Abhranil Roy
There was no question that Chris Smalling was Manchester United’s most improved player last season, a pillar at the back, something that saw United’s defence concede the least amount of goals in the league last season, along with Tottenham Hotspurs. For this, Smalling has profusely thanked former United manager Louis van Gaal, for turning him into a reckless centre back who was voted as the Player’s Player Of The Year in the last term. Under Jose Mourinho, that trend is set to continue for sure, as the Portuguese has already confirmed on MUTV that he wants Smalling and Phil Jones to be his first choice centre-back pairings.
The Englishman has been gifted with pace and stature, and he has added good game reading skills to his repertoire. This is the reason why he and Daley Blind managed to silence the likes of Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku last year, and will be looking to repeat the performances in this campaign as well.
Jose Mourinho likes his defenders to be strong and bullish, as we saw how the likes of John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Varane, Kurt Zouma and others flourished under him. The former Fulham defender fills those requirements perfectly, and will be a key cog as the former Inter Milan manager looks to kick-start United’s stuttering life after Fergie’s departure. Moreover, not only does Chris Smalling possess quality in one on one situations, but he is also very comfortable on the ball, and so he can be relied to set up the counterattacks as well by playing the ball out to the correct player under pressure. So, in my opinion, he will only improve under Mourinho’s management.
