Chris Smalling Is Getting Absolutely Slaughtered By Manchester United Supporters

Manchester United were defeated by Newcastle earlier today and one player in particular seems to be taking the brunt of the criticism from fans.

Matt Richie's second-half goal was enough to seal a 1-0 victory for the Magpies and help them stave off any fears of a relegation dogfight, for one more weekend at least.

The result leaves United a whopping 16 points behind Premier League leaders and bitter rivals Man City, and a lot of supporters are pointing the finger of blame firmly at Chris Smalling.

The centre-back didn't cover himself in glory for Newcastle's goal after failing to win an aerial challenge in the build-up and his general form this season hasn't been much to write home about.

In fact, Chris Smalling did not win a successful tackle in the entire match against Newcastle.

All in all, there's plenty of fans who are pretty raging with Smalling today, and if he's wise he'll stay off Twitter for 24 hours at least.

Well that didn't go down very well, did it.

What do you think of the reaction, and Smalling's performance in general at St James' park?

This story was first featured on talkingbaws.com - simple, shareable sport. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Topics: Football News, newcastle, Football, Manchester United, Chris Smalling, Premier League

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_