Chris Smalling to AS Roma?!?!

Originally Posted by Whiteside onside

You mean like in the two title winning sides he was in?

I wouldn’t call his title winning teams very good ones. Van Persie stood out a country mile.

We don't btw

But that’s the aim, no?

Originally Posted by Jammy Dodger

Not if you want a team which plays fast, attacking football.

I get that the role of centre backs has changed, but the priority shouldn’t; they still need to be solid defensively first and foremost. Hate to say it, but Smalling is a better defender than Lindelof. Even with McGuire, we’re still way too weak on crosses and set pieces.

Smalling is a far, far better defender than lindelof. Yes he's shite on the ball but lindelof is hardly Matthias £#%&!ing Sammer is he?

It was clear Lindelof was not a commanding presence in the box from his first pre-season tbh. That’s worrying because it’s fundamental and unlikely to improve much the way pure form can.

Let him go, we dont need him. Simple

Clean sheet, a goal and an assist today.

Phil Jones on the other hand .....

Best out and out defender of our whole squad. Prefer him and Maguire. I think Lindelöf has gone backwards this season.

Originally Posted by armchair

Best out and out defender of our whole squad. Prefer him and Maguire. I think Lindelöf has gone backwards this season.

He defends like a wet hanky.

Every single United player out on loan should have the opportunity to play themselves back into contention if their performances warrant it and they want back in.

shouldnt have been allowed to go theres 3 other defenders should have walked first and two played yesterday and the other in incapable of paying more then 2 games on the spin

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features...urn-manchester

Chris Smalling is in the form of his life at Roma – and could still return to Manchester United’s defence

Maguire to Roma to re-ignite his career?

He's tailor made for the Italian game. Keep having flashbacks of his entire body contorting to pass the ball 5 yards.

Originally Posted by Jethro

He's tailor made for the Italian game. Keep having flashbacks of his entire body contorting to pass the ball 5 yards.

Baffles me why people can’t see why he’s doing well there. Much slower pace of play, playing against mostly shite week in week out and in a league where climbing all over the striker is considered the norm.

I think he deserved more credit than he got here but he was as much of a liability as Jones.

Originally Posted by believe

Baffles me why people can’t see why he’s doing well there. Much slower pace of play, playing against mostly shite week in week out and in a league where climbing all over the striker is considered the norm.

I think he deserved more credit than he got here but he was as much of a liability as Jones.

He's better than Jones, lindelof and bailly

Originally Posted by BoJosRedArmy

He's better than Jones, lindelof and bailly

absolutely... still think he's on a par with Maguire.

Originally Posted by believe

Baffles me why people can’t see why he’s doing well there. Much slower pace of play, playing against mostly shite week in week out and in a league where climbing all over the striker is considered the norm.

I think he deserved more credit than he got here but he was as much of a liability as Jones.

He is doing well over there, because shock horror, he is actually a pretty good player when you strip away all the biases, toxicity and agendas of Utd and judge a player on their performances.

Easy to call it a farmers league now(and I agree it is a weaker level), but go back to when the move was made and there were Utd fans insisting he wouldn't get near the Roma team. Probably the same type of fans who ignore the weakness of Serie A when hyping up the likes of Skriniar and Koulibaly.

An obvious move was to pair Maguire with Smalling, could have disguised some of the former's' defensive issues with a significantly better defender than Lindelof. Of course by now we would probably be blaming Smalling for all the things that Maguire doesn't do well, a longer list than we should be comfortable with tbh, but why change the habits of years.

Right so smalling is brilliant now?

okey doke.

Originally Posted by Tiberian

He is doing well over there, because shock horror, he is actually a pretty good player when you strip away all the biases, toxicity and agendas of Utd and judge a player on their performances.

Easy to call it a farmers league now(and I agree it is a weaker level), but go back to when the move was made and there were Utd fans insisting he wouldn't get near the Roma team. Probably the same type of fans who ignore the weakness of Serie A when hyping up the likes of Skriniar and Koulibaly.

An obvious move was to pair Maguire with Smalling, could have disguised some of the former's' defensive issues with a significantly better defender than Lindelof. Of course by now we would probably be blaming Smalling for all the things that Maguire doesn't do well, a longer list than we should be comfortable with tbh, but why change the habits of years.

Originally Posted by atticusgrinch

Under intense pressure from the Fulham attackers and sliced the clearance. Nothing to see here.

Originally Posted by BoJosRedArmy

He's better than Jones, lindelof and bailly

As a defender yes. Its his all round ability that lets him down.
He slows the game down and cant seem to make the good pass to set a team up.

The team has to carry him cus his distribution is so bad. Nobody is expecting scholes from him. But if he was able to atleast pass 5-10 yards quickly with a one touch we would benefit so much.

Wouldnt be too much of an issue but seeing as our midfield has been a shit show for the last ten years, he is vastly exposed. If they sell jones and bailley, it would be worth keeping him as a 3rd/ 4th choice CB

Originally Posted by atticusgrinch

It's almost like watching him play 200 odd times for manchester united is a better indicator of his over all ability than a handful of games on loan in italy.