Chris Smalling to leave in the summer?

Sideshow Bob

Sideshow Bob

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Think the reality is it’s time to move on from both of them agree he’s the better of the two but neither are good enough for where we want to be. If we can squeeze some decent wedge out of Everton then I’m happy to see him go.

If Utd want to bring in another CB then both of the chuckle brothers probably need to go but I’m not sure we are in the market for a CB this summer.
 
We've just given Rojo a new contract to 2021 and also surely we are going to give Lindelof a proper chance at some point.

I think long term we will probably need to sign a centre back but not sure it's the priority in the summer, I guess if Alderwiereld is available in the summer at a reasonable price that could change things.
 
There is no way Jose is not going to sign a CB.

He doesn't trust Jones and Smalling which effects our playing style.

Defo 1 or both will be sold and replaced.
 
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us go into next season without a new centre back but we have no idea what his plans are he can't sign another one without clearing out at least 2 of his senior group and so far the only thing Mourinho has said transfer wise is he won't be signing any attacking players as he's happy with what he has... do we believe that though?

I think if he can only sell 1 he will probably have to stick with what he has if he can sell both them he has room to bring in 1 more and we should only be looking to bring in 1 more if he's going to be the first name on the team sheet when it comes to CB.
 
Jose, historically, has built his teams from the back. Defence has been the important part of his teams, I'm surprised he has left it this long to sort it out. I'd guess he will be in the market for a CB and a LB and he will ship out Jones and Smalling and Shaw.
 
I think when he arrived at Utd he had a lot of defensive players the squad was stock full of them but where it was really lacking was in attacking areas we struggled with goals under LVG so I think he knew he had to get the goals back in the team to keep the fans onside. That didn't really happen last season but this season the goal count has been up but I think he's reached tipping point with his defensive options. It would see like he's made his mind up on a lot of them now Darmian, Blind, Smalling & Jones all seem to be heading to the exit door. Lindelof has started to settle in and it's clear he trusts Bailly & Rojo but they've had some quite serious injury problems.

I think we need to sort the full back situation out on both sides Valencia has done a good job on the right for the last 3 years but you can see father time is catching up to him and it's the same with Young on the left so I think Utd need new first choice options on both sides at full back as it's clear Darmian/Blind aren't up to the job. The full backs are so important now not just to defending but more so to how your team attacks and Utd's current options can't handle the recovery runs required to get back into defensive position which means we attack with little to no width and teams can easily pen us in.
 
Yes you can see from City this year to last year the difference the full backs have made to their play and Jose will be very aware of this. As you say Valencia isn't really cutting it anymore so you never know, he may go mental and get a rb in too.
I'd be happy with Rojo and Bailly as our cb pairing, both are Jose type players that will run thru brick walls, the only drawback is Rojo likes to hoof the ball out of defence at any opportunity. I'd like to see us playing it out with speed which Lindelof is capable of so fingers crossed he is hits the ground running next season.
 
I think he will have a summer concentrating on the defence and midfield. He’s already stated he’s well stocked in the attacking department.

It’s plain to see that players like Smalling, Jones, Young, Valencia etc are either not good enough or are aging. I’ve been saying for years that Smalling or Jones will be out of the door in the summer and it never happens, so who knows. I would keep Smalling over Jones if it was a fight between the two, in the past I’ve said Jones but what’s the point keeping someone who is constantly getting injuries! Smalling is good but not great and that’s what we need to build with. Bailly still looks raw but has the potential to be great, Smalling is at the level he will always be.

If Alderweireld was available for a reasonable price like jsp said about then we have to go for it. We need a proper left back because Young is admirable there but not what we need in the long term and Shaw looks done.
 
As it stands in terms of centre backs this is how I think Mourinho ranks them

1 ~ Bailly
2 ~ Rojo
3 ~ Lindelof
4 ~ Smalling
5 ~ Jones.

I'd say Lindelof is 3 in terms of his future plans even if currently he's not really playing, that Spurs performance felt a bit last straw for Phil Jones especially with him getting injured again shortly after that. Rojo is up their because he got a new deal.

If we are going into the market then the guy we buy should be a guy who we rate as better than Bailly there's no point in us buying a 3rd or 4th choice because we've got options we need a guy who is ready to step straight in the team and nail down a starting spot.

I'd be over the moon with someone like Alderwiereld coming in would be pricey but it's probably what we need sell Smalling & Jones and look to bed Lindelof in properly next season and let Tuenzebe get a season out on loan.
 
For me its
1. Bailly
2. Rojo
3. Lindelof
4. Jones
5. Tuanzebe
6. Ro-Shaun Williams
7. David May from the MUTV studio
8. Rachel Riley
9. Eamonn Holmes
10. Chris Smalling

I think that if there is even a shred of interest from someone we need to pounce and get a sale done.

It bugs me when people say "Chris Smalling has had a good game tonight." He hasn't. His just had a good game compared to his standards. And his standards are nowhere near what a Manchester United centre back should be. We are talking about a guy thats played close to 200 times for United and been at the club for 8 years now. Based on those figures we should be talking about a top top player. His not been good enough for a long time.

Quick game for everyone put these names in order of who you would rather stick next to Eric Bailly right now, If they were all in their United prime. Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Chris Smalling, Johnny Evans, Mikael Silvestre, Henning Berg, Ronny Johnson. Actually stick Laurent Blanc in there for a laugh as well. See what order we get.
 
He can't even get in the England squad.... not team, squad! that says enough
 
Are you serious lol?
Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Chris Smalling, Johnny Evans, Mikael Silvestre, Henning Berg, Ronny Johnson, Laurent Blanc.

They were all pretty poor but I'd say Berg and Johnson were slightly better than the rest. Blanc was past it by the time he came but he was pretty decent in his prime.
 
That's exactly what i'm saying. Your putting Berg and Johnson ahead of Smalling. Cant argue with that. I'd still personally put O'Shea and Evans ahead of Smalling as well. And thats exactly where we are at back there at the minute. Playing a guy who we dont rate ahead of players like that. No wonder DDG has his work cut out week in week out.
 
We are only playing him due to numerous injuries to Jones (who else!), Rojo (again) and Bailly (again). If all 5 CB's were fit he'd be way down the pecking order as you say. I'd actually be looking on the other side of things, thinking we are lucky we had him to cover else we'd have been right in the dog doo. At the end of the day we are second in the league so something has been working somewhere for him.
 
People know my thoughts on Smalling. To put things in to perspective one of my best mates is an Everton season ticket holder I mentioned the Smalling link to him last night and his response ‘oh f*** off’. Even they don’t want him.

Guys done a good job at times but we need to be playing someone better in that position. I’m hoping it’s Lindelof and he’ll come good.

Personally don’t think you need more than 4 CB’s so I’d be going Bailly Lindeof Rojo + 1 other and letting both him and Jones go in the summer
 
If you're playing a back 4 which we seem to be doing now after experiments with the back 3 weren't great then I think you need 2 top quality CB's you then want a good 3rd choice then the 4th choice can be a bit of a squad filler and then 5th choice is normally youth team.

I'll be totally honest I don't think any of our CB options have convinced me as being top quality yet, Bailly has something about him but he makes mistakes and uses his athleticism to get himself out of trouble to often which is a similar trait to Smalling but Bailly is much more comfortable on the ball. He reminds me a bit of Sakho at Liverpool in that respect.

Smalling has been fine at a time when Utd have been a team competing to finish 4th when we were going for league titles he was not good enough which is why he was rarely trusted for big games by Fergie. He has reached a level which is admirable but he isn't going to take us up to the next level we want to be at it's the same with a lot of guys at the club right now they are players good enough for teams who finish 4th-7th.

I think Smalling would do a great job at Everton he's better than all their current CB options but if Everton want to close the gap to the top 6 next season he might help with that as he's pretty reliable most of the time but has the odd howler really that is his level.
 
maxt7 said:
Quick game for everyone put these names in order of who you would rather stick next to Eric Bailly right now, If they were all in their United prime. Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Chris Smalling, Johnny Evans, Mikael Silvestre, Henning Berg, Ronny Johnson. Actually stick Laurent Blanc in there for a laugh as well. See what order we get.
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Ronny Johnsen was a beast on his day! And I always rated Henning Berg very highly.

We need to get some more Skandinavian talent in now we’ve lost Ibra. I remember a time when most teams had at least a Norwegian or a Swede in their line ups.
 
I still think Lindelof has everything to become a great united player.

If we had him, Bailly, one of Varane/Alderweireld and Rojo I'd be more than happy. Smalling and Jones it's time to cash in.
 
SuperRash said:
Ronny Johnsen was a beast on his day! And I always rated Henning Berg very highly.

We need to get some more Skandinavian talent in now we’ve lost Ibra. I remember a time when most teams had at least a Norwegian or a Swede in their line ups.
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Skandi's aren't as good as they once were, outside of Lindelof, Guidetti, Eriksen, Bendtner and Josh King, can you name me a current Sweden, Denmark, Norway or Finland International? Iceland team is only playing so well as a sum of parts, not individual.
IDFD said:
Hmm - Lindelof mate.
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Agreed. But he's not a staple of the side, yet. I do kinda agree with @SuperRash but the players from there no longer appear to be as successful.

That appears to be a running theme in the Northern European states barring Germany (although an argument they are central). The systems that worked 20 years ago are Jo longer working. Think the German Model needs adopting across all countries but there is a political minefield in that!
 
the nuts named eric said:
That appears to be a running theme in the Northern European states barring Germany (although an argument they are central). The systems that worked 20 years ago are Jo longer working. Think the German Model needs adopting across all countries but there is a political minefield in that!
Click to expand...

Belgium has some good players, if you're including Germany. In fact if you are including German you should include France. Scandinavia I wouldn't say have ever been known to produce great sides, just the odd gem of a player.
 
I think Alderweireld is a big possibility and would be a good fit. I think i've read he has a pretty low release clause? Umtiti is another being talked about.

I'd let him and Jones go and bring a big player in and put more faith in Fosu-Mensah to cover at CB and RB while allowing Tuanzebe a full season on loan.
 

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