It’s been a bit of a whirlwind year or so for Chris Smalling.
Plucked from non-league football by Premier League Fulham would an amazing story in it’s own right, had he not gone and capped that by making his debut at the end of last season against Everton. After that came a European debut – when he impressed alongside Chris Baird in Sofia – and he looked similarly commanding against FC Basel at the Cottage in our most recent European outing. Smalling has also made a rapid rise up the international ranks, too, claiming England U19 honours as the national side reached the final of their World Cup and also being capped by Stuart Pearce for the U21s shortly afterwards.
The young man looks a real prospect. We speculated at West Ham that – if Hangeland did go anywhere (as the discussions over his new contract seemed to have been particularly drawn out) – Smalling could come in and continue his encouraging development. He seems to be really enjoying it too, as you might expect.
It’s going really well at the minute. I got off to a good start during pre-season playing a few games and now that I’ve been involved in Europe and on the bench for Premier League games it’s great.
Towards the end of last season I was getting on the bench more often and then to finish the season making my debut helped me come back strong in pre-season. I’ve gone from strength to strength since then. The European games have been a real buzz, playing in front of the big crowds in a big competition has been really good.
It’s a bit different to stepping out for the Reserve Team with just a few hundred in the crowd but playing in front of the big crowds and on TV drives you on. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind but I’m having a good time. There are going to be a lot of games between now and Christmas so I hope to get involved a bit more.
Interesting thoughts there Dan. I’d say that Smalling’s well ahead of say Zat Knight for his age in terms of development and first-team football’s the only place where he’ll improve (the sedate nature of reserve games makes it very difficult to know how players will cope when playing for the first team).
I should clarify I wasn’t suggesting that he should step into the team for Hughes or Hangeland but with Baird and him as back-up the defensive situation looks a lot more promising than it did. If Hangeland were to leave – and hopefully this morning’s reports make that unlikely – then I’d be putting Baird in unless/until we could attract a top quality replacement.
The point is that Smalling’s made a very impressive start (personally thought he was good in Sofia and solid against Basel) and hopefully some European games and maybe the FA Cup or the odd league game will give him a further taste of first team football.
I tend to side with Dan here. I think Dan is being overly critical when he says that Smalling is a few years away from being a Prem player. Ok a few years from being an in form Brede. But few are,including Brede. I think Smalling is improving with every game and looks a fine back up. Baird is clearly a good back up for Hughes.
You both make good points but Dan I think makes the better ones.
Ha ha, this thread gives the impression that I’m arguing with myself. While I do that regularly (at home and at work), Dan’s contributions have brightened up my day and I do hope he continues to comment.
I always find it interesting just how spectators can pick up how much effort a player’s putting in from a performance. He looked good to me against Basel and his development has been superb since we signed him. I’d say there’s a good chance that he’ll play against Roma given that we play Hull (on the Monday), Roma on the Thursday and then go to Manchester City, which will be a very tough game.
Giving youth players their head is always a difficult one. Only Coleman really went for it and look where those players are now. Green, Leacock, Rehman and Buari are hardly pulling up any trees.