Manchester United’s Future Captain or Arsenal’s Frenchman: Who Comes Out on Top?

Chris Smalling, or the person who has modernized to become known as Mike Smalling, quite popularly, has been a revelation. Comparisons to watersheds moments such as Lionel Messi’s and Cristiano Ronaldo’s debuts have become widespread. But the watershed moment in Mike’s career wasn’t so promising, it was something disastrous and he was begun to be deemed as ‘sh**e’ and ‘useless’. That sending off in the Manchester derby is something the 25-year-old Englishman has used to achieve far better things and prove people wrong.

On the other hand, there’s an ever reliable and ever solid Laurent Koscielny. Despite some niggling injuries, the Frenchman has stood tall and has been very consistent. He, alongside Per Mertesacker, has been a brick wall in the Arsenal defense. There’s been a lot of debate surrounding who’s been the better center back this season and here, we compare them.

Smalling has been injury free this season, quite surprisingly so, while Koscielny has missed two games due to niggles. Smalling has made 12 appearances while the Frenchman has appeared 10 times and has been just as impressive. Koscielny has been more productive than Smalling, when it comes to goals, scoring twice in the Premier League. Smalling has an assist while Koscielny doesn’t

In terms of defensive performances, Smalling has made 76 clearances, as compared to Koscielny’s 63. Smalling is rightly a ball playing defender yet a no-nonsense one too. Smalling has won 19 tackles, more than Koscielny’s 11. Smalling was brilliant up against the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Christian Benteke during United’s clashes against Everton and Liverpool respectively.

Smalling edges Koscielny when it comes to total aerial duels won, but Koscielny comes out on top in terms of its percentage. Smalling makes more tackles and heads into more of them than Koscielny, but the Frenchman comes out on top in them more often than the young Englishman. Koscielny has made far more interceptions than Smalling, making a total of 43 of them, as compared to Smalling’s tally of 26. The 30-year-old has more blocks too. The tally is 8 to 4, with Koscielny’s tally exceeding that of Smalling by 4.

Both have lost an equal amount of tackles- 18. Meaning that the competition is stiffer than we could’ve expected. But the difference lies in age and the circumstances under which this kind of performances have come in. Smalling has improved after learning his lessons from his sending off at Etihad and has been fantastic not just this season but was quite good during the fag end of last season too. He’s just 25 and has been as solid as a 30 year Laurent Koscielny.

It’s the first time that Smalling is grabbing so much limelight, and you’ve got to appreciate his tendency to not give up and prove people wrong, and become arguably the best English defender, despite of a set back. Koscielny is 30, five years elder and has been quite a bit like this for some years now. But Smalling has been a revelation. He had to endure a lot during his injury prone career prior to this glorious phase. United fans wanted him sold and was being deemed too inconsistent and injury prone to play for United, who needed a more steady defense under David Moyes and last season too.

Players like Nicolas Otamendi and Sergio Ramos were being linked to the club, bringing to the fore how much confidence Louis van Gaal had in the current United back line. But he backed Smalling to great effect. He has played a pivotal part in making Chris Smalling what was promised out of him, when Sir Alex snapped him up from Fulham 5 years ago. And I’d say Smalling just shades it.