Smalling: Injury pain is not going to stop me
Chris Smalling says that he is capable of playing while injured and that he got through Manchester United’s Premier League defeat by Chelsea in October with the help of two injections, having been criticised by Jose Mourinho for failing to go through the pain barrier for the team.
The 27-year-old defender is on England duty this week, where he addressed the criticisms, implied and otherwise, aimed at him by his manager over the season. There was another injury for Gareth Southgate’s squad as Jamie Vardy is out of Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Scotland and the friendly against France three days later with the Leicester City striker feeling pain in his quad during a training session at St George’s Park.
Vardy is not yet sure of the extent of the problem although it is not thought to be serious. He went back to Leicester for treatment.
In November, Mourinho said that Smalling “doesn’t feel that he can play 100 per cent without pain”, following a win over Swansea City, only for it later to emerge that the defender had broken a toe in an earlier game against Fenerbahce in the Europa League. In April, Mourinho said that Smalling and Phil Jones were “cautious” in their approach to declaring themselves fit for games.
Smalling said that he had played against Chelsea three days after the Fenerbahce game despite having a
toe broken in two places. “I had a couple of injections because I wanted to play that [Chelsea] game and obviously soon after that it got worse and that’s when I had to have the lay-off,” he said. “You always want to push yourself because you don’t want to let the fans down or the players. I’ve just had an unfortunate season with injuries but I’m fit now.”
He added: “I think in the Chelsea game I proved that I can play with the injections. To be honest, I don’t think any player is ever 100 per cent. There’s always something.”
Smalling said that his relationship with Mourinho had remained strong. “At the time I had done the injury and then I played on and there was obviously a break. Obviously he didn’t know the full extent at that time.
“You just keep playing until, literally, physically you can’t and that was the story with the break,” he added. “Once it was cleared up it was all good.
“All managers are demanding. It’s good when he shows that frustration because it shows he wants you back out on that pitch. If he wasn’t interested, I think he would just leave you alone and he wouldn’t say any of these things. So I take it as a positive, as a challenge to get back as quick as I can – which I would have done anyway, regardless of whatever was said.”