Chris Smalling's Injury Problems This Season Are a Concern for Manchester United

Chris Smalling had been enjoying his longest run in the Manchester United team this season when he limped off in the 2-1 win against Southampton with what is thought to be a muscle tear, according to Tom Sheen of The Independent. The 25-year-old’s latest injury setback is a reminder of why he may never become a regular for club and country.

In August, Smalling played just 43 minutes at Sunderland before going off with a groin injury. He only missed two games but returned as an enforced substitute against Leicester City when Jonny Evans hobbled off with an ankle injury. Perhaps rushed back to action too soon, Smalling picked up a thigh injury in training days after that game and missed United’s following three matches.

He made an impressive return against Chelsea but got sent off a week later against Manchester City.

In and out of the team due to injury and suspension, it looked like he had found some consistency by playing three full games against Arsenal, Hull City and Stoke City. Yet after just 18 minutes against Southampton, he fell to a heap on the ground with his third muscular injury in a little over three months and cut a frustrated figure as he walked off the pitch.

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The most worrying aspect of Smalling’s injury record this season is that they are all muscular problems that have occurred within a reasonably short space of time. Looking ahead, it’s a cause for concern that he seems to get injured so frequently and so innocuously.

Whether or not Louis van Gaal will have to tailor Smalling’s training and workload in order to ensure that he doesn’t suffer further muscular problems in the future, it’s important that United work out why a player in his mid-20s appears so prone to injury.

This season, he played a game-and-a-half before getting injured in August. He played 60 minutes on his return in September and got injured in a training session a few days later. Back in action at the end of October, his latest injury means he was fit for just over six weeks before suffering another relapse.

For Smalling, this season is yet another in which he has struggled to play regularly. In 2012/13, he missed the first 10 and last eight Premier League games of the campaign, and his longest run of consecutive matches was a paltry four. Under David Moyes, he managed to play 12 games in a row but still missed a third of the season.

Vying for a starting spot against Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic as well as Phil Jones and Evans didn’t help his cause, since he spent some time on the bench even when he was fit. The point is, Smalling has yet to have a consistent run in the team. In the four seasons he’s been at United, he has started just 11, 14, 10 and 21 Premier League games.

With Ferdinand and Vidic now at different clubs, this season was a chance for Smalling to nail down a regular starting role in the team. He looked nervy in Van Gaal’s first few games in charge and was a disaster in the Manchester derby, but his form in recent weeks has generally been good. Yet just when it looked like he was becoming a key component in a new-look United side, he’s once again injured.

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When fully fit and in form, Smalling is a very accomplished defender. The problem is that injuries have heavily interrupted his four-and-a-half-year spell at United to the extent that it seems unlikely he will ever be a regular for both club and country.

At this moment, United and England are short on top-quality centre-backs. Right now is the time for Smalling to assert himself, before United sign defenders and other players oust him for a role in the England side.

Given that Jones and Evans are also susceptible to injuries, Van Gaal seemingly has no choice but to target centre-backs in the next two transfer windows. And Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka remain England’s go-to defensive pairing under Roy Hodgson.

If he can stay fit for a run of games as he did in the middle of last season, Smalling could have a bright future for United and England. But it’s reached the point now where injuries could dictate that more than his form.


All statistics via WhoScored.com and Squawka.com. 

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