Chris Smalling
Opening up Old Trafford Clearly Vidić and Ferdinand aren’t the only leaders among Manchester United’s playing staff. Despite the oft-spouted cliché that Fergie could take over at any Premier League side and instantly improve their results in a season, one of the United’s manager’s greatest feats is to have created a longstanding dressing room code of selfgoverning professionalism. The club’s senior players act as role models to the younger players, who follow their example – later to become the standard-bearers of similar habits in the future. “It’s amazing to watch how Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes look after themselves,” says Smalling. “They do proper stretching with a physio, before and after training. They really look after themselves. It’s something just to watch them in training. Paul Scholes gives his 38 | March 15 2013 |
full commitment, whether it’s playing at Old Trafford on a Saturday or playing five-a-side in training. It’s an example to us to make sure that we train as hard as we play.” Smalling isn’t adverse to getting involved in the old ‘downward-facing dog’ with Giggs either, admitting that he’s one of the United players who utilise yoga. “You might think yoga is something the older players do, but there’s quite a few of us who do it now,” he reveals. “The sessions really help with your core and your stabilisation. To see someone like Ryan getting benefits from it, you just try and pick up on it. The longevity of his career is incredible, and I want to learn from that.” Despite his initial trepidation on meeting Sir Alex Ferguson, one idea Smalling is quick to quash is the theory that United players tremble at the sight of their boss roaming furiously down the corridor: “It’s a bit of a myth that he rants and raves, and I think there are a lot of players who’ve worked with him who would give that statement. He’s very much a family man and he looks after his players. If you have faith in him and what he’s teaching you, he’ll put faith in you.” Reluctant to throw our well-thumbed big book of football journalism clichés in the bin just yet, however, Sport asks whether Smalling has at least been on the warm end of the renowned hairdryer treatment. “Not on a personal one-to-one,” he muses. “But on a team level, we’ve had some games where it’s not been working out, and at half-time he’s given us a rollicking. It’s not so much intimidating, it’s more that if it happens you know you’re not doing your job. Our aim is to make sure that it doesn’t get to that stage.”
Red future After missing out on Euro 2012 and the start of this season through injury, Smalling admits that he’s just glad to be fit and ready again.
“He’s very much a family man and he looks after his players. If you have faith in him and what he’s teaching you, he’ll put faith in you” “We’re talking about training, but there’s nothing worse than missing football from being injured,” he says. “It was a massive disappointment not being at the Euros, because I’d worked really hard to try and be involved. I picked up an injury, then got another one in pre-season, so my season didn’t get really get started until November. It just summed up that period of my career. Hopefully, touch wood, I’m over that now and ready for the rest of this season.” Being part of the same squad as Vidic and Ferdinand may be a great learning experience, but the presence of Jonny Evans and Phil Jones means United have five international central defenders competing for two regular spots. Smalling has been asked to play at right-back at times, but firmly insists he’s “under no illusions as to the position I’ll hopefully finish up in”. Fortunately, at just 23, Smalling’s prime as a central defender is still ahead of him. He’s also aware of the areas he’d like to improve. “I want to make sure I’m reading the game better and picking up positions,” he says. “I’m also working on quick feet: making sure that when you come up against very nimble wingers or strikers, you can turn quickly and react fast. Playing against the players I do every day in training is great practice for that, but I’m just trying to pick up on different aspects, to keep improving and progressing. I’m ready to kick on.” Alex Reid @otheralexreid
Chris Smalling was speaking at the launch of The English Schools’ FA partnership with The Coaching Manual, which provides coaching sessions from the professional game to teachers, students and grassroots clubs. Visit TheCoachingManual.com for more information
Clive Mason/Getty Images, Alex Livesey/Getty Images
the smaller Smalling was given as a keen youngster? “To communicate,” he says firmly. “That was the main one, because as I was growing up I was sometimes a quiet lad. So I had to learn the importance of always talking to the teammates around you to keep them in their position, and to keep yourself alert as well. Concentration, especially as a defender, is crucial. Every manager, even Sir Alex Ferguson, talks about concentration and communication.” Ferguson once famously described Tony Adams as a Manchester United player in the wrong shirt, and Smalling shares his manager’s high opinion of the former Arsenal captain – naming Adams as a footballer he admired as a young centre back. “It was the leadership of Tony Adams I looked up to,” he says. “Watching TV, you can’t always see how much a defender talks, but even on TV you could sense that he was a real leader. Of course, Rio [Ferdinand] and [Nemanja] Vidić are the guys I learn from as a defender now. They really are among the world’s best, and training with them each day is a real positive. I’m making sure I make full use of it for as long as I can.”