I'd love to see how many goals we concede down the right hand side with Jones there, I bet it's not many at all. When Sterling moved over to left wing he didn't get a touch cos of Jones (apart from Evans playing him through). Also, when Rojo and Carrick collided vs QPR, he was 3v1 and he cut out the pass across, whilst then positioning himself to close down the striker and allowed players to get back and Valencia got a tackle in, without Jones touching the ball. His positioning and awareness is quite underrated and if he was playing vs Leicester instead of Blackett, who just put himself in no mans land in a similar situation, we probably wouldn't have lost.
4
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 24
- Clean sheets
- 7
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 3
Another horrible load of knee jerking in this thread. He's been decent this season for the most part. He was our best defender for the first few games before he got injured. His distribution was awful the other night but defensively he's been decent overall.
Yes he's been good defensively and distribution has never been his strong point. But then, if his skill on the ball and distribution matched his defensive quailities then he'd be a £50m defender.
Jesus Christ
I can't understand why Jones has regressed so drastically. I mean, he was always a rash bastard, but under Fergie he did show genuine promise. I never really bought into the whole Reincarnation of Edwards thing, but he looked to have great potential. Shame. It seems he's gone the way of Evans and become a confidence player.
But making ridiculous, lazy cross-field passes that lead to a direct scoring opportunity for the opposition is part of his defensive work as far as I'm concerned. Of course, in typical Phil Jones fashion, he moved quickly to rectify the error (and that's a good thing,) but he always seems to have this kind of mistake in him (much like Evans,) and it's going to cost us against more clinical opposition.
But they don't so he's not.Jesus Christ
no no he hasn't. and when is decent good enough? because he's not. he can't defend nor pass it. we'd be pis5ing overselves if he played for cska london or siddy. absolutely a reason why we look mid table at the back and struggle to get things going from back to front. a peno waiting to happen in our end and a give away when going forward.
Dear god, we've finally hit RAWK level
Nether do his defensive qualities.
Running around a lot and charging into tackles does not make you a top centre back. In fact, those kind of defenders are ten a penny.
I thought he was or most positive player on Friday, not saying that much due to the opposition and his teammates who were woeful. Two crucial interceptions and the constant desire to bring the ball out from the back made him the standout IMO.
His rash attitude and constant injuries have blighted his progress, I still believe that if he can go on a run with no injuries til the end of the season, he will be far more composed and mature moving to the next campaign.
His rash attitude and constant injuries have blighted his progress, I still believe that if he can go on a run with no injuries til the end of the season, he will be far more composed and mature moving to the next campaign.
This is exactly the type of OTT nonsense I was referring to.
I tend to agree with this. He made a couple of awful unforced errors in possession on Friday and can be a bit rash but I still think he's got a lot of ability. People forget how young he is. With the right guidance he still has time to become an excellent CB.
would he start if he played for Chelsea or Citeh?
City's CB's have all been no worse than Jones this season.
Ahead of Gary Cahill? Definitely, lad is the biggest fraud going.
Indeed. Not only is he young for a centreback he's probably played fewer games in central defence than most other players his age who play the same position. Injuries aside, he's victim of his own versatility having played a lot of games in fulback and central midfield. People are slating him for not progressing but you can't expect any player to progress without playing football. In the long term he might benefit from the experience he gained in different positions but what he really needs now is a long run of games playing in central defence. If he can somehow manage that between now and the end of the season he'll be a much better player come the summer.
Cahill is twice the player Jones is.
Cahill has been fairly dodgy this season.
City are starting Mangala, Demechilis, Boyata and a declined this season Kompany.
Anyway, I'd love to see Terry and Cahill for example and their distribution in the fecking systems and structures we are playing. Infact them as side CB's in a 3 man high line would be quite interesting as well.
Cahill is fecking shit lol. He's a fraud of a defender that has Terry to guide him through games in the most protected back four in the league. Any time Chelsea are left even slightly exposed they struggle, he's completely average and there's much, much more to Jones' game.
Jones strikes me as the kind of defender who is at his best when his team are pinned back in their own box, under constant pressure, and fielding wave after wave of attack. His fearless attitude and commitment are assets when things are happening thick and fast. But when there is time and space and he has to keep disciplined in his positioning while events are taking place elsewhere, he just seems to lack the concentration that the top defenders have. He plays better on instinct than when he has too much time to think about things.
wow. that's a load of shite of the highest order.
absolutely no manager would take jones over cahill. get a grip.
It's not shite at all. Have you noticed that people have only started to rate Cahill since Mourinho came? Why? Because Chelsea's back line now that have the best protection in the league and the responsibilities placed on the CBs is completely limited. When they aren't protected or have to come out at teams, they are all over the place - look at Tottenham, look at Atletico Madrid, look at all the points they dropped last year vs weaker opposition.
Jones is a defender is much better. He's better at getting tight and at sweeping, he's faster, he's better in 1v1 situations and he reads the game better. Cahills strengths are that he's good in the air and he's brave, which is why he suits Chelsea system because he does most of his defending inside his own box, but he's severely limited.
Jones makes sloppy mistakes, I'm not disputing that. He's 22 years old though and they are the mistakes of an inexperienced centre half. Cahill is 29, and actually makes just as many mistakes but it's because he's an average defender, you'd be mad not to swap him for Jones. Could Cahill play on the side of a 3 at the back? No. Could he play a high line? No. He's limited, and one thing that people do underrate massively is Jones' positioning in an around the box; it's impeccable, especially on balls whipped in. He is more than capable of doing what Cahill does week in week out, that's not the case vice versa.
As a neutral - lol
Cahill is most definitely a fraud, but he's far better than Jones. If it was Smalling v Cahill, I'd take Smalling.
But Jones is 6 years younger than Cahill, right ?
If Jones continues on his current trajectory he should reach Cahill's level by the time he's 44.
All top players reached their peak at age 22. You never get any better after that. It's a football law.
I can see that, a little bit like Dante, Miranda or even Fletcher.
There is really not much of a gap at all between Jones and Smalling so not sure how that statement makes sense.
And neither of them is that far behind Cahill either as is made out. Cahill with lesser protection vis a vis last season this season has dropped a level too.
Jones and Smalling in a structured team given a good regular run in a settled partnership and formation would do decently well even now and their reputation would automatically grow if that were to happen. But problem is due to injury our defenders cannot get a regular run and also we don't have any sort of settled team as of now.
Cahill himself at the same age was being loaned out to Sheffield United by Aston Villa.....
Never really understood what knee-jerk was until this thread, so similar with the Smalling thread after the match vs City, people completely writing him off, and putting him as an amateur. Guess what, if that's how we rate players everyone bar ddg is an amateur at this club as all the players have had some shockers, in his defence, he has been been quite good this season.
There quite clearly is. Smalling is one of the best CBs in the league.
Shhh, don't ruin it for them!
I think you're underestimating the importance of comfort on the ball and distribution for modern day defenders. Refer to David Luiz valuation.
I think many were just waiting for him to have a bit of a shocker so they could go nuts at him
Yeah, it's been happening a lot in here recently.
oh that is so rich.Playing him at right back has stunted his progress as much as his ridiculous injury record. Saf and Moyes share the blame in this respect.
I still think he's young enough to become a very good CB for us. I feel half of his injuries are caused by his stupidness in going for crazy challenges. If he can mature in this aspect I think he will become far more consistent.
That comment by Saf about him becoming our greatest ever player will possibly be used as a stick to beat him with over his career. In hindsight it was a really stupid comment to make. He won't come anywhere close to that but he can still become a great player for us.
I still think he's young enough to become a very good CB for us. I feel half of his injuries are caused by his stupidness in going for crazy challenges. If he can mature in this aspect I think he will become far more consistent.
That comment by Saf about him becoming our greatest ever player will possibly be used as a stick to beat him with over his career. In hindsight it was a really stupid comment to make. He won't come anywhere close to that but he can still become a great player for us.
I really like Jones. He's been a little off recently but he was our best defender before he got injured. Unlike a lot of you, I can still see him making it here if he rids himself of his injury troubles and stops being such an idiot at times. I don't think he's better than Smalling and Rojo but he's much better than Evans who is 5 years older than him and regressing every season.
Bringing in Laporte and maybe another established defender with Smalling, Jones and Rojo as competition would be as strong a defence we could possibly line up with for the foreseeable future.
Bringing in Laporte and maybe another established defender with Smalling, Jones and Rojo as competition would be as strong a defence we could possibly line up with for the foreseeable future.