‘The feel-good factor is back
Chris Smalling tells James Ducker about the United revival and his work mentoring pupils
Chris Smalling did not even need to look as far as the Old Trafford stands to appreciate that Manchester United had become a hard watch in the post-sir Alex Ferguson landscape. It was, he says, written on the faces of his friends and family.
Yet the sense of anticipation and excitement that was synonymous with watching United is being re-established under the temporary stewardship of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, according to Smalling, the players – like the fans – feel just as liberated.
“I definitely get that,” the United defender says. “Even my own friends and family, and people who stop you in the street, there is that feel-good factor. It’s going through the team and translates to the fans.”
Solskjaer’s superb start was halted on Tuesday when Paris St- Germain inflicted his first defeat in 12 matches, a reminder that United still have a way to go to emerge from the troubles of the David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho reigns. But Monday’s trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in the FA Cup fifth round offers the perfect chance to bounce back against a side smarting from a 6-0 trouncing at Manchester City.
“I think a wounded animal can be dangerous opposition but we just lost a game as well so they’ll be wary of that, too,” Smalling says. “I watched [the City game]. Was it a 6-0 game? I don’t know, but they [City] were clinical and we’ll watch it, dissect it and see how we can hurt Chelsea. Monday is a huge game now. PSG was obviously a disappointment but we’ve got some big games to relish.”
Relish is the right word. United no longer look cowed, a consequence, in part, of a mindset change in which the focus is once again on where they can hurt teams, rather than obsessing over opponents’ strengths.
“Obviously, there has been a big turnaround,” Smalling says. “You can sense that if you give us a lot of chances, we’ll score a lot of goals, and that’s the fear factor.
“PSG is that step up in the Champions League that we need consistency for. But we’re definitely feeling that Old Trafford fear factor again and teams come here now where they’re maybe relying on getting a draw or a lucky result, whereas before they maybe had more hope. You do see the difference in terms of our high press now. It goes hand in hand with confidence. No matter who we’re playing, we want to press high and get after them and use the pace we’ve got up front.”
Smalling has been cultivating a feel-good factor of a different kind this week. He has become a patron of Football Beyond Borders and will be tasked with leading the expansion of the Brixton-based education charity in the NorthWest. The starting point came with a visit this week to Salford Academy, one of 45 schools the FBB is partnering in a bid to inspire disengaged or disruptive students through football, in the hope of addressing worsening exclusion rates in schools.
Smalling can relate to many of the disadvantaged children he is now trying to help. Having lost his father at a young age, he was raised by his mother, dependent on council housing, surviving mostly off frozen foods and was dropped by his local team at 16 because he could not afford the bus fares to and from training. With a career in professional football looking a “distant dream”, Smalling recognised the need to work hard in school and was just five weeks from going to Loughborough University to study economics before Fulham plucked him from non-league Maidstone with the offer of a professional contract.