[edgar allan]

Was a very poor performance yesterday and it was his mistake that really cost us. Somedays he just has that nervous look from the start where you are expecting something to go wrong.
He has played very well this year and was our most consistent defender however all will be forgotten after yesterday.

His mistake magnified hugely by the fact that as an attacking outfit we were very unlikely to be able to score once Chelsea got ahead. Pogba had the chance to get him off the hook but he also messed it up.

 

[Kush]

To see Hazard play him like a fiddle was laughable, even though he made a number of mistakes before giving away the penalty but he was actually doing the right thing by forcing Hazard to go wide. Hazard never shaped to shoot because he knew angle was difficult against DDG so he just waited to draw a foul and Jones duly obliged. 25 appearances in a season consisting of 60 matches and on top of my head I can already recall two massive blunders, both at Wembley. It's just not good enough, Smalling gets so much shit from our fans but he can actually defend for starters. We badly need a new CB and a pair of new full backs. It's criminal that after spending over £600m in last 5 years our back four consists of Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Young.

 

[mattunited1978]

As Shearer said. everything always seems to be last ditch with him. terrible reader of the game

Agreed, he looks more like a stunt man than a footballer, throwing his usless carcus around last ditch all the time because he dosnt see anything until its already happened. As bad as the challenge was, it was the pissin about when the ball was in the air on halfway that was the most infuriating part of it for me. Cant ever remember a defender whos directly responsible for so many goals conceded through individual errors, maybe titus bramble.

 

[TheFlagStaysDown]

Let's not question Jones time here based on this last game. He always had an error like that in him, it was really stupid because he did well to recover after he terribly read the game, to put hazard out of position.. What I am actually worried about is his lack of pace he shoed in that situation. all in all totally needless tackle and cost us the game unfortunately. If he wasn't rusty and not injured all the time he wouldn't make that mistake I feel, it's always when he doesn't play for long he's capable of a brainfart like this. Unfortunately for him he will never stay fit so he will never iron mistakes like this out of his game, so get rid.

Funnily I think when we get rid of him for peanuts he will become injury free and a solid defender again in some midtable club.

 

[VeevaVee]

Can’t believe some on here pretended he wasn’t a donkey for so long.

Either go for the ball or the block but not somewhere in between and just wipe the player out.

 

[Van Piorsing]

With his injury record, he won't be the main DM there. It's just to make use of him, while he's still in United payroll.

I agree but since him being injured again, he's unable to play anywhere while still on United payroll - like you said.

Also can't sell injured player which means his unending vacations probably won't be interrupted by Ed & Jose even if they by any chance wanted to.

 

[pocco]

Was a very poor performance yesterday and it was his mistake that really cost us. Somedays he just has that nervous look from the start where you are expecting something to go wrong.
He has played very well this year and was our most consistent defender however all will be forgotten after yesterday.

His mistake magnified hugely by the fact that as an attacking outfit we were very unlikely to be able to score once Chelsea got ahead. Pogba had the chance to get him off the hook but he also messed it up.

Smalling. By a country mile.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

He's nowhere near good enough and never has been.
If he was sold this summer, it'd be very telling (and this goes for a good few of our players) which level of team is in for him. It'd be Everton, West Ham etc. Good lad, brave and gutsy but completely brainless. As Shearer said, if he was playing against Jones he'd be 100% confident Phil would make at least one major error he could capitalise on as a striker, per game. Completely spot on. And a damning indication ofa MUFC CB.

Smalling has his faults but put him alongside a pure leader with a cool head, and he'd look immense. Smalling cannot be that guy, himself. Pairing him with a headless chicken like Jones is detrimental to the team.

Sell him this summer, while he's not actually injured. £25million would be a kind offer and would nearly pay for Alderweireld.

 

[manunited1919]

The only reason he is still in the team is because he is English.

 

[FootyGirl88]

This picture just sums him up in my opinion. What top class CB would go in for a challenge like this? Honestly just look at the state of him. Everything about him is just so uncouth.

Jose needs to get firm in the summer and just rid.

 

[Distracted Steward]

Jones has regressed to that struggling, scrambling mess of a centerback.

I honestly believe he would be a nailed on starter we’d could build a defense around if it weren’t for the injuries. Ferguson got carried away, but we’ve all seen the talent. The truth is, he’s never had a chance to hit those heights and probably never will. Every time he gets somewhere he ends up injured and back behind the curve.

The final was a damning indictment of where he is. His positioning before the penalty incident gives him away. He was high and wide with space in behind. He doesn’t have that pessimism and anticipation needed to sniff out problems before they happen. Yes, it was kind of a fluke ball, but one he should have know was possible. If he had tucked in, Hazard would have had to have gone wider and run around him.

But then Jones had his hips wrong and forced himself to turn with Hazard. Had his hips been half turned (chest facing in) and being inside of Hazard, that would have been a foot race. Jones could have just about managed that. Instead he gave Hazard the chance to play to his strengths with no immediate cover available. How at this point in his career with such a known opponent with stakes so high could he not do the little things to set himself up for success? That’s a serious problem. At this level, at this club, a fatal one.

Jones is an athletic center back. Other than Bailly, we haven’t had a center back as athletic as him in a long, long time. The problem is between his ears. I’ve said this before, but he gets himself caught reacting too often. At this level that athleticism is just a wasted tool without top class anticipation and decision making.

He improves, but he ends up in the bench again. He’s had long enough. He’s a know entity. I’d unload Smalling well before I’d unload Jones, but Jones needs to be a dropped to a squad option and phased out.

I’ve been one of Jones’s biggest defenders. I don’t want to miss out on what he could be, but he’s not worth it anymore. He goes too far backwards after injury and has done too little improving his weaknesses. I’m done hoping he’ll ever become starter.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

He's an absolute fecking dope and I'm sick of seeing him play for Utd.

His injury record alone is enough to get rid, and then you add in his ability to perform huge feck ups at crucial times.

Get rid.

 

[MikeKing]

When you play him and Smalling together you have 2 defenders on the pitch who always have a mistake or 2 in them each game.

Smalling and him are an accident waiting to happen. It might not be today's game or the next but you know that they will feck up big time.

He didn’t look right from kick off tbh. Awful decision to make that challenge as it would have been a tough call to beat ddg from that angle. He’s cost us the fa cup, no question about it and I wouldn’t be sorry to see him go in the summer, providing it’s behind Smalling, who I admit played ok today but he always does against a team that have no intention of attacking. We need defenders that can be relied upon in terms of fitness and can bring the ball out of defence otherwise we will continue to have midfielders dropping too deep to pick up the ball.

We have far too many average centre backs. Jones, Smalling, Rojo. Jones is the worst of the lot. Hopefully his final game in a United shirt today.

Ive always been of the opinion that irrespective of Jose’s negative tactics no manager worth his salt could ever afford to play attacking football with our back 4. Not only are they utterly incapable of cutting out catastrophic mistakes that lead to goals but also hopeless of providing any attacking threat.
For too long the likes of Jones, Smalling et al have hid behind the brilliance of DDG. They simply have no place in a utd squad, and I will question where they would find regular football in the current PL...probably bottom 10, just about their level with the likes of J Evans!

He improves, but he ends up in the bench again. He’s had long enough. He’s a know entity. I’d unload Smalling well before I’d unload Jones, but Jones needs to be a dropped to a squad option and phased out.

Can we please stop with this "Jones & Smalling" - thing? Jones doesn't play worse because hes playing next to Smalling. It's just a way for some people to to have a pop at Smalling with no actual excuse to use for Jones, after he has a terrible performance. Jones and Smalling's careers went in way different directions 5 years ago now, it is not fair to Smalling who have been solid as a rock this year, decent last year, beastly the year before, good the year before that, and even decent under Moyes as well. What has Jones done to deserve being named along him as an equal defender? Being overrated by SAF? Have an opinion of your own

 

[Renegade]

Agreed 100%. It’s used to discredit Smalling which is unfair. Jones need to at the very least go out and loan and drain another teams medical resources for a season.

 

[Distracted Steward]

Can we please stop with this "Jones & Smalling" - thing? Jones doesn't play worse because hes playing next to Smalling. It's just a way for some people to to have a pop at Smalling with no actual excuse to use for Jones, after he has a terrible performance. Jones and Smalling's careers went in way different directions 5 years ago now, it is not fair to Smalling who have been solid as a rock this year, decent last year, beastly the year before, good the year before that, and even decent under Moyes as well. What has Jones done to deserve being named along him as an equal defender? Being overrated by SAF? Have an opinion of your own

A bit OTT there, but I’ll focus on the points you make.

Smalling has not been “solid as a rock this year.” He’s been decent to good when deep with everything in front of him. He reads things better that way, can step forward to challenge and doesn’t have to track movement that makes for difficult decisions. He’s been pretty good when that’s the case. Outside of that he looks out of his depth too often. A centerback of his age and experience should not be forced to resort as often as he does to having to grab his opponent in pitiful desperation. He loses his man too often defending set pieces. Yet, you praise him as being “solid as a rock.” Yes, he was more consistent than Jones, but you vastly overstate his performance this season.

Jones and Smalling share a sense of disappointment from United supporters. Smalling has done more in the last five years as you say, but he hasn’t done enough to shake the seemingly majority view that we should have a better player in his place.

Since you mention it, I have to say it, I think Jones suffers from Smallings’s mistakes when they are paired. Unless they were deep with it all in front of them, Smalling caused a positioning problems and didn’t track runners as well. Jones has his own problems, but it’s not like Smalling really showed that veteran’s ability his age and comparative playing time would suggest he should.

In Smalling’s ideal sort of game the two have paired pretty well this season. Still it’s been hard not to look past how we all looked forward to Bailly coming back. What we saw didn’t quite inspire even on Smalling’s best terms.

“Have an opinion of your own” is the sort of outburst that undermines your point and voice in this forum.

 

[Park's Petrified Pooch]

That’s a really even handed assessment of how the two have gone this season. I’d agree with all of that. They both have their issues, but it’s when they’re paired together that they become highlighted the most. They both look better when paired with someone else.

 

[Zoo]

According to Keown it’s because Mourinho doesn’t believe in him but Southgate will make him feel 10 feet tall and teach him how to defend.

Insane.

 

[bond19821982]

Narrow angle , DDG is already on first post , smalling is covering the runner, all he needed to do was stop the shot for second post and he end up fouling the player. Perfect definition of brainless defender.

 

[Isotope]

According to Keown it’s because Mourinho doesn’t believe in him but Southgate will make him feel 10 feet tall and teach him how to defend.

Insane.

Southgate and motivational speech eh!

How'd he feel if Arsenal showed interest in Jones. I bet his tone would change.

 

[Ekeke]

Can’t believe some on here pretended he wasn’t a donkey for so long.

Either go for the ball or the block but not somewhere in between and just wipe the player out.

So according to you, fouling one of the best attacking players in the world inside the box makes a defender a donkey?

I guess 90% of defenders in world football are donkeys by your standards

 

[Loublaze]

He's an absolute fecking dope and I'm sick of seeing him play for Utd.

His injury record alone is enough to get rid, and then you add in his ability to perform huge feck ups at crucial times.

Get rid.

I second this and I actually thought Mourinho was starting to see the light when he dropped him after the Newcastle game. Bailly should've started the FA cup final.

 

[Decomposing In Paris]

I thought that eventually, Jones would turn the corner... but that cup final drained me of any faith I had left in him. A squad player when fit. Didn't have the positional sense, or the right body shape to react to Hazard's first touch... didn't have the pace to catch him, didn't have the wherewithal to make the cynical challenge 40 yards from goal and take the yellow... panicked, and didn't even make Hazard beat the best keeper in the world.

He made Smalling look incredible. Bailly probably should have started on reflection.

 

[MikeKing]

A bit OTT there, but I’ll focus on the points you make.

Smalling has not been “solid as a rock this year.” He’s been decent to good when deep with everything in front of him. He reads things better that way, can step forward to challenge and doesn’t have to track movement that makes for difficult decisions. He’s been pretty good when that’s the case. Outside of that he looks out of his depth too often. A centerback of his age and experience should not be forced to resort as often as he does to having to grab his opponent in pitiful desperation. He loses his man too often defending set pieces. Yet, you praise him as being “solid as a rock.” Yes, he was more consistent than Jones, but you vastly overstate his performance this season.

Jones and Smalling share a sense of disappointment from United supporters. Smalling has done more in the last five years as you say, but he hasn’t done enough to shake the seemingly majority view that we should have a better player in his place.

Since you mention it, I have to say it, I think Jones suffers from Smallings’s mistakes when they are paired. Unless they were deep with it all in front of them, Smalling caused a positioning problems and didn’t track runners as well. Jones has his own problems, but it’s not like Smalling really showed that veteran’s ability his age and comparative playing time would suggest he should.

In Smalling’s ideal sort of game the two have paired pretty well this season. Still it’s been hard not to look past how we all looked forward to Bailly coming back. What we saw didn’t quite inspire even on Smalling’s best terms.

“Have an opinion of your own” is the sort of outburst that undermines your point and voice in this forum.

Sorry about the outburst, probably was ment more in a general way about rating Jones because of what SAF said (because there are those people) and not specifically directed to the posts i quoted. Anyhow, well made points but I just happen to disagree to some extent with all of them. We shouldn't pair them together when rating them because they arrived around the same time. I'll leave it at that. You may like Jones more, but why make the comparison? It feels to me like when Jones is good, Smalling gets rated as inferior... and when Jones is bad while Smalling is great, they are both just shit and our defence sucks. It's getting silly.

 

[NoPace]

Smalling. By a country mile.

Valencia too if you're counting fullbacks. Poor going forward but a fine year defensively.

 

[Craig Ward]

He has good games, he has a good winning mentality but also has that criminal mistake in him.

For the good of the team, with the amount of CB's we have and football being ruthless I genuinely think we need to explore the option of letting him go.

Not just Jones, our whole defence needs a bit of a look.

Rojo/Darmian/Blind also can be sold.

I'd keep Bailly/Lindelof/Smalling and integrate Tuanzebe and sign Toby.

Jones mistake for the penalty was so avoidable - but not the reason we lost the game.

All in all, Jones has has very credible games for us, sometimes you just need to freshen the team up.

He's excel at say, an Everton or Newcastle

 

[A-man]

If Jones would've just let Hazard take the shot, there would have been less than 50% chance of a goal against DDG at that angle and nobody could have blamed Jones for being fooled by Hazard as he is one of the best in the world at what he did in that situation. But taking the kamikaze against a player who protects the ball so perfectly as Hazard is a 100% penalty and a 90% chance of a goal. It is the judgement in the situation that is the problem, not that he was fooled in the first place.

 

[VeevaVee]

So according to you, fouling one of the best attacking players in the world inside the box makes a defender a donkey?

I guess 90% of defenders in world football are donkeys by your standards

No, fouling someone like that means he's a donkey, on top of the countless other times he's looked like a donkey.

 

[Ekeke]

No, fouling someone like that means he's a donkey, on top of the countless other times he's looked like a donkey.

Someone? Well its not just someone its the best dribbler in the league

 

[red4ever 79]

Did he even apologize for that stupidity? I mean to the fans. Should have been marched out and told to explain that brain dead moment.

 

[VeevaVee]

Someone? Well its not just someone its the best dribbler in the league

It was an idiotic way to challenge. He was hardly going full Messi.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Alan shearer described perfectly this guy in one sentence: " everything is last ditch with him". Many times he does it good and it looks like perfect tackle, fans say "wow, great job phil", but in truth it was something that he could resolve earlier with better positioning. It was matter of time when that last ditch tackle will cost us a game. And it happened in most important game of the season.
We must have and we need better than jones. And at this moment we can get good amount money for him. He is in NT in world cup, fit( currently), good age, good Pl experience.

 

[Adisa]

We need to be more proactive in telling players to leave.
He needs to leave.