His third consecutive match, tomorrow will be his fourth? Surely he'll get injured in the train/warming-up/in the match.
4
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 24
- Clean sheets
- 7
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 3
-
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?
please don't jinx this bro..anyway he is taking yoga these days. hope that could help his body from getting to injury prone.
Depends on how he does his Yoga. If he goes all in/out like he does on the pitch and in training he is in trouble.
anyway he is taking yoga these days. hope that could help his body from getting to injury prone.
I'm a season ticket holder of 9 years, so you can shove that 'fans' right up your arse, sonny. Jones was good in the air but poor on the ground against Newcastle, that's my opinion.
Are you watching the games from a restricted view seat?
Tottenham 0:0 Man Utd
I'm sure we were told to go long more often than usual but even with that taken into account, Jones' passing was atrocious. More misplaced passes than anyone on the pitch. If we're going to play the 352 I think only one of Jones or Smalling can play and they have to play in the middle. On either side their options are obviously a lot more restricted and they just can't see a pass. Rojo's fine for the left but we need someone new on the right.
The best of the back 3 today for me, looked more composed than his partners and read things pretty well.
He defended well today. Distribution is not something that hugely concerns me, moreso the ability to not position oneself like a retard and to successfully header the ball in the 18 yard box. He managed both today which is a good thing.
He's a limited defender, good in a last ditch slide tackle and in the air but on the floor he's dreadful. Every time he attempted a long punt to the strikers Spurs just mopped it up.
Very frustrating that he kept running into players. It is hardly a surprise that he keeps getting injured.
Evans actually had a slightly lower pass completion rate than Jones today at 65%. Personally I reasoned that they had both been instructed to hit the channels or the strikers when in doubt and not to pass infield to midfield or defence.
I think that Jones supports quite well in that position, better than Evans does on the other side and can use his pace and strength when he is in trouble. Not that I would like to see this formation as a permanent fixture.
He was pretty good today.
Distribution of the side CB's in a 3 looks weak when pressed.
Distribution of the side CB's in a 3 looks weak when pressed.
I thought he looked solid enough. There's definitely a really top player in there to be found but we might not see that imposing player free of mistakes for another couple of seasons. Hopefully he keeps progressing slowly and remains injury free as he could be a really great player if that happens
Phil Jones, still only 22 years old mind you, was more than adequate today. There's still room for improvement but one would have to acknowledge he's one of the better 22 year defenders around.
Thought he was excellent defensively.
He is obviously being told to hoof it to down the wings at times.
He is obviously being told to hoof it to down the wings at times.
He's been our best defender this season and if he could put the injury problems behind him I think he could become a very good defender.
He was fine today, just hope he can stay fit for the rest of the season now!
It's easy to forget his age, for me he is our best defender at this current time.
All them last ditch challenges because he's always out of pos...wait no, he cleaned up because he was bang in position pretty much all throughout the game. He can be clumsy, but 9 times out of 10, if he wants the ball, he gets the ball.
Looked a bit nervous with the ball at his feet which is my only real concern.
Looked a bit nervous with the ball at his feet which is my only real concern.
I agree
In regards to having the ball at his feet it again comes down to formation, it’s a completely different way of playing and will take time for all the players to get used to. Im starting to feel comfortable with Jones in the team.
Good defensively. Been impressed with him this season.
He was more reactive today than he's been the last few matches. His concentration just wasn't as good today.
Pretty good but uses the ball like a typical burly British defender.
Looked very good. The only problem was that in the second half, when it was obvious that the Spurs front three were pressing our center backs, Carrick had to go back to help them and receive the ball - it didn't happen. As good as Phil Jones is, he is not a ball playing center half. Our supposed ball playing center half (Evans) is actually shit at distribution (or atleast has been this season) and Paddy McNair was nervy throughout the game.
Defended really well today, I thought.
I'm not the biggest fan of Jones since he's joined us. He doesn't have the positional awareness nor the brain to remain in control enough for me. Seems to be always rushing into tackles and giving up stupid fouls in dangerous areas, not what I'm looking for in a centre half. There are so many times when he can just sit back and jockey but gets enticed to fly into a tackle to knick the ball instead.
I'd like to see him back off players more and give up less fouls. Thought he'd learn that as when he first came in he was flying all over the place and getting injured, but he still seems to do something rash in every match. Just haven't seen the development in him, from my perspective.
I'd like to see him back off players more and give up less fouls. Thought he'd learn that as when he first came in he was flying all over the place and getting injured, but he still seems to do something rash in every match. Just haven't seen the development in him, from my perspective.
Chris Smalling has.
Maybe he has broken Fellaini's ribs on the dancefloor
I just had me a fresh looksee at the disallowed goal due to Jones being offside.
Jones was not offside, though the linesman can be forgiven for missing it. Jones was initially in an offside position but was back in an onside position when #25 for Spurs (not sure who that is) got a piece of the ball before Jones headed it. Falcao never did interfere with the play, though he was in close proximity to it.
Shit happens.
Jones was not offside, though the linesman can be forgiven for missing it. Jones was initially in an offside position but was back in an onside position when #25 for Spurs (not sure who that is) got a piece of the ball before Jones headed it. Falcao never did interfere with the play, though he was in close proximity to it.
Shit happens.
Doesn't matter if a pass gets deflected by a defender when making a decision about offside. Only relevant if the ball is deliberately played by the defender. Which didn't happen here.
He is still young.
Its not an Evans situation with him, he joined us as a teenager and is really only getting to the part of his career when things should start clicking.
If he is still as dozy in a couple of years time then he should be rightly being criticised.
Looking increasingly uncomfortable on the ball - far too many aimless hoofs and just couldn't deal with any kind of pressing in the second half.
Comfortable in a defensive situation but if we're going to average 60% possession and have large swathes of the ball, he'll let us down.
Carrick faded a bit but largely the 3 at the back were why we lost all control in the second half, none of them showed the quality to keep the ball and work it, defaulting to 2/3 poor passes then a poor hoof.
Always annoys me that they can't even get it near Falcao or RVP but merely a hoist out for a throwin 9 times out of 10.
Not good enough with the ball at his feet for me, hard to say if that will really improve much more.
Comfortable in a defensive situation but if we're going to average 60% possession and have large swathes of the ball, he'll let us down.
Carrick faded a bit but largely the 3 at the back were why we lost all control in the second half, none of them showed the quality to keep the ball and work it, defaulting to 2/3 poor passes then a poor hoof.
Always annoys me that they can't even get it near Falcao or RVP but merely a hoist out for a throwin 9 times out of 10.
Not good enough with the ball at his feet for me, hard to say if that will really improve much more.
That's incredibly harsh. Not to mention ignoring the fact he's put in a number of decent performances in central midfield. That just wouldn't happen with a central defender as hapless in possession as you just described.
Different roles - in midfield his role was to harass and break up the play, when he did so he had options around him for simple passes, or more freedom to carry it, which he's good at. Equally, I don't recall being tremendously impressed with his passing in any of those games.
It probably is a bit harsh but it's also evident - we got much, much worse in the 2nd half due to more pressing by their forwards and generally their step up the pitch. Most of our possession was then in our own half and we never built beyond it...
The difference between that and a midfield role is obvious. Less options, more danger and more onus to have the ball and pick passes to other cbs, wbs or midfielders. A deep lying midfielder will operate totally differently on and off the ball than a cb and doesn't have 1,2 or even 3 forwards pressing very intently (in the pl the pressing tends to be done by forwards and then a half court press for the rest, not necessarily carried on by the rest of the team)
Maybe it's just the 3 that makes him more uncertain but again, it was never a strong suit of his, I don't think? Despite midfield appearances.
Well that's definitely what I've put down as the main reason behind Evans going from an extremely accomplished passer to someone who's been all over the place, so makes sense that Jones might be struggling for the same reason.
Plus we have Smalling getting plaudits for his passing this season, after previously being the worst of the bunch. I don't think it's a coincidence that he's played mainly in a back four, while the other two have played almost exclusively in a back five this season.
Difficult to really understand that, though it does seem to be the case. 3/5 at the back with 2 CMs creates about as many options for a CB as is really possible.
2 cbs either side, wingbacks wide, 2 Cms dropping into the hole or what have you.
I think our CBs pick the wrong pass far too often, even when playing it across the back its behind the player or a more difficult ball to take, that's a gift for pressing teams (every PL team should be pressing us fiercely at the back) because it makes the strikers job easier without him having to do anything.
So many balls that are on that get turned away as too 'dangerous' then delay, delay and attempt to play the pass that now isn't on, hoof it, or play a poor ball to a CB partner shifting the difficult situation to them.
Carrick, Rooney, mata, falcao, rvp and to a lesser extent young and valencia can all handle the ball on tight spaces and are more likely to retain it, or advance our play with something quick or cute than lose it.
Really think many of our issues, including our slow buildup and methodical manner of creating chances stem from the back.
Would you sign CBs in Jan, Pogue?
And if I'm being harsh on him, it's only because I expect so much and desperately want him to be fit for more than 5 minutes at a time.
I just think when you've been playing one formation your entire career most of the passes you play are almost on instinct. You expect your fullback to be in position A, the deepest midfielder in position B and the other centre-half in position C. Three options and you pick the best available, almost without any conscious thought.
With a re-shuffle there needs to be more thought behind each pass, which can delay things to a point where the eventual pass is hurried and executed poorly. Having more options is working against them, paradoxically.
Just a theory, mind you. There has to be some explanation for a calm and competent passer like Evans looking so hassled and slap-dash with his passing this season so it's the one I'm going with.
Re your last question, I would have signed another CB in the summer. Mind you that would have been instead of Rojo. I wanted a bullet-proof old school stopper in our squad. Someone who could start 30+ games and inspire and organise everyone around him. Not sure Rojo's that player, so I'm not entirely sure why we signed him. I'm not quite ready to give up on Smalling, Jones or Evans and McNair looks a prospect so signing one more CB would make our squad look a bit bloated. Especially if we're keen on Strootman, which allows Carrick to rest his legs with an occasional game in defence.
People need to realise that he's not going to be anywhere close to the finished article for another 2-3 years. He has time on his side to improve all areas of his game.
Indeed, I think people tend to forget his age as he's been around for some time now, he has the ability to become a fantastic player, he has it all IMO and in time may well be the first choice CB for years to come (as long as the injuries stay away)