[kouroux]

Bony is a bit of a tank tbh.

 

[Bobcat]

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.

Agreed. Jones may not be the most elegant CB, but he more than makes up for it by being incredibly athletic. The tactical side of his game will improve as he get older. Now obviously our defense did not play a blinder yesterday, but laying all the blame on them for the goals conceded is very unfair imo. Fletcher or Herrera should have tracked Ki. Letting a man stand unmarked at 20 yards is unforgivable.

Young was poorly placed for the second, but isn't exactly a fullback by trade.

Switching from four to three at the back is a very radical change, and it will take time to adjust. Both Jones, Smalling and Evans are young still, and imo, all three of them have a very high potential. Get Shaw and Rafael back, and we have a back 3(5) who is not only young, but also has a very high ceiling.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I'm not convinced by him still. Great at last ditch tackles and can handle one on ones, but in terms of proper positioning and knowing where to be in key moments, he's still all over the place. I expected him to step it up this season but truth is, I'm yet to see a proper proper defender in him. He seems to have to do more than he should to snuff out trouble.

 

[Ducklegs]

Agreed. Jones may not be the most elegant CB, but he more than makes up for it by being incredibly athletic. The tactical side of his game will improve as he get older. Now obviously our defense did not play a blinder yesterday, but laying all the blame on them for the goals conceded is very unfair imo. Fletcher or Herrera should have tracked Ki. Letting a man stand unmarked at 20 yards is unforgivable.

Young was poorly placed for the second, but isn't exactly a fullback by trade.

Switching from four to three at the back is a very radical change, and it will take time to adjust. Both Jones, Smalling and Evans are young still, and imo, all three of them have a very high potential. Get Shaw and Rafael back, and we have a back 3(5) who is not only young, but also has a very high ceiling.

Evans is too old for that excuse now, he is 27 in 4 months time.

If he hasn't realised his potential by now, he is never going to.

 

[Kill 'em all]

He did really well yesterday and I don't think he should be blamed for being blocked by Bony. He was the stand out player in yesterday's game and it seemed like he wanted things to happen more than the rest of our team.

 

[LoiusVanGaal]

he was our best defender yesterday imo, even when asked to play at Right Back, he showed strength, determination & most importantly did his job well

 

[Water Melon]

The best of the lot of the three yesterday. He will become very special.

 

[LoiusVanGaal]

The best of the lot of the three yesterday. He will become very special.

agreed, he will be at least as good as Rio at his peak for us eventually imo (that's assuming he stays of course, which if we keep not signing players he won't because we won't be in Europe again for years)

 

[Steven Seagull]

Why do people feel the need to say things like "at least as good as peak Rio?" Is it like a wild counter argument to people saying he's shit or something?

 

[Skills]

Tbf to Jones, he hasn't really had Rio or Vidic to guide/teach him unlike Smalling and Evans. Most of his games at CB have come partnered with Evans or Smalling.

Both Evans and Smalling have had extended runs at their time here being partnered by Vidic or Rio. I think they're both defenders for that experience.

 

[LoiusVanGaal]

Why do people feel the need to say things like "at least as good as peak Rio?" Is it like a wild counter argument to people saying he's shit or something?

no? not to me anyway, Rio at his best was world class, anyone who can be that good or better is going to be an immense player...

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I thought he played well, but the only thing that annoys me about him is, after that great run he made during the game he was then limping, every challenge he goes into he comes out of it limping. Now is he hurt or is it for show. How many times are people holding their breath because they think he's hurt himself and he hasn't. If Jones was injured everytime he starts limping he would never leave the treatment room. He either needs to be fitter if running is causing him to limp or to man up a bit.

 

[mufcwarm92]

I thought he was brilliant. Puts in some crunching tackles.

 

[mufcwarm92]

agreed, he will be at least as good as Rio at his peak for us eventually imo (that's assuming he stays of course, which if we keep not signing players he won't because we won't be in Europe again for years)

At least as good as our best ever defender at his peak? Really?

 

[LoiusVanGaal]

At least as good as our best ever defender at his peak? Really?

I think he's more likely to be that good than he is to stay at United if we don't make the top four again this year.

 

[The Black Pearl]

Impossible to fault him for trying and throwing himself into tackles etc but I think the way he does get caught out of position or find himself in no mans land from time to time is worrying.

He's erratic enough at times and if he could learn to keep a cooler head, try to stay a step ahead of the posse instead of panicking the way he does sometimes when under pressure he'd be far better off.

 

[Amar__]

All over the place in the first half again. When will he at least show some signs of player who is maturing? Exposing our already soft backline time and time again with David Luiz style of defending.

I am not pleased with him at all.

 

[Alock1]

I dunno, the point of the 3 defenders is for them to be more aggressive.. stepping up and cutting out early.

I thought he had a good half personally. Sometimes his ploughing forward was a little risky, but when no one else is doing it....

 

[footballgirl07]

All over the place in the first half again. When will he at least show some signs of player who is maturing? Exposing our already soft backline time and time again with David Luiz style of defending.

I am not pleased with him at all.

Tbh, he has had to do a lot of covering for Valencia already. So that has pulled him out to the right quite a bit. Perhaps Jones is so fed up with our poor midfield, he feels has to do something with the ball.

 

[#07]

Scarily, Blackett has probably coped better with covering Young than Jones has covering Valencia.

 

[Amar__]

Tbh, he has had to do a lot of covering for Valencia already. So that has pulled him out to the right quite a bit. Perhaps Jones is so fed up with our poor midfield, he feels has to do something with the ball.

Good point about Valencia, their understanding was terrible, but even Valencia was covering for him probably more often than he was for Valencia. His high up field trips cannot be explained though, it's just his game since he signed for us, no way he is instructed to attack that high.

 

[Ekeke]

Well thats not really a fair comparison. Young has shown some capacity to learn how to defend so Blackett has less he has to cover for. Despite playing at right back a bunch of times Antonio Valencia has shown no ability to defend at all. He likes to run at a player and aggressively put his foot in to tackle or usually give away a freekick, but any actual defending his goal he remains clueless about.

 

[Walrus]

I don't understand why we play Jones on the right and Smalling in the middle. They would both be more effective if it were switched the other way round.

 

[ArmchairCritic]

Taken to Van Gaal's system pretty well IMO.

 

[DWelbz19]

I don't think so. It was another performance in which second half he was best of a bad bunch due to last ditch defending but he really struggles positionally.

 

[Joemo]

I'd have thought that playing 3 at the back would give him more room to charge forward with the ball. Obviously, Valencia and Young would need to stay further back but it's something different. There were times today where Jones had the ball with plenty of room ahead of him and instead of carrying it forward he was looking for the first available pass.

 

[FromTheBench]

Interesting performance by him today. First half he and Valencia looked dodgy on the right in terms of space in between.

2nd half as the leader in central position he was very good.

 

[TwoSheds]

He was fantastic. Agree that he and Smalling should switch positions as Smalling's ability to step forward and play a decent pass isn't anywhere near good enough to play as the central defender in the 3. Very vocal today too.

 

[Barney]

He was very good today. Stealing Stevie's "we go again" rallying call isn't on though. Be original at least!

 

[red_devil83]

He was fantastic. Agree that he and Smalling should switch positions as Smalling's ability to step forward and play a decent pass isn't anywhere near good enough to play as the central defender in the 3. Very vocal today too.

I'd like to see him as the central man of the 3 too. He likes to bring the ball forward. Smalling had a lot of 'free' possession to bring the ball into midfield but he didn't know what to do with it. Jones was MoM again

 

[RuudTom83]

Jones is still learning to be a CB so i'm just happy he is starting at CB and so far has come through 2 games without severely injured himself.

This season will not be pretty for Smalling or Jones but the more games they can play together the better. Jones is the least of LVG's worries.

 

[thejtrain]

I don't understand why we play Jones on the right and Smalling in the middle. They would both be more effective if it were switched the other way round.

I doubt that. A 10 year old girl would be better on the ball than Smalling is. Jones would serve as an easier outlet for him the way it is now.

 

[Kill 'em all]

He was very good today. Stealing Stevie's "we go again" rallying call isn't on though. Be original at least!

I like you.

 

[Dominos]

Neville picked him out as our best performer in commentary, for what it's worth. The Caf is probably right though if they say he was shit.

 

[saivet]

I don't understand why we play Jones on the right and Smalling in the middle. They would both be more effective if it were switched the other way round.

This!!

 

[Walrus]

I doubt that. A 10 year old girl would be better on the ball than Smalling is. Jones would serve as an easier outlet for him the way it is now.

The central CB in a 3-man defence is typically meant to be the one who carries the ball forwards and plays ahead of the other two. Smalling however plays deeper than the other two CBs, which means he does not distribute the ball or carry it forwards as well, and it means if one of the other CBs DOES venture forwards it leaves us very lopsided at the back.

The whole point of putting Jones in the middle would be because he is better than Smalling on the ball. However Smalling I regard as a much better defender than Jones, meaning his natural tendency to drop back and cover would be of more benefit than it is currently.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

He was very good today. Stealing Stevie's "we go again" rallying call isn't on though. Be original at least!

I'm not entirely sure why people throughout the matchday thread and possibly in here (haven't read through) were suggesting he was only doing last ditch stuff today. Very solid from Jones, he's showing maturity and is probably the only 'senior' outfield player who hasn't pissed me off in the two games for us. The test will be against a seriously good team to see where he really is.

 

[RooneyLegend]

As a right center back he has no business charging around the center line. Wickham holds it up, protects it from him and then they play it right where he came from, that's just poor stuff really.

 

[gooDevil]

Now that Scholes has retired and Evra sold, he's now my favorite United player.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Like people have mentioned, he did look a bit shaky in the first half, but lets not forget this is still a system that Jones, and our other centre backs have to get used to. They will find themselves defending a lot more in wide areas, as opposed to when you're are playing two at the back. Sunderland obviously knew that and were going with diagonal balls in behind our wing backs from the get go, who looked pretty lost when defending, to be honest. I think we'd look a lot more solid when Rafael and Shaw are back, as they are defensively better, and playing at full back requires them to defend spaces in behind a lot more often than Valencia and Young who are natural wingers. Everything taken into account, I think Jones had a very good yesterday, especially in the second half.