[RedMachine03]

So, nothing new in Jonah's world - he is injured again.

Van Gaal first said he is in the red zone - meaning he is tired, but he is injured after all considering the latest reports are that he is "back on training pitch".

So, basically, he was fit just for few games since start of the season and we will have people again telling us how he is not injured all the time and asking how he is not first choice ahead of Blind.

Where did you read that he was injured?

 

[Amar__]

I prefer him over Blind in some games, but think that sometimes having Blind is better because of his distribution since we have Smalling playing alongside him.

But we are in situation where we can't rest Smalling at all because Jones is injured all the time, so we have to play Smalling for full 120 minutes in fecking cup game because Jones is injured again.

Tomorrow is another game where we could give Smalling a rest before the busy schedule but Jones is probably not ready yet.

Basically he isn't reliable to be a squad option, let alone first choice.

 

[Amar__]

Where did you read that he was injured?

He missed last three games, van Gaal said on Monday that he was "doing bit of running" before the CSKA game and he didn't get any minutes against CSKA, I think it's fair to assume that he was injured.

Even though, you can call it however you want, injury or whatever, the thing is that he missed three games again and he probably isn't ready to start tomorrow again.

 

[Adisa]

I would prefer Jones against West Brom. Pulls has come to score from set pieces.

 

[Jayvin]

If Jones can shake off his injury problems like Smalling seemingly has, then we've got by far the best central defence in the league. They are both sensational players.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Hope he makes it for tomorrow. The partnership with Smalling in 2015 when he's been fit has been excellent.

You might lose Blind's occasional pick out pass, but actually being able to handle himself when faced by a player at 6ft and over...it weighs out.

 

[Cooksen]

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I know lvg likes players who can adapt but this is a bit too much imo.

 

[Devil may care]

Looked a little unsure at RB but I guess the main goal was just to get minutes under his belt.

 

[marlowe78]

Played him on the right for solidity but in no way a long-term solution. Not good enough on the ball to play there.

 

[.Rossi]

I give up....

It's an absolute joke

 

[Skills]

Played very, very well today. Can't keep fit.

 

[Minimalist]

He's a crock. Think I've said that 10 times at least now.

He's not even that good anyway for christ sake. Time to move him on.

 

[sullydnl]

If these injury problems are going to continue then there's not much point keeping him. Especially as there are quite a few talented CBs around.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

I don't think he is badly injured. It looked precautionary to me, given his record with injuries.

 

[Amar__]

He is obviously still the most unreliable player in our squad.

There were people who said at start of the season that he should be starter ahead of Smalling. Also, I remember the reactions to one post month or two ago that praised him a lot saying he isn't injury prone at all and blaming everyone who says that, loads of people agreed with that. Incredible.

If these injury problems are going to continue then there's not much point keeping him. Especially as there are quite a few talented CBs around.

Yep.

As I said earlier this season, we got rid of Rafael even though our RB position is still a mess, and he has showed more than Jones in his United career, but rewarded Jones with new contract.

 

[Kag]

Frustrating because he was very good today. Infact, his defending all season has been largely improved.

 

[Adisa]

Can't rely in him.

 

[Devil may care]

Built like an OX but seemingly made of glass. He played pretty well before his injury though, his headed interception in the first half and the chase back against Ighalo were the highlights.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Despite the injuries, we should still believe in him. He's only 23, and in my opinion, a really good defender. Smalling, up until this season, was like Jones with injuries, now look at him.

Hopefully nothing too serious.

 

[sizzling sausages]

He is obviously still the most unreliable player in our squad.

There were people who said at start of the season that he should be starter ahead of Smalling. Also, I remember the reactions to one post month or two ago that praised him a lot saying he isn't injury prone at all and blaming everyone who says that, loads of people agreed with that. Incredible.



Yep.

As I said earlier this season, we got rid of Rafael even though our RB position is still a mess, and he has showed more than Jones in his United career, but rewarded Jones with new contract.

That post you refer to didn't say he isn't injury prone, it said that his injuries don't come from him jumping into reckless challenges and injuring himself because of that.

And Rafael wasn't just sold because he was injury prone, it's clear van Gaal just didn't rate him. Which doesn't seem to be the case with Jones as he usually starts when fit.

 

[ZDwyr]

He was very good all game. Unfortunate about the injury. I am willing to persist though because he is playing well when he does play.

 

[SteveW]

Excellent player. Just needs to be given some time to get his injury problems sorted. Amazing how many people just want to give up on him at 23. So stupid.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Excellent player. Just needs to be given some time to get his injury problems sorted. Amazing how many people just want to give up on him at 23. So stupid.

Exactly, the same people would have got rid of Smalling at 23 too but you can probably find them firmly up his ass now.

 

[Amar__]

That post you refer to didn't say he isn't injury prone, it said that his injuries don't come from him jumping into reckless challenges and injuring himself because of that.

And Rafael wasn't just sold because he was injury prone, it's clear van Gaal just didn't rate him. Which doesn't seem to be the case with Jones as he usually starts when fit.

Van Gaal played Rafael at the start until he got injured few times in a row and then he completely gave up on him, with many people here saying that Valencia should play mostly because you can count on him in every game, even if he isn't better than Rafael.

I think that post said otherwise, I'll try to find it later.

However, he is unreliable and shouldn't be trusted to be a starter for us.

 

[Amar__]

Smalling was nothing like him before, I don't know why people make that out. Smalling was always very good defender who had problems with injuries, and very rarely he was poor defensively. Jones didn't have single season where you could say he was very good defensively, he is player with lot of potential but he was always prone to mistakes and shit games every once in a while all while being injury prone.

 

[marlowe78]

I got into a brief converse with a few on the match thread when I asked (rhetorically) why we keep Jones. For all of his strengths, Jones AFAIC is just taking up payroll when he's on the physio bench most of the time. We can draw comparisons to Smalling but in my own view Jones has never looked to really have the potential of Smalling and he's out of the lineup so often that we can't really tell what his potential is at this point.

 

[sullydnl]

Exactly, the same people would have got rid of Smalling at 23 too but you can probably find them firmly up his ass now.

Aye but we had Rio and Vidic ahead of Smalling at that age, didn't we? Whereas Jones is probably one of our first choice CBs right now. Big difference.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Aye but we had Rio and Vidic ahead of Smalling at that age, didn't we? Whereas Jones is probably one of our first choice CBs right now. Big difference.

Not really as they were also injured half the time and had turned to shit while Smalling was 23. How is having less options an excuse for writing him off and wanting him sold?

 

[prath92]

I don't really get how people still say that he's a liability or accident waiting to happen when the only goal he's been responsible for in the past year has been stepping up to play Berahino offside in the 2-2 last season and people still saying that he injures himself by going in for stupid challenges when none of his injuries in the past 2 years have been caused by him making a an unnecessary challenge. Lazy stereotypes used by people who prefer to see the negatives rather than the large number of positives he's shown in the past year. In yesterdays game he cleaned up a number of times when Smalling was caught out of position or got caught too far forward yet if it was the other way round people would be slating him. People say he cant pass yet he consistently has higher pass completion than most defenders in the league and people say he cant read the game yet he consistently has higher interception stats than most defenders along with having more clearances and duels won than most defenders. But yeah he must be shit because it looks as though something bad might happen despite the fact that it very rarely actually does happen. People really do see what they want when it comes to certain players and judge certain players on a different scale to others.

Just saw this and the main thing is he makes needless challenges at needless times. Last year against Newcastle at OT we were leading 3-0 and he trips colback who was going nowhere just inside the box. Then against Arsenal away last season, he was all over the place. He screwed up many passes and graciously made mistakes notably the header on the ground and the awkward pass to DDG which de gea had no idea how he cleared. He can recover most times but the fact is that he gets into these situations. Not to mention he went and kicked out at Henderson at anfield which may have been red on another day (he had banged also into lallana recklessly early on) as he kicked him in the knees. This is what scares me. He may be faster and burlier than blind but blind is more assured and doesn't put in reckless and needless challenges frequently. Jones is fully capable of a moment of madness.

Personally I ike Jones. But the fact is he is always on the edge.

 

[jb8521]

Just saw this and the main thing is he makes needless challenges at needless times. Last year against Newcastle at OT we were leading 3-0 and he trips colback who was goIng nowhere just inside the box. Then against Arsenal away last season, he was all over the place. He screwed up many passes and graciously made mistakes notably the header on the ground and the awkward pass to DDG which de gea had no idea how he cleared. He can recover most times but the fact is that he gets into these situations. Not to mention he went and kicked out at Henderson at anfield which may have been red on another day (he had banged also into lallana recklessly early on) as he kicked him in the knees. This is what scares me. He may be faster and burlier than blind but blind is more assured and doesn't put in reckless and needless challenges frequently. Jones is fully capable of a moment of madness.

Personally I ike Jones. But the fact is he is always on the edge.

He didn't play in the away game against Arsenal last year so fair play to him for managing to be all over the place. From what I remember of the penalty against Newcastle he pulled away his leg and Colback went down. He didn't kick out against Henderson he mistimed a tackle on the touch line and rightly got booked for it and the 1 with Lallana was a ball in the air which was there to be contested which he actually got his head to which looked bad because rather than go for the header Lallana just moved his body across Jones and planted himself. As for the header on the ground he slipped, it happens but he reacted to that and improvised to deny Giroud a goalscoring chance.

 

[Red Dreams]

love the lad. 100% commitment. And he is a damn good player.

 

[prath92]

He didn't play in the away game against Arsenal last year so fair play to him for managing to be all over the place. From what I remember of the penalty against Newcastle he pulled away his leg and Colback went down. He didn't kick out against Henderson he mistimed a tackle on the touch line and rightly got booked for it and the 1 with Lallana was a ball in the air which was there to be contested which he actually got his head to which looked bad because rather than go for the header Lallana just moved his body across Jones and planted himself. As for the header on the ground he slipped, it happens but he reacted to that and improvised to deny Giroud a goalscoring chance.

The Arsenal home sorry.

In that game he was all over the place. He recovered well to improvise regarding that particular incident after initially screwing dealing what was a very simple air ball to deal with. He mistimed his jump, panicked and then slipped and recovered. That's not even the only incident in that match where he panicked and almost screwed up. There was an incident I remember where a loose ball was chased by him followed by giroud and de gea was coming forward. Panicking, he kicked the ball which could have caught DDG off guard. Thankfully DDG's reflexes made him stretch his leg and the ball went out for a throw.

At anfield he didn't kick out Costa style but that mistimed tackle hit Henderson in the knee. That's reckless tbf mistimed or not. Which again was a result of him panicking after blind was dispossessed in our left flank.

That is his problem imo. Panicky. Unlike blind and Smalling who rarely panic under pressure. This is why Jones seem to have more of these accidents. But don't mistake me, I like defenders like him but he needs to be more calm. So does Rojo. Though as you said, he is young and LvG can coach it out of him if he stays fit.

PS- hope I didn't offend you or anything. Cheers

 

[DJ Jeff]

Am I the only one who is delighted to have him and Smalling as our CB partnership for the coming years, injuries permitting? I don't want us to sign a Jones replacement if he can stay fit. Physical monster and a fine defender.

 

[SirAF]

Am I the only one who is delighted to have him and Smalling as our CB partnership for the coming years, injuries permitting? I don't want us to sign a Jones replacement if he can stay fit. Physical monster and a fine defender.

Nah, I agree with you.

 

[Kag]

Am I the only one who is delighted to have him and Smalling as our CB partnership for the coming years, injuries permitting? I don't want us to sign a Jones replacement if he can stay fit. Physical monster and a fine defender.

No, they're great together. Always have been.

 

[SteveW]

Am I the only one who is delighted to have him and Smalling as our CB partnership for the coming years, injuries permitting? I don't want us to sign a Jones replacement if he can stay fit. Physical monster and a fine defender.

I agree as well. Just need to get them consistently fit at the same time. They always do well together

 

[MAME DIOUF 32]

His improvements are nearly as impressive as Smalling's for me, although probably heavily influenced by having Smalling alongside him. At 23 he's worth persevering with.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Please stay fit. He's improved so damn much.

 

[NK86]

He could be a very good defender if he actually played regularly.

 

[mu77]

He could be a very good defender if he actually played regularly.

this , in a nutshell.