Smalling and Jones

These two being a permanent part of our defence since 2013 is one the reasons we have fallen so far to where we are now. People will argue with that and point to stats etc but they are just average players, you can get away with one next to a good defender but as soon as they're together comedy goals start to get conceded.
 
Let me put it this way, unless we somehow start playing like Barcelona and it doesn't matter who plays at CB (which is unlikely), we are not winning the title with Jones and Smalling at CB.
 
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Heinzesight said:
Every week, what are they doing in training to get picked!
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Rojo and Shaw started last week and played excellent so why the feck was Young and Jones (who single handedly cost us the game against Tottenham) back in the fold?

I knew as soon as I saw Jones, Smalling and Young at the back, we weren’t going to win. Imagine them starting at an elite club like Barca, Madrid, Bayern or even City... it’s fecking laughable that they’re still at Manchester United.

We should have been buying the likes of Mendy, Laporte and Otamendi. But no, we’re stuck with these three fecking buffoons every week. And our fans wonder why we can’t beat teams like Newcastle.
 
Kostov said:
Let me put it this way, unless we somehow start playing like Barcelona and it doesn't matter who plays at CB (which is unlikely), we are now winning the title with Jones and Smalling at CB.
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The CBs at Barca have to be good on the ball. So even then Smalling would stick out
 
I am going on a limb here they didnt do anything wrong .. The goal came after pogba didnt bother going for a header and Lingard and Lukaku didnt bother following their man into the box. . This for me has to go on our ever loved pogba and Martial .. Martial could have had a hattrick and Pogba was his normal self ..Jones and Smalling might be the odd couple but today wasnt one of those games.
 
It's no surprise that our best form under Mourinho was when we had Rojo and Bailly starting last Spring. Not only were we decent going forward, we were defensively solid. These two are a joke. In fairness, our entire backline is. Young and Valencia are past it.
 
Keeps It tidy said:
Because defending is our biggest issue.....
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It is. We play this slow build up type of football with 2 CB's that cannot play a forward pass. A little bit of pressure on the defence and Smallings has a brainfart. This brings instability and loss of confidence for us to commit players forward.
 
Big Ben Foster said:
To be fair they were both young and promising when Fergie retired. Can't really blame him for the two of them not developing.
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Of course, Fergie has escaped any kind of criticism among our fan base. The truth is the last couple of transfer windows under him basically buried us for a decade ahead.
Will never forgive him for selling Ronaldo and letting the glazers pocket the money while leaving us with shit. This is the difference why Barcelona fights for the CL every year and we fight for top 4.
 
I don't understand how come Jose is tolerating this much mediocrity. Is lindelof so bad that he cannot start ahead of smalling. Have to get rid of smalling. Cash on him and get a solid cb.
 
Where are the Smalling and Jones fanboys now? If Rojo took a dive like Smalling did, we’d never hear the fecking end of it.

Smalling SHOULD have conceded a penalty aswell but that’ll be swept under the carpet quickly. Unlike those two “definite red cards” from Rojo about 2 years ago which I’m still fecking hearing about.

Go on. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me Smalling and Jones are world class.
 
I dont know why Smalling is playing over Rojo. At least Rojo can build up from the back. Smalling just get press up and he can't do shit.
 
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Smalling sorry has to be dropped, ohh were missing Bailly? Jones and Rojo or Smalling and Rojo.
 
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arthurka said:
I am going on a limb here they didnt do anything wrong .. The goal came after pogba didnt bother going for a header and Lingard and Lukaku didnt bother following their man into the box. . This for me has to go on our ever loved pogba and Martial .. Martial could have had a hattrick and Pogba was his normal self ..Jones and Smalling might be the odd couple but today wasnt one of those games.
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Yeah, but this is not about us conceding a goal. It's about us attacking from the back. All teams concede goals through bad defending or mistakes. It's what you do after conceding that counts.
 
The OP in this thread says it all.

Our most abysmal centre back pairings who play better when paired with anyone except each other.

From the days of Vidic + Rio + Evra to this. How our defence has fallen.
 
Away from home, this pairing has been found out. Teams have gone from hoofballing against us away to putting on the press. I’d give Lindelof a turn.
 
Awful partnership. Both so bad on the ball and full of nerves. I thought Jones was OK today but Smalling was awful, but let's be hones they take it in turns to be rubbish. Just no consistency or solidness about them at all.
 
Has the penny finally dropped? These 2 are not reliable enough if you’re aiming to challenge in the league. We need 2 cbs and at least one fullback (if you’re giving Shaw a season) and 2 midfielders
 
Not their finest match for sure but they need more help defending than they get. The best CB in the world would have a job on to look good when the team leaves our CBs so exposed. Too many times our fullbacks arent tracking players and sometimes our CMs too. Then we have players like Lukaku coming back for set pieces and causing more problems than they help.
 
Bailly cannot come back quick enough. He has more composure and defensive ability in one toe than the two of them combined.
 
Need Bailly back badly. Jones was grand. Could have passed it better. But Smalling was poor. Cannot pass either.
 
golden_blunder said:
Has the penny finally dropped? These 2 are not reliable enough if you’re aiming to challenge in the league. We need 2 cbs and at least one fullback (if you’re giving Shaw a season) and 2 midfielders
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If it’s took this long for the penny to drop, I’d advise them to stop watching football now.
 
I really wonder what jose's reaction is in the dressing room after one of these clowns make fatal mistakes time n time again. Does he not point them out or what ? Has he lost his fire to not accept mediocrity ? His teams and his defenders specifically of the past were always top class. Surely he can see that these two are brainless defenders who will commit mistakes again n again. Somebody enlighten me ???
 
People are rightly questioning the structure of our side, especially in the attacking sense considering we haven't scored an away goal for 2 weeks now but that should be reserved for another thread.

Smalling and Jones just look very suspect to me, you want your CBs to be commanding yet they never exude the same confidence. Part of the reason as to why we make defending so easy for the opposition is because these two take so much time to release the ball, it allows them to get into shape. When we are behind it makes them even worse, Smalling just boots it forward while Jones will try to look for a pass but more often than not misplace it or overhit it.

They crumble whenever they are faced under pressure, Jones scored an OG 2 weeks ago by trying to clear the ball with his right foot when it should've been his left. Smalling took a pointless dive today and then steered the ball towards Ritchie from the that particular FK. They have been at this club for 8 and 7 years respectively and are still making these schoolboy errors. When is it going to be enough? There have been ton of threads about how we're never going to win the league with 'X' and 'Y' players but we're never winning this thing if these two are our starting CBs. Good attacking sides will expose them even further.
 
What does it say about Rojo and Lindelof that they aren't starting ahead of this pair, eh?

Bailly needs to come back. FAST.
 
We need to stop dragging Jones's name down with Smalling. One is really good, the other is a walking disaster.

Calamity Chris.
 
We are 3 key signings away still! RB, CB and another CM. Valencia fantastic servant for the club, but the time to replace him it nearing. Smalling out, new CB in, easy.
 
For goodness sake, stop blaming the CDs when it was the CMs who lost this match.
Pogba is cr*p! Admit it, stop blaming everyone else for the fact United played with 10 men today, like almost every match when the opposition put any pressure on 'precious' Pogba.
 
#07 said:
What does it say about Rojo and Lindelof that they aren't starting ahead of this pair, eh?

Bailly needs to come back. FAST.
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That’s Mourinho’s fault.

Rojo looked like twice the player either of them did last week against Huddersfield. He didn’t deserve to be dropped today.
 
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