The Alan Smith Appreciation Society Edition
=======The Alan Smith Appreciation Society Edition
>>>>>>> .r8797My dad is not a fan of Alan Smith. However, I became a fan whilst sitting in the stands at Old Trafford one Sunday evening. When United brought Arsenal’s unbeaten run to an end, Smith came off the bench and put in a typical hard challenge on some Arsenal lightweight (maybe even José Antonio “ex-Arsenal English weather hating can’t even take a tackle from Phil Nevill” Reyes) right in front of us. It was the sort of commitment that fans like.
Fergie was under the misapprehension that he could be turned into the next Roy Keane. That horror leg break put an end to that and when he made his recovery it was in midfield. He looked back to full strenght in that Roma game which enhanced my appreciation of him, but it was all a bit of a shroud.
He was essentially a poor man’s Mark Hughes, all the aggression but very little of the skill and finishing and it is no real surprise that he will soon be off (most likely to Newcastle if you believe the Manchester Evening News).
Here is Smith in a typically robust tackle with John Terry.
Wherever he goes, he will be liked and doesn’t leave United with bad feeling.
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August 5th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I too liked Smith’s influence in that wonderfull and most memorable of games. Was Gary Neville keyed up or what? It was tackles that Smith did whilst playing for Leeds that harmed my opinion of him. I had grown to like him more but Ferguson did not really give him a chance in his prefered poisition as striker. He always did have that Fowler and Van Nistelroy attribute of knowing where the net was and hitting it deliberatly. I wish him luck in the future and I always hate to loose players. Well, most of them anyway.