Excellent performance by Jones tonight. Hope he secures a permanent CB spot. He's much more likely to get himself injured if he's not playing the midfield stopper role too.
4
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 24
- Clean sheets
- 7
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 3
He's still very young. I think if he's played cb consistently and stays fit, he will be one world class defender...
Sorry, meant to say "much less likely" above. He's a lunatic in the stopper role.
Positive to see Jones' performance. Looked very confident and didn't make many mistakes at all. Always thought he looked error prone at CB in previous seasons but yesterday he looked beastly. Great to see him playing in his natural position. fecking right back... 
I've only just got round to watching last nights game and PJ was man of the match for me. Looked very comfortable at the back and in the second half he seemed to have the youngsters either side of him arranged very well. Madrid had very few good chances and I think that was more to do with our very well disciplined shape at the back, rather than Madrid's lack of creativity.
Man Utd 3:1 Liverpool
Poorish first, much improved second. Somehow ended up closing down Liverpool on their 18 yard line.
Phil Jones.
Phil Jones.
I worry about him the most of our centerbacks. His decision making on the right is 
Not a penalty.
Man Utd 2:1 Valencia
Who needs Benatia when you got Jones ;p? Played fantastic, his pace is a very very big weapon, first match in a long time without brainfarts.
Along with Blackett and Smalling we have 3 very quick centre backs. On Smalling and Jones there's no surprise they're looking so solid right now, they're finally getting a run in their actual positions.
I like when he decides to turn into Messi and start dribbling everyone on the pitch.
Despite the Caf going soft on the mop because he got shit on I think Jones was clearly our best player today, strong and fast with some excellent interceptions and he plugged the gap a couple of times when Valencia got the other side of Young.
The talent is there both with him and Smalling. Hopefully Van Gaal is the man to unlock it fully. No more right back, no more midfield.
Played very well, think he's nailed on for the right CB role this season and Smalling the same in the middle.
Thought Smalling and Blackett were better than him. he still had a good game, tho.
Man Utd 1:2 Swansea
Looks ready to step up big time, really impressed with him today.
One of the very few bright spots for us today, tackled well, tracked runners well and looked commanding.
Looked a bit nervy at first, settled well and was probably one of our best players overall in the end, not that that took much.
Had a good game.
Credit for the last ditch defending but looks so uncomfortable with the ball and where had he gone for the Swansea 2nd?
Hope youse are all right about him but worries me fairly constantly - not convinced
Hope youse are all right about him but worries me fairly constantly - not convinced
MOTM for me today. Solid, and made some great last ditch tackles.
He might looks clumsy with the ball sometimes, because of his huge and crooked physical build, but if you take the 'Jonny Evans brain-fart passing factor' into account, Phil Jones might actually be our best ball playing centre-back. He's no Vertonghen or Pique, but he's played some brilliant passes in our last 5 or 6 matches.
Considering Phil Jones is only 22 years old, I wouldn't be surprised if he literally becomes the best or top 3 defenders in the world. Can't really name a more talented CB in the -23 years of age category, I like Jones as much as Varane (who is 9 months younger).
He's gonna get injured very soon sadly, his style of play is way too crazy 
Whatever we say, he has to play CB doesn't he? With some calm, commanding presence next to him, passing on a bit of positional nous - and see how it goes
not FB or MF (assumes we improve the 'dynamism' of the MF at some point, surely...)
not FB or MF (assumes we improve the 'dynamism' of the MF at some point, surely...)
I agree ............ which will be a shame. Played some good stuff today, but his overenthusiasm in the tackle is worrying.He's gonna get injured very soon sadly, his style of play is way too crazy
Poor first half. Excellent Last ditch tackles in the second made him look better.
How is he our best rated player? His last ditch tackles were from situations he created.
Have never seen him as a truly natural defender. A 6 yard box defender who'll make Blackburn-style last ditch tackles, and will throw himself at and under anything near the goal, but not a reliable defender for a top team where concentration, playing higher up the pitch and pure defensive nous is key.
ObviousIy he's young, but I'll be surprised if he becomes a top-level centre back.
ObviousIy he's young, but I'll be surprised if he becomes a top-level centre back.
Not sure if serious...
We see him do this a lot, stretch himself and make last ditch tackles. Without him today it could of been embarrassing, but the question you have to ask is why is he having to do that in the first place?
He was poor in the first half but come out second half a different player much more confident.
Him and Smalling are just awful on the ball. It's a real problem area.
I don't think they were that bad, but it's something Van Gaal said he'd work with them at. Can't expect it to happen overnight.
Whenever teams hit us on the brak...Smalling and Jones seem to not have an idea as to what they are supposed to do......Jones seems like he is still very far away from sorting out his game apart from his brave heart tackles...Smalling too just looks absolutely miles off the pace to be ready to be our main defender
Just because he always makes last-ditch challenges doesn't mean he can't defend FFS, not everyone is Baresi. He's growing into his new role, he'll be fabulous for us if he stays healthy. He's got one thing a lot of defenders don't have and that is he absolutely loves defending if that makes any sense, he lives for it and will do whatever is needed to stop the other team scoring. He needs to refine a few things but he's going to thrive under LVG.
Him and Smalling showed progress to me, they pressed and looked positive. They need to improve on the ball but in terms of general defending they looked good. Smalling muscled Bony often. Inexperience in other defensive areas cost us, Jones will be top-class if he stays healthy.
Exactly. I think he had a poor game today and just because he did some nice tackles doesn't hide the fact he was bad.
Started off poorly as well on Swansea first attack. Yeah Jesse let Routledge go but that is just him playing out of position and lack of experience. Jones had no idea where routledge was and was too far away from Jesse in terms of position. If it wasn't for the fact Routledge touch was so poor, they would of been in. Out of the starting defence, Jones was the poorest today.
How is he winning the MOTM poll?
I thought his positioning was awful. Yes he made some last minute heroic tackles but if he hadn't been inept in his defensive positioning he wouldn't have been in a position where he needed to make those last ditch tackles in the first place.
I thought his positioning was awful. Yes he made some last minute heroic tackles but if he hadn't been inept in his defensive positioning he wouldn't have been in a position where he needed to make those last ditch tackles in the first place.
Dead serious. For example:
Have you ever seen Ramos play in CDM? Ancelotti used him there vs. Barca away last season.
Phil Jones played in midfield vs. Real Madrid, also once for England vs. Spain. He looked way better with the ball at his feet playing in midfield than Ramos did playing in midfield.
Now defensively, Jones is talented for sure, he's got all the assets Ramos has and the same wildness. And Ramos is considered to be a CB who's pretty good with the ball, he looks pretty smooth and silky although he can make some wild passes. But when you compare them playing in midfield where there's less time and more pressure on your passing, I think Jones has shown to play better there with the ball. Hence the comments about him looking a bit goofy, but being a deceptively good passer.
He looks well built and you'd think he'd be strong but he got brushed off like a cobweb by Bony for the 1st goal.