Have we ever had another player like Phil Jones?

[17 Van der Gouw]

...who on his day can play an absolute worldie; arguably one of our best players when fit and in form, but spends most of his time broken?

Looked after Kane beautifully yesterday, him and Smalling just marshalled the Tottenham front line. A gritty, tough, defensive performance and hardly put a foot wrong. SAF's hyperbole about him becoming our best ever may just be a little over the top but you'd do well to find a better replacement.

But yeah, what do United do about this? He's too good to get rid of, but he's too often broken. Has this happened before? Where we've had a classy player always crocked?

Owen Hargreaves comes to mind among the most talented but most fragile, can anyone think of others?

 

[ti vu]

...who on his day can play an absolute worldie; arguably one of our best players when fit and in form, but spends most of his time broken?

Looked after Kane beautifully yesterday, him and Smalling just marshalled the Tottenham front line. A gritty, tough, defensive performance and hardly put a foot wrong. SAF's hyperbole about him becoming our best ever may just be a little over the top but you'd do well to find a better replacement.

But yeah, what do United do about this? He's too good to get rid of, but he's too often broken. Has this happened before? Where we've had a classy player always crocked?

Owen Hargreaves comes to mind among the most talented but most fragile, can anyone think of others?

Jones = our Saha of the CB

Have all potential for the role, but can't stay fit to claim the status (starter, world class)

 

[Charlie Foley]

Not to derail but Smalling usually plays great against Kane iirc

 

[SalfordRed18]

Hargreaves and Saha.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Smalling has been even better of late. We've probably got the best CBs in England and they don't get the credit they deserve. Problem is that their distribution and quality on the ball hurts us. Purely as defenders, Jones, Smalling and Bailly are very good.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Fletch before his bowels blew up.

And fecking Saha...

 

[Super Mokh]

Ronny Johnsen comes to mind, was a good defender but a bit of an injury prone.

 

[Swift Football]

...who on his day can play an absolute worldie; arguably one of our best players when fit and in form, but spends most of his time broken?

Looked after Kane beautifully yesterday, him and Smalling just marshalled the Tottenham front line. A gritty, tough, defensive performance and hardly put a foot wrong. SAF's hyperbole about him becoming our best ever may just be a little over the top but you'd do well to find a better replacement.

But yeah, what do United do about this? He's too good to get rid of, but he's too often broken. Has this happened before? Where we've had a classy player always crocked?

Owen Hargreaves comes to mind among the most talented but most fragile, can anyone think of others?

Even when fully fit , he is a decent defender but not a top defender. First of all, he is a midget for a center half, then he lacks strength. Not a power header either, hence does not go to opponents box in set pieces.

Also he lacks reading of game hence gets pulled out of position. I won't have him as my starting CB even if he is fit for whole season.

 

[prath92]

From what I’ve heard, Paul McGrath? Saha also comes to mind.

 

[SpyLuke10]

Smalling should start for England. Jones....maybe....if hes fit. don't rate his last ditch tackle style of defending. leads to some of those shocking errors that he makes.

 

[Swift Football]

If you mean a croc like him for whom we paid 17 M which will be equivalent to around 40M in today's market, then I can't think of any.

So I think he is the most expensive croc, and so unique.

 

[devilish]

You're making Jones sound like he's world class. Rio at age 32 could put that croc on the bench for good.

 

[Lawman]

Wes Brown although I believe Wes was better than Phil.

 

[simonhch]

I’ve said it for ages, and I still believe it; Jones, when fit and firing, is our best Center half by a while. He’s the full package. Absolute Rolls Royce of a defender. Was the best in the league the first half of this season. But at some point you have to just accept you can’t rely on him due to the fragility of his body.

Wes Brown, Jonathan Woodgate and Lesley King are three other top quality English CBs who could never reach their potential due to injuries.

 

[andersj]

Surprised how highly people rate Smalling considering how much he struggles on the ball.

 

[el3mel]

Hargreaves and Saha.

This. Also Rafael just berfore him leaving was nearly similar iirc.

 

[Sagittarius13]

...who on his day can play an absolute worldie; arguably one of our best players when fit and in form, but spends most of his time broken?

Looked after Kane beautifully yesterday, him and Smalling just marshalled the Tottenham front line. A gritty, tough, defensive performance and hardly put a foot wrong. SAF's hyperbole about him becoming our best ever may just be a little over the top but you'd do well to find a better replacement.

But yeah, what do United do about this? He's too good to get rid of, but he's too often broken. Has this happened before? Where we've had a classy player always crocked?

Owen Hargreaves comes to mind among the most talented but most fragile, can anyone think of others?

I don't think he's that good, we could have sold him like 2 or 3 years ago and would be the same, I think he hasn't improved that much, we all knew he is good when fit but not more than good.

I see him as Wilshere, a great potential but fragile and I don't think Jones could be a top class center back even if he play every game for 2 years in a row. I think he suit premier league but in a champions league against other kind of players and strategies he's just not good enough or versatile enough as a top player would be. We already waited a long time to see him shine but he hasn't.

Hargreaves was a better player and was sold sooner.

 

[T A]

i think Bailly is turning into this profile now. Cant see any reason for his recent absence bar another injury

 

[Carl]

Ronny Johnsen comes to mind, was a good defender but a bit of an injury prone.

This. Ronny Johnsen was an absolutely fantastic defender.

 

[M Bison]

He really is as good as the OP is suggesting in my view, Fergie had it spot on when he said how could he could be.

Such a shame how he’s struggled with injuries, he’d be much higher thought of if he’d played more.

Great game yesterday.

 

[AKDevil]

Smalling should start for England. Jones....maybe....if hes fit. don't rate his last ditch tackle style of defending. leads to some of those shocking errors that he makes.

No he shouldn’t. Way too many brain farts and awful on the ball. Mistakes like one for Kompany goal in derby are too common. He shouldn’t be starting next season, maybe not even at the club.

 

[wolvored]

A decent defender when fit but wouldn't get into the top 6 of defenders at this club over the premier years, and nowhere near world class. I would move him on before smalling, not saying he's any better, but you will get more games a season out of him.

 

[tenpoless]

Jones often does well against target man type of strikers. He has the physicality to deal with them but when He needs to face a striker who likes to pass defenders and rely on dribbles, He often has a brainfart, the same with Smalling. They're good defenders but sometimes lose focus too easily.

The difference between a world class and good defenders is that the world class ones are able to put in consistent performances and isn't so prone to mistakes.

I think We've had several players that were hampered by injuries.. Hargreaves, Saha, Rafael.

 

[TMDaines]

Hargreaves. Our midfield has never recoved from losing him and then Anderson losing it over the next season or two.

 

[kthanksbye]

Still think he has a huge mistake in him just waiting to happen, and not something down to ability, but poor understanding and awareness of the game.

Can't forget the goal we conceded against Leicester, where he failed to tackle Vardy in the middle of the pitch, and then just jogged back, not even making an attempt to get goal side of him. Started running only after Vardy did, at which point, it was too late.

 

[kthanksbye]

Hargreaves. Our midfield has never recoved from losing him and then Anderson losing it over the next season or two.

Purely based on ability, imagine having a midfield or Carrick Hargo and Anderson, and getting the best out of them.

 

[Openshaw53]

Paul McGrath or Kevin Moran fit the profile, one slight negative ( apart from unavoidable injuries) he rarely scores, well worth the money paid to Blackburn.

 

[davidmichael]

McGrath, Whiteside, Robson, Sharpe, Johnsen, Hargreaves, Rafael and Saha would all be in that category although I’d say Robson was still world class even with the injuries.

 

[Mickfoley]

Fletch before his bowels blew up.

And fecking Saha...

Distasteful.

 

[settembrini]

United have had lots of average, injury prone, players.

 

[Ramshock]

I liked how he shoved Smalling back on to the pitch right at the end of the match to stop him having a go at Kane. I always thought if Jones hadnt been injury prone he could have been a future United/England captain.

 

[POF]

Have United ever had another player like Phil Jones? Duncan Edwards apparently.

 

[Ramshock]

United have had lots of average, injury prone, players.

He isnt average though he would easily be one of the best CB's in the PL if he stayed injury free.

 

[SirAF]

Surprised how highly people rate Smalling considering how much he struggles on the ball.

He’s a very good defender if he just keeps it simple. If he is forced to play it out from the back then he’s a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Jones = our Saha of the CB

Have all potential for the role, but can't stay fit to claim the status (starter, world class)

Was just about to say this...Saha was very similar,although I think he was far more injury prone than Jones.Jones is injured 40 percent of the time,while Saha was probably out 80 percent of the time...

 

[EasyE]

Even when fully fit , he is a decent defender but not a top defender. First of all, he is a midget for a center half, then he lacks strength. Not a power header either, hence does not go to opponents box in set pieces.

Also he lacks reading of game hence gets pulled out of position. I won't have him as my starting CB even if he is fit for whole season.

He's 6 foot 2 pal. What you on about? I saw him win many a power header yesterday. I also saw him blind tackle against the cross that was fired in to Alli - fantastic reading and clean interception to boot.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

You're making Jones sound like he's world class. Rio at age 32 could put that croc on the bench for good.

32 is a normal age and Rio is one of the best ever in fairness

 

[P-Nut]

Suprised there's a few people that don't rate Jones that highly.

Granted he normally takes a little while to get back into the groove from injuries, which with him normally picking up another pretty quickly can lead to lots of errors. But, when he does manage to string together a run of games without being injured he's far and away our best CB. I think I'd limit him to 1 game a week like spurs did with King and see if that can help him stay fit for the season.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

You're making Jones sound like he's world class. Rio at age 32 could put that croc on the bench for good.

Doubt that, do you not remember how fast Rio declined. He was truly dreadful in his last games for us.

 

[VeevaVee]

He's off an on even when fit. Maybe he just never got the momentum going to improve a lot.

The main problem with him though is that we can never get a good regular partnership going while he's around.