Chris Smalling Risking Man United Future with Ridiculous Red Card vs. Man City

Chris Smalling's dismissal in the Manchester derby was ridiculous. It was entirely avoidable, and it cost his team the chance to compete with Manchester City. 

There's a lot you can't control during a football match. Sometimes players and teams have off days. But you can't defend a lack of effort or stupidity. And Smalling was guilty of the second.

His first yellow card for impeding Joe Hart as he tried to kick the ball out was daft. To pick up a second eight minutes later for lunging in on James Milner in an area of the pitch that made it totally unnecessary was criminal.

It wasn't even a case of a player losing his head in the heat of a derby. It wasn't a rush of blood culminating in a rash challenge that chopped someone in half. It was two soft bookings. 

As Louis van Gaal said after the match, the England defender had simply been "stupid":

The sending off is not one of those things. As a player you have to control your aggression.

I didn’t see the first yellow but the second you know as a player you have a yellow, so you have to handle it differently.

I said that to the players. In the derby you have to be careful. The second yellow card was stupid.

In the short term, Smalling's red card cost his team the game. Even more frustrating for United fans was the fact that United matched City in their own backyard for large periods but were denied the chance to see if they could beat them.

In the long term, however, Smalling's decisions at the Etihad Stadium could have more dire consequences. This should have been the season he nailed down a regular place with club and country.

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic left a void at Old Trafford. The fact that Phil Jagielka struggled at the World Cup means there's still a gap in England's back four as well. But after three months of the new season, Smalling hasn't done anything to convince Van Gaal or Roy Hodgson he's the man for the job.

Centre-half is becoming a massive issue for Van Gaal. But when he sits down to decide whether he needs a new centre-back in January or next summer, the memory of Smalling's stupidity in the derby will do nothing for the former Fulham defender.

Smalling, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans, Marcos Rojo, Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair are all still fighting it out to be Van Gaal's first choice. Because of injuries and suspensions, no one is sure of his place yet.

But Smalling's red card against Manchester City, especially the manner of it, will not have impressed the Dutchman. He's looking for players he can rely on, players who are willing to buy into his philosophy. 

He's already shown he's willing to cast off the ones he doesn't feel he can trust. Smalling was given a chance against Manchester City to prove he's worthy of a future at Old Trafford. He might not get too many more.