Manchester United must be feeling quietly confident ahead of the new Premier League season.

The Red Devils look to have consolidated under Jose Mourinho and have secured some promising business in the transfer window. The club looks set for its first real title challenge since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

Said hopes have been fostered by United’s recent pre-season campaign. A narrow defeat to Barcelona is the only blot on their otherwise immaculate copybook.

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Mourinho’s men have claimed the scalps of Manchester City and Real Madrid already this summer, after all. Furthermore, they concluded their preparation with a hard-fought victory over Sampdoria in Dublin.

The Italians were no pushovers and the Red Devils had to battle their way to a 2-1 win. Henrikh Mkhitaryan opened the scoring with a lightning fast counterattack, heading home after a one-two with Matteo Darmian.

Juan Mata then secured the result in the 81st minute, slotting home from an Anthony Martial pass.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for United with a Sampdoria goal sandwiched between the aforementioned strikes. Dennis Praet gave Mourinho a headache with an equalising goal just after the hour mark.

The man at fault? Chris Smalling.

Well, United fans have been somewhat harsh to the English defender but it was his weak clearance that teed up Praet’s edge-of-the-box strike. You can see the goal below:

It was the low point of a generally disappointing performance from the 27-year-old. Daley Blind and Ashley Young also came in for criticism but Smalling emerged as the common fall guy.

Look at some of the Twitter reaction below:

Smalling has been something of an antithesis to United’s general form in pre-season. Mourinho has been generous to him in terms of game time yet he has looked inconsistent across numerous fixtures.

It’s hard to forget his comical slip against Manchester City and Neymar ran him ragged in the States. And yet the prospect of an easier clash with Sampdoria clearly didn’t remedy the situation.

The 27-year-old may now have genuine fears over his future in the starting XI, worries that were already present upon the arrival of Victor Lindelof for £40 million.

He may come in for unfairly harsh criticism at times but the evidence is adding up and Smalling needs to knuckle down. Period.

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