Jimy_Hills_Chin
Desperately wants to be ITK
The lad is still 20, he is incredibly mature and composed for that age.
Fergie's just called Smalling and Jones our "long-term partnership" so it looks like playing him in midfield and out wide is just about making his game more rounded and finding ways to give him game-time.
I wonder what Evans would make of that.
One thing is certain - Ferguson will leave a very good defence for his successor. Midfield and attack might not be as good when he quits but defence is basically certain to be in a good shape.
Are you kidding me? See Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Henriquez and Will Keane. Only 1 is over 25.
The only weak area will probably be midfield/wings.
Where's all this 'he's got a bit of John Terry about him' nonsense coming from? His playing style is so different to Terry's that it just seems like an insane reach.
Are you kidding me? See Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Henriquez and Will Keane. Only 1 is over 25.
The only weak area will probably be midfield/wings.
Assuming Fergie leaves in 3-4 years, Rooney will be over 30. Hernandez and Welbeck are good but not really the very top tier. feck knows how Henriquez and Keane are going to develop, we've had a dozen strikers who performed as well as Keane in reserves and didn't go on to have good careers at the top level. In defence quality is proven.
Where's all this 'he's got a bit of John Terry about him' nonsense coming from? His playing style is so different to Terry's that it just seems like an insane reach.
He is reminiscent at centre back of John Terry. That has always been the comparison made against Jones, many in the game see him as the future England captain. SAF has said that he is better at 20 than John Terry was and that he has more to his game, both points are correct in my opinion.
Smalling and Jones are possibly United and England's next big partnership. Very pleased to hear that.
I do like Evans, but I think Smalling and Jones are both potentially a class above. Evans' constant injuries do bug me as well. I don't think he's gone any 3 month period without one.
He is not dissimilar when he plays at centre back.
And to be honest if he becomes as good as terry in his prime I think we should all be very happy.
Comparing Jones to Terry is as lazy as all the Rio-Smalling comparisons. Sure, they sort of vaguely resemble each other but that's it really.
He is not dissimilar when he plays at centre back.
And to be honest if he becomes as good as terry in his prime I think we should all be very happy.
Yeah me too.
You don't become the captain of a Jose Mourinho, Capello teams if you're not world class. Terry at his peak was utterly world class.
Do you not think that Jones is a potential future England captain?
Besides, he's 20 years old. Why not talk about his playing style instead of crystal ball gazing about the England captaincy?
Yeah me too.
You don't become the captain of a Jose Mourinho, Capello teams if you're not world class. Terry at his peak was utterly world class.
To be fair, many in the game don't seem to know their arse from their face. Jones is only 20 and he has already shown a lot of raw capabilities that Terry never had. Pace, touch, passing, positioning (which needs to, and will improve). He does things like carry the ball into space, and play 1-2s in crucial attacking areas... Terry has never shown that level of technical ability.
Comparing Jones to Terry is as lazy as all the Rio-Smalling comparisons. Sure, they sort of vaguely resemble each other but that's it really.
Jones is more versatile and more rounded but when I think of Terry I think of his leadership, his no-nonsense approach and his last-ditch tackles - all of which are very much evident in Jones. I have no idea how you can say Terry's positioning wasn't good while Jones' is, Jones is constantly caught out of position and uses his recovery pace to make up for it. Terry never had that luxury and could never have been such a dominant figure in a team with the best goals conceded record (04/05) in the last 20 years without having excellent positional sense.
He was a leader for the u21s and for Blackburn. Alongside Smalling in the Euro's it was clear as day he had captaincy potential and he's gone to show glimpses of that throughout his United career.
Yes we've all heard the silly idea that anyone who makes last-ditch tackles is poor positionally and Makelele or Carvalho or Mourinho was actually the reason for their solidity. Neither are true and Terry was an excellent defender at one point. If it were true Stam and Vidic would be marked down in the same vein but we all know they were excellent defenders. Just because they don't read the game as well as Nesta or Rio does not mean they don't read the game well.
I don't understand what you were saying in the first place about Jones positioning in comparison to Terry's though. You said it was one of Jones' strengths that Terry never had, but then you go on to admit he has a similar problem with it and in fact does make so many last-ditch tackles which of course means he can't possibly have "good positioning"...
I haven't seen much in that regard from Jones that makes me think he'll be captain material but at this point in time it's neither here nor there.
Terry got continually caught out of position and outpaced by attacking players, hence the constant last ditch tackles.
Terry, more than any defender I've ever seen, got away with a massive number of fouls and handballs in the box.
I hope Jones never has to resort to serial cheating to accomplish what Terry had accomplished during his career.
I agree with your overall point as if you look at other club's you have the likes of Courtois, Varane, Alaba and others who look nailed-on to be top level performers but none of them have as many as us. We're very lucky to have De Gea, Rafael, Smalling and Jones while most of the other top clubs have just one, maybe two.
The Will Keane stuff is pure nonsense though.
Terry, more than any defender I've ever seen, got away with a massive number of fouls and handballs in the box.
I hope Jones never has to resort to serial cheating to accomplish what Terry had accomplished during his career.
Gentile, Montero, Samuel, Carvalho, Goikoetxea, Materazzi and all sorts of other world class defenders loved a foul.
Fouling is part of good defending to be honest. You do what it takes to stop goals going in your nets.
John Terry at his peak was better than any of the current crop of centre backs imo. We have a really crap bunch at the moment, pretty much no genuinely great centre backs around imo. If Jones turns out as good a stopper as Terry was I'd be very happy indeed.
He's been selected in the England U-21 squad for their friendly. Hodgson apparently keen on him to be part of the tournament in the summer as well. Bit bizarre, he should be part of the senior squad really.