of Smalling.
 
Thought he was very good for England, especially in the air. Sometimes lacks composure. Said in the Garay thread that if we sign him, Smalling could go on loan, I think he needs regular games, seems unlikely though.
 
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