4
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 13
- Clean sheets
- 6
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
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It is really funny how people fail to understand that this is pre season and all center backs are going to make mistakes at some point. Has anyone considered that maybe Schweinstiger being the world class CDM/CM he is, should have fully tracked zlatan back I stead of stopping at half way and failing to communicate with Phil Jones to keep heads up? No.Phil should have tried to be more aware but the lack of perspective is astonishing. I will laugh very much when the cafe goes crazy if we get a center back and he makes some mistakes during games.
Absolutely. Every CB is likely to make these odd mistakes from time to time. Also these late running players are very difficult to track. Michael Owen scored a lot of goals from that position when he played for Newcastle under Keegan with Viduka and Martins ahead of him. Lampard was also very good at making these runs. It is very difficult for CB to track these late runs. I think we tend to over analyze at times and emphasize more on negatives rather than positives. He looks a decent player.
Absolutely. He should have kept his head up once, but Schweinstiger is at fault for failing to track back his man and failing to communicate with Phil Jones. All defenders make mistakes during games, that is how chances are created and goals are scored. It is the frequency of the mistake being made, being able to recover from it, and learning from it that plays a factor in what makes a good defender or a bad one.
Not even on bench. Is he injured?
Woah! Get well soon.
That's a bit serious? Hope he recovers well. Need to get Rojo up to fitness in case we have an injury then.
Yikes! It always puzzles me how athletes can be unlucky enough to get thrombosis. The only other times I ever heard of that in athletes was with a few ice hockey players.
He cant catch a break. 
Get well soon Phil!
Get well soon Phil!
Gutted. Hopefully he's fine sooner.
Nice to see rational opinions in this thread.
There is nothing he could have done to prevent this.
Hope he gets well soon. It's a shame for him as it seemed he was first choice.
There is nothing he could have done to prevent this.
Hope he gets well soon. It's a shame for him as it seemed he was first choice.
If it means Smalling starts, then I'm not that fussed. Sorry if that sounds incredibly blunt and harsh.
I mean obviously, they should be starting together, but Van Gaal and his hipster ways.
I mean obviously, they should be starting together, but Van Gaal and his hipster ways.
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<insert Joke about Phil Jones being so reckless he even bumps into people in car-parks here>
So he's been back in training for a week ?
Need him back now ASAP with Shaw's injury.
Need him back now ASAP with Shaw's injury.
I want this man back and Blind to go to left back
We might finally get my dream of the smalling and Jones partnership
We might finally get my dream of the smalling and Jones partnership
Back in the squad for the Sunderland match?
That's about the only positive about Shaw being out, it forces LvG to move Blind, which makes room for Jones and Rojo.
I wouldn't be too surprised if we get to see McNair in there for a few games as well.
Man Utd 3:0 Ipswich
Nice to see Jonesy back, especially at a time when we're struggling with injuries in defence.
While I don't really rate him it was good to see him get 30 minutes under his belt given our current defensive injuries.
Jones-Blind becomes a reality during the season 
Man Utd 3:0 Sunderland
So, why exactly did he play right CB today with Smalling moving to the left when van Gaal and people here who apparently know van Gaal's stuff spent pre-season explaining to everyone that Smalling can't play on the left? Just van Gaal changing his philosophy again or Smalling becoming left CB in the meantime?
Btw, glad that he is finally back, at least we have some back up now.
Btw, glad that he is finally back, at least we have some back up now.
A part of the philosophy I guess. When you make a substitution you must feck with at least 2 players positions.
Doesn't make any sense apart from that. Jones played LCB last season with Smalling, and Smalling has rarely ever played LCB. The last time I remember him playing there was in the FA cup tie vs Arsenal - where he was again moved from RCB after a substitution.
Surprised he was moved to RCB as when him and Smalling played together last season he played as the LCB.
Yep.
But people and van Gaal will keep on convincing other people on van Gaal's rules only for van Gaal to ignore them completely and do something completely different. It's not big thing in general, but discussions about van Gaal's rules have became so boring that I feel the need to criticise it when he breaks them(and that happens often).
I assume that since our ball-playing CB went off, he wanted Jones on his stronger foot since he's better at passing the ball out from the back than Smalling is. I'm not sure what else it could possibly be.
He obviously wants Jones to get ready for his RCB spot when fully fit, because Blind will play LCB.
He is a good back-up option but I do not rate him highly enough to be a key player for us. He has time on his side of course but he really needs to sort out his injury problems.
Going out on a limb here but i'm looking forward to seeing Jones starting for us. Smalling's marauding runs are great to watch and I think Jones is a better footballer than him. With the newfound midfield solidity this season his ability to join the attack could cause the opposition real problems. Jones & Blind against weaker teams could be great to watch.
Smalling has been a rock at the back for us and been our best defender so far. I am not sure changing our CB partnership for the sake of it is a good idea. We should keep our back 5 as similar as possible so that they can form a good understanding with each other. It would make no sense to drop Smalling for Jones against any team at the moment.
Yeah, I'm not sure I'd drop Smalling. Just saying I'm looking forward to Jones playing again. He might add something a bit different. Not that it's worth breaking up the Blind-Smalling partnership though.
Even if Jones is better footballer than Smalling (debatable IMO as Smalling has improved a lot), he isn't a good enough footballer to make much difference to our attack. He can be reasonably relied upon to pass to teammates close to him but doesn't have ability to hurt opponents with his passing. Nor do his runs from deep cause the opponents much problems (neither do Smallings, btw) - I don't remember the last time Jones made a significant contribution for us to score goal from open play. (Edit: Disclaimer: Apart from his first season at United, which was terrific but he hasn't replicated that since).
Having said that, I too am looking forward to Jones playing again as I think LVG can develop as an excellent defender in a similar way to Smalling.
See I would disagree with this. This was discussed on MOTD recently actually. We're very one-paced when it comes to passing it round. Which is a problem. However the two ways we do manage inject a bit of urgency is either Blind picking out a ripper of a pass or Smalling using his pace to charge forward. He has improved a lot but I just think Jones could add a little more if it was him making the marauding runs. Which we've seen glimpses of in the past when he was picked in midfield but only very rarely as a defender because he's never had the luxury of Carrick and Schneiderlin plugging gaps when he leaves his post.
Tbh I am not a big Jones fan. Think he is too rash and he still has those rough edges to his game. I know he will get his chances soon but right now we are leading the table and I think it is better not to tinker too much with a formula which is providing results and put some serious pressure on the chasing pack over the next few weeks.
Man Utd 2:1 Wolfsburg
Hopefully he starts against Arsenal with Smalling allowing Blind to go to LB and Darmian to go to RB.
Good to have him back. Did well today late on.
Doesn't seem likely.
Seems he isn't fit for a full game yet plus LVG has that left foot fetish still.
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