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#2 Chris Smalling vs. Newcastle United
Despite making some decent development a couple of seasons ago, Chris Smalling has always been prone to errors, largely because of his tendency to switch off at key moments.
Coming into 2017/18 it looked like Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho had finally had enough of him, and would use Eric Bailly and Phil Jones as his main defensive partnership, but recently Smalling has found himself back in the starting line-up.
Against Newcastle, this proved to be hugely costly for United. For once, Smalling’s mistake wasn’t a defensive one either. For reasons only known by him, Smalling mis-controlled a pass from Phil Jones and as he bumbled past Jonjo Shelvey, he decided to take a dive.
The referee spotted the con instantly, booking Smalling and awarding Newcastle a free-kick – from which they promptly set up a wonderful goal.
United then attacked and attacked, but couldn’t find an equaliser and came away with a terrible loss – one that now has them in danger of missing out on the Champions League, if form is anything to go by.
Quite why Smalling chose to dive is a mystery but by the end of the season, this error could be looked back upon as the moment in which United’s season began to go wrong.
