They really did look excellent for a while together alright. And yes, fitness issues aside, he's better than Smalling.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 25
- Clean sheets
- 15
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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He had a great game. Still makes some silly mental errors that currently prevent him from being World Class. Gets those in order and stays fit and he's a excellent CB. Those are big ifs though.
Pft, snitch.
Interesting analogy. To be fair to Phil, his quality as a defender has been progressing fine. There's not many elements to his game that still need improving. And he's still young for the position he plays. It's all about staying fit now. Maybe he can look a bit closer to home for someone to emulate. Wes Brown had a bit of a reputation for lots of niggling injuries but went four straight seasons barely missing a game when he was the age Jones is now.
I think he will get better and better the older he gets. He's missed a lot of football with injuries but as he matures and relies less on his pace he will improve.
Mourinho seems to be a big fan doesn't he?
Really like Jones. Please stay fit atleast till the next international break.
Since when does Sergio Ramos become an "immense central defender"?
since he won back to back champions league trophies and won the league aswell as winning other multiple trophies as the main staple of Madrids defense
Crucial goals and playing for such a dominant side mask his casual brain farts in defense. Personally i agree with your view and don't rate him as a defender, he'll go together with Pique as two of the most decorated defenders in history, but judged as a defenders i don't rate them as high as Rio, Terry, Nesta etc.
Jones on the other hand
Just stay fit Phil, the potential was always there!Yeah I've said the same in the past. I wish footballers would lay off the weights a bit(unless it was actually a growth spurt).
He was already strong enough back then, the additional bulk he's added since has taken the edge off that crazy pace.
Me too, until he inevitably a) gets injured b) injures one of his teammates. Shame as he's one of our best defenders when fit.
He looked composed and solid against west ham, that was impressive given his injuries and time out of the team, he is a thinker, he uses the ball well and he is very brave, he needs to improve his concentration and positioning at the same time, that comes with experience, and obviously stay clear of injuries so it can develop, then we could have a rock solid warrior but the doubt about the injuries remains.
I ink he is slower now after all those injuries than he was first with us. Can't recall specific case, but last season, I remembered him got outpaced a couple times which he couldn't show the recovery pace he used to have.
One good thing about Jones is that he doesn't need too much time to get back into rhythm when he comes back from injury. He slots right back in without a fuss. So we can atleast depend on him when he is fit to give a decent performance.
I would be inclined to agree but I can't think of any specific instances either. He most likely isn't as quick as he was when he first joined due to his chronic injury woes but he's still deceptively quick for someone with his build.
Great pre-season and start. Stating the obvious, he needs to stay injury free which will be about his decision making. On Sunday he went into this tackle sliding on the floor playing ball and man, and my first thought was although it was a crowd pleaser....typically that's why he gets injured. He needs to play with his head more, and less with his heart. I think he still has the potential to be a top draw CB.
Every manager managers he's played under has been a big fan. Fergie in his last few years practically slotted him into any position he can find in the team.
Looks like he is coach's pet. Whenever he was fit he played under any manager.
So big a fan in fact, that 4 months ago he was railing against Jones for not playing injured.
Iirc Jones was one he praised for playing injured?
Ok you are right it seems. He praised him early in the season and then criticized towards the end.
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Jones is certainly very fast, but to be fair, Bale definitely slows up in order to get his shot/cross off.You only noticed that yesterday?!
That's Gareth Bale, by the way. Playing for Spurs.
Noticed a lot of Smalling 'hate' off the back of a good Jones performance. The two are forever coupled, just like Martial and Rashford are, Rooney and Ronaldo were etc.
I imagine Smalling will soon be turning in top performances (again) and will draw praise at Jones' expense. I will certainly cede that Jones is definitely better on the ball, that can't be denied.
I imagine Smalling will soon be turning in top performances (again) and will draw praise at Jones' expense. I will certainly cede that Jones is definitely better on the ball, that can't be denied.
Yeah, true. I was mainly impressed by how much ground he gained on the other covering defenders.
If they both would have been injury free i still Jones would have been the better player.
Quite possibly, which still doesn't make Smalling poor anyway.
Personally, I think Smalling is our best 'defender'. If he were better on the ball, I don't think there would be much doubt. He certainly gives me the most confidence when seeing his name on the teamsheet and facing a tough striker.
At the beginning of last season you could be forgiven for thinking both Jones and Rojo were perhaps 'drinking in the last chance saloon' at OT, but they both 'came good' and at one time formed a solid, if not spectacular CB partnership, until the inevitable 'injury-hoodoo' struck again.
Rojo's still injured, but for me the frontrunners for the CB spots are now Bailly and Jones!
Rojo's still injured, but for me the frontrunners for the CB spots are now Bailly and Jones!
I reckon Bailey and Jones will be first choice while Rojo is injured. And if Jones stays fit and plays well then maybe Rojo wont automatically come back in like we expect. Not sure what to make of Lindleof though.
Yeah, it's a shame they've seldom been able to forge a partnership and synchronise their best form; on paper they compliment each other perfectly. I think Bailly is still equally (if not more so) prone to naive mistakes than those two at this point, so I wouldn't be against playing them central with Bailly as an inverting leftback next to them in some games, ala Gallas at Chelsea circa 2005.
He's every bit as good a defender, Better on the ball and more of a leader. No doubt about it in my mind.
I think that Bailly experiment could work come to think of it. Bailly is powerful enough to have an impact going forward too, and he did very well during his brief stint at RB last season.
Really can't judge defenders in the basis of that West Ham attack. Let's not get carried away. Time will tell. GooD lad Phil Jones. Loves the Treatment room nurses too much.
just stay healthy Phil.
Wonderful defender.
Wonderful defender.
He has been very good in pre-season and of course against West Ham but I think it goes under the radar a little just how well rounded he is.
One thing that's impressed me in particular is how he looks equally adept in either channel, which is something of a rarity for a defender. He did very well for that period of ~10 games with Rojo last season and I'm confident he'll be able to form a similar partnership with Bailly this season if he has a sustained run without injury.
One thing that's impressed me in particular is how he looks equally adept in either channel, which is something of a rarity for a defender. He did very well for that period of ~10 games with Rojo last season and I'm confident he'll be able to form a similar partnership with Bailly this season if he has a sustained run without injury.
what a munter. Nice one mate, thanks.That's the sort of dumb stuff he needs to cut out. Valencia had it covered, he just needed to back him up and give him an option to pass too.
Instead he goes flying in like a bat out of hell risking an injury or a red card if he gets it wrong. IF he can cut those brain farts out though he's a great player.
I dunno. Tackles like that give the crowd a lift and if that ball had fallen to Mikhi we'd have been right back into another dangerous attack.
He's been written off and had so many comebacks.....fair play to him.
There's a time and place for it really, if Valencia wasn't there then I would say good job, won the ball and stopped a counter. Instead he could of wiped out Valencia and let Arnautovic run off for a free goal.
He just didn't need to do it, and we've seen so many times with Jones he will do a tackle like that and hurt himself.
Don't agree. Looked like Arnautovic had the run on Valencia when Jones made his decision. He thought he could win it cleanly and he did. Good decision
Yes this time it worked, but next time he might not be so lucky. There's a reason the best defenders don't go diving around like lunatics!.
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