29 May 2014 10:54:14
Just a word on our two England center backs. Can anyone see Jones and Smalling struggling for game time under van Gaal? By the looks of it he wants to bring in Indi who is a Stam / Vidic sort of player and I personally can see him being paired with Evans who is good on the ball. Jones isn't great on the ball in my opinion and Smalling is worse. Smalling I think out of everyone will get the worst deal and will play the least, a scrap between Jones and Evans to partner Indi?

{Ed004's Note - Personally I think Smalling is currently the best of the three. I think when people talk about Smalling the majority of the games they talk about are when he is playing rb. Though he needs to work on his passing ability}

1.) 29 May 2014
As a defender only, Smalling is the best for me too. What he lacks is composure on the ball and his passing let's him down. These days you need to be able to be tidy on the ball so that is a real issue for Smalling. Obviously playing him at RB was so he can improve on the ball. Evans is tidy on the ball, but isn't a great defender. Jones can do both, but he still needs to learn not to fly into every challenge like it's a matter of life and death, injuries are also an issue for Jones. If Smalling had Evans' composure he would be first choice for England and MU. But he will struggle unless he improves his weaknesses quickly.

{Ed004's Note - Who better to work on his technical side then LvG and hopefully Meulensteen}

2.) 29 May 2014
We know thought that van Gaal really likes a ball playing center back. Would he want to mold Smalling into one or go with Evans or Jones who do have greater ability on the ball. Out of the three I think Evans has the least potential but fits the system best.

3.) 29 May 2014
Smalling could improve a lot, Jones too could become a great defender providing he gets a more level head. Evans for me should not be first choice, but initially I think he might be while LVG works with the two England lads.

4.) 29 May 2014
29 May 2014 11:59:41
Martins Indi is a complete centre back, yes he is strong and reasonably quick good in the air and great in the tackle but he has very good vision and his passing is superb. He regulary finishes games with a passing completition in the high 80's sometimes in the low 90's. I think his pass completion rate for last season was nearly 89%.

5.) 29 May 2014
Shappy, I do think we will go for Indi if Hummels is difficult to achieve.

6.) 29 May 2014
I'd really like to see Jones/Smalling and Evans used to form the ongoing CB partnership. unless LvG can model Jones into a ball playing midfielder(!)

As long as we're adding decent quality in midfield and left back then I'd like to think we've got enough in the squad to get a CL place next year with just a couple of additions.

We may end up like Liverpool in that we concede too many; but as long as we revert back to the that dynamic powerful attacking forward play, then I'd settle for that at the moment.

7.) 30 May 2014
We mustn't discount Michael Keane: immense potential (though does remind me of Evans)

Not sure if Smalling will be used at RB, can see Valencia doing that job (in fact plenty of potential cover at RBI: Rafael, Valencia, Varela. )

Personally think Jones will be converted to DCM.