Phil Jones

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

The lad is still 20, he is incredibly mature and composed for that age.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Fergie's just called Smalling and Jones our "long-term partnership" so it looks like playing him in midfield and out wide is just about making his game more rounded and finding ways to give him game-time.

Smalling and Jones are possibly United and England's next big partnership. Very pleased to hear that.

I wonder what Evans would make of that.

I do like Evans, but I think Smalling and Jones are both potentially a class above. Evans' constant injuries do bug me as well. I don't think he's gone any 3 month period without one.

 

[Sarni]

One thing is certain - Ferguson will leave a very good defence for his successor. Midfield and attack might not be as good when he quits but defence is basically certain to be in a good shape.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Him and Smalling seem to work really well together, which of course is excellent.

Jones has been utilised in so many different positions for us, I think it's easy to forget (and I think some possibly had) how good he is in his actual position...

 

[NM]

One thing is certain - Ferguson will leave a very good defence for his successor. Midfield and attack might not be as good when he quits but defence is basically certain to be in a good shape.

Are you kidding me? See Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Henriquez and Will Keane. Only 1 is over 25.

The only weak area will probably be midfield/wings.

 

[ricky-romeo]

winning all of his aerial challenges today. i know berba and ruiz are not known for their aerial ability but still a very dominant performance by jones.

 

[lunchforthesky]

Are you kidding me? See Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Henriquez and Will Keane. Only 1 is over 25.

The only weak area will probably be midfield/wings.

I think that's a bit dubious.

Rooney's 27 so he could go either way depending on whether SAF goes into the next two years or so or if it's more like 5 or 6 years.

Hernandez and Welbeck will probably both be good strikers, I don't see either break into the world class bracket or being good enough to be our main forward, they'll both always been to be partnered with an RVP or Rooney.

Henriquez and Keane have proven absolutely nothing at a first team level.

 

[Rozay]

Vidic has been playing very well of late so I don't think, particularly at this stage of the season, that it is time to give Jones any consistent games at CB. I still also rate him third presently behind Smalling and Evans, although he has the potential to be a better CB than Evans I believe.

 

[Andrew~]

Where's all this 'he's got a bit of John Terry about him' nonsense coming from? His playing style is so different to Terry's that it just seems like an insane reach.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

Where's all this 'he's got a bit of John Terry about him' nonsense coming from? His playing style is so different to Terry's that it just seems like an insane reach.

He is reminiscent at centre back of John Terry. That has always been the comparison made against Jones, many in the game see him as the future England captain. SAF has said that he is better at 20 than John Terry was and that he has more to his game, both points are correct in my opinion.

 

[Sarni]

Are you kidding me? See Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck, Henriquez and Will Keane. Only 1 is over 25.

The only weak area will probably be midfield/wings.

Assuming Fergie leaves in 3-4 years, Rooney will be over 30. Hernandez and Welbeck are good but not really the very top tier. feck knows how Henriquez and Keane are going to develop, we've had a dozen strikers who performed as well as Keane in reserves and didn't go on to have good careers at the top level. In defence quality is proven.

 

[Brwned]

Assuming Fergie leaves in 3-4 years, Rooney will be over 30. Hernandez and Welbeck are good but not really the very top tier. feck knows how Henriquez and Keane are going to develop, we've had a dozen strikers who performed as well as Keane in reserves and didn't go on to have good careers at the top level. In defence quality is proven.

I agree with your overall point as if you look at other club's you have the likes of Courtois, Varane, Alaba and others who look nailed-on to be top level performers but none of them have as many as us. We're very lucky to have De Gea, Rafael, Smalling and Jones while most of the other top clubs have just one, maybe two.

The Will Keane stuff is pure nonsense though.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Where's all this 'he's got a bit of John Terry about him' nonsense coming from? His playing style is so different to Terry's that it just seems like an insane reach.

He is not dissimilar when he plays at centre back.


And to be honest if he becomes as good as terry in his prime I think we should all be very happy.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

I really think that we need to see Jones play the next game at CB. I really think that he needs to be given more exposure in that position.

 

[Andrew~]

He is reminiscent at centre back of John Terry. That has always been the comparison made against Jones, many in the game see him as the future England captain. SAF has said that he is better at 20 than John Terry was and that he has more to his game, both points are correct in my opinion.

To be fair, many in the game don't seem to know their arse from their face. Jones is only 20 and he has already shown a lot of raw capabilities that Terry never had. Pace, touch, passing, positioning (which needs to, and will improve). He does things like carry the ball into space, and play 1-2s in crucial attacking areas... Terry has never shown that level of technical ability.

Comparing Jones to Terry is as lazy as all the Rio-Smalling comparisons. Sure, they sort of vaguely resemble each other but that's it really.

 

[Shimo]

Smalling and Jones are possibly United and England's next big partnership. Very pleased to hear that.



I do like Evans, but I think Smalling and Jones are both potentially a class above. Evans' constant injuries do bug me as well. I don't think he's gone any 3 month period without one.

But Jones and Smalling who have been injured a lot more don't bug you more?

 

[Andrew~]

He is not dissimilar when he plays at centre back.


And to be honest if he becomes as good as terry in his prime I think we should all be very happy.

As I said above, he's very dissimilar. And in all honesty, I'd expect more from Jones than Terry's level - a player who is sickeningly overrated.

 

[Buchan]

De Gea

Rafael - Smalling - Jones - Fabio/Another​

The future bodes well alright. Seriously good defence there.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

Comparing Jones to Terry is as lazy as all the Rio-Smalling comparisons. Sure, they sort of vaguely resemble each other but that's it really.

'We have said before he looks a little like John Terry in his body language and he had a great Premier League debut'

Sam Allardyce

'John Terry's definitely someone I idolise - he's a fantastic player and I've always looked up to him'

Phil Jones

"Well, I think he's got more in his locker than Terry had to be honest with you but Terry gathered experience and became a fantastic central figure for Chelsea.

"Obviously, he was the main man at Chelsea but, as a young player, I think John would be the first to admit he didn't have the pace of Jones.

"He's a very versatile boy while John is a centre-back. Jones is proving himself everywhere."

SAF after being asked about the comparisons.

Nobody said that Jones was a clone of Terry, just that in the centre back position, there are some definite similarities.

Do you not think that Jones is a potential future England captain?

 

[KM]

He is not dissimilar when he plays at centre back.


And to be honest if he becomes as good as terry in his prime I think we should all be very happy.

Yeah me too.

You don't become the captain of a Jose Mourinho, Capello teams if you're not world class. Terry at his peak was utterly world class.

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

Yeah me too.

You don't become the captain of a Jose Mourinho, Capello teams if you're not world class. Terry at his peak was utterly world class.

Aye

He was voted, by his fellow pros, into the World team of the year 5 times.

 

[Andrew~]

Do you not think that Jones is a potential future England captain?

Nope. To my mind, Joe Hart is the outstanding candidate for England captaincy among the younger players. Even Wilshere has shown more leadership capabilities on the pitch than Jones.

Besides, he's 20 years old. Why not talk about his playing style instead of crystal ball gazing about the England captaincy?

 

[Jimy_Hills_Chin]

Besides, he's 20 years old. Why not talk about his playing style instead of crystal ball gazing about the England captaincy?

Talk about whatever you want!

 

[Moriarty]

Yeah me too.

You don't become the captain of a Jose Mourinho, Capello teams if you're not world class. Terry at his peak was utterly world class.

Can't argue with that. Not as good as Rio at his best but a damned good stopper all the same. Rumour was that we tried to sign him before the Mafia Man took over at Chelsea. Now that would have been some combo at the back for us.

 

[Brwned]

To be fair, many in the game don't seem to know their arse from their face. Jones is only 20 and he has already shown a lot of raw capabilities that Terry never had. Pace, touch, passing, positioning (which needs to, and will improve). He does things like carry the ball into space, and play 1-2s in crucial attacking areas... Terry has never shown that level of technical ability.

Comparing Jones to Terry is as lazy as all the Rio-Smalling comparisons. Sure, they sort of vaguely resemble each other but that's it really.

Jones is more versatile and more rounded but when I think of Terry I think of his leadership, his no-nonsense approach and his last-ditch tackles - all of which are very much evident in Jones. I have no idea how you can say Terry's positioning wasn't good while Jones' is, Jones is constantly caught out of position and uses his recovery pace to make up for it. Terry never had that luxury and could never have been such a dominant figure in a team with the best goals conceded record (04/05) in the last 20 years without having excellent positional sense.

 

[Andrew~]

Jones is more versatile and more rounded but when I think of Terry I think of his leadership, his no-nonsense approach and his last-ditch tackles - all of which are very much evident in Jones. I have no idea how you can say Terry's positioning wasn't good while Jones' is, Jones is constantly caught out of position and uses his recovery pace to make up for it. Terry never had that luxury and could never have been such a dominant figure in a team with the best goals conceded record (04/05) in the last 20 years without having excellent positional sense.

As I said above, it's far too early to speak of Jones' leadership considering he's only 20 and hasn't even led anyone for United because he is surrounded by far better and more experienced players than he is. He certainly seems to have a strong personality and has shown a certain level of fearlessness, but none of these equate to 'leadership'. It's far too early to be crowning him the future of England when he hasn't even cemented a first team place at his club.

As for the bold bit, that's essentially why I don't rate Terry very highly as a player, but he is a great leader. His positioning was not excellent, and he had no pace to make up for it. And this is specifically why Terry made so many eye-catching 'no nonsense' last-ditch tackles. Even with someone like Carvalho (who was the better defender despite not being voted to any 'world team of the year' awards) marshalling the defence, Terry got continually caught out of position and outpaced by attacking players, hence the constant last ditch tackles.

You mention the 04/05, but to be honest, that was a credit to the system rather than them having a set of stellar defenders. This was when Makelele was the real lynchpin of the Chelsea team acting as support for that defence. It's no coincidence that as soon as Mourinho left and Carvalho followed, Terry has looked far from 'excellent'. Every manager since has attempted to open the team's playing style up and Terry has looked vulnerable. His decision making and positioning are not very good even at this point in his career and he doesn't have the pace to make up for it. If your defender is making a lot of last ditch tackles, it probably means he's made several mental mistakes in the build-up to that tackle.

Jones has a similar problem when it comes to positioning, but that's not much of a worry since a lot of it can be attributed to inexperience and we have plenty of time to coach it out of him. Not saying Terry was a particularly bad defender, but he just had some fundamental weaknesses to his game for him to considered one of the best. He's very strong physically and quite decisive, and also (obviously) has been a great leader at Chelsea. But looking at Jones' raw capabilities, I'd expect more from him than being a mere John Terry.

 

[Brwned]

He was a leader for the u21s and for Blackburn. Alongside Smalling in the Euro's it was clear as day he had captaincy potential and he's gone to show glimpses of that throughout his United career.

Yes we've all heard the silly idea that anyone who makes last-ditch tackles is poor positionally and Makelele or Carvalho or Mourinho was actually the reason for their solidity. Neither are true and Terry was an excellent defender at one point. If it were true Stam and Vidic would be marked down in the same vein but we all know they were excellent defenders. Just because they don't read the game as well as Nesta or Rio does not mean they don't read the game well.

I don't understand what you were saying in the first place about Jones positioning in comparison to Terry's though. You said it was one of Jones' strengths that Terry never had, but then you go on to admit he has a similar problem with it and in fact does make so many last-ditch tackles which of course means he can't possibly have "good positioning"...

 

[Andrew~]

He was a leader for the u21s and for Blackburn. Alongside Smalling in the Euro's it was clear as day he had captaincy potential and he's gone to show glimpses of that throughout his United career.

Yes we've all heard the silly idea that anyone who makes last-ditch tackles is poor positionally and Makelele or Carvalho or Mourinho was actually the reason for their solidity. Neither are true and Terry was an excellent defender at one point. If it were true Stam and Vidic would be marked down in the same vein but we all know they were excellent defenders. Just because they don't read the game as well as Nesta or Rio does not mean they don't read the game well.

I don't understand what you were saying in the first place about Jones positioning in comparison to Terry's though. You said it was one of Jones' strengths that Terry never had, but then you go on to admit he has a similar problem with it and in fact does make so many last-ditch tackles which of course means he can't possibly have "good positioning"...

Yeah. For a 20 year old, his positioning is unnaturally good. For a 20 year old. He definitely needs to improve on that regard though. As for his leadership, like I said above, who cares? I haven't seen much in that regard from Jones that makes me think he'll be captain material but at this point in time it's neither here nor there.

Last ditch tackles aren't bad per se. They are just a symptom of either (a) poor play from your defence, or (b) excellent play from the attacking team. And I will maintain that Terry benefited from having better players around him, so we can agree to disagree there.

 

[I'm always right]

I haven't seen much in that regard from Jones that makes me think he'll be captain material but at this point in time it's neither here nor there.

Seriously? he's non stop talking, shouting, organising, add to that the way he plays the game and well....

 

[Adebesi]

Terry got continually caught out of position and outpaced by attacking players, hence the constant last ditch tackles.

This is the bit I don't get. Surely if you've been caught out of position, and the other guy is quicker than you, you won't be making last ditch tackles, you won't be close enough to the player. If you got the tackle in, and the other guy is faster than you, your positioning must have been quite good.

 

[Amar__]

The attacking player also with the ball, so that's slowing him down, and he needs time to adjust his body to shot and to look where the keeper and goal are, that takes time, and even if you are defender who is slower than him, you can catch him if you are not much behind because all of these factors he has to deal with.

 

[Ruud10]

Terry, more than any defender I've ever seen, got away with a massive number of fouls and handballs in the box.

I hope Jones never has to resort to serial cheating to accomplish what Terry had accomplished during his career.

 

[Rossa]

Terry, more than any defender I've ever seen, got away with a massive number of fouls and handballs in the box.

I hope Jones never has to resort to serial cheating to accomplish what Terry had accomplished during his career.

Now you are just belittling a very good defender, going all RAWKish here. Terry was a very, very good defender, and the discussion of who was better than he or Rio wasn't unjustified. He has always lacked pace, but so has Vidic. He cheats like a madman, but the fact that he gets away with it shows that he knows what he is doing. I remember Hyypia outpacing Giggs - I thought blatant red card immediatly, but the ref had no chance of seeing that Hyypia was tugging to Giggs' shirt as if his life depended on it. Part of the game...

 

[Sarni]

I agree with your overall point as if you look at other club's you have the likes of Courtois, Varane, Alaba and others who look nailed-on to be top level performers but none of them have as many as us. We're very lucky to have De Gea, Rafael, Smalling and Jones while most of the other top clubs have just one, maybe two.

The Will Keane stuff is pure nonsense though.

Why? What makes you think Keane is going to be a world class striker for sure? His record for reserves was excellent but it doesn't guarantee the same return in professional football.

 

[KingEric7]

It's the 'dozen strikers' part. Granted that we've had someone like Rossi who was comfortably better, but Keane looks a stand out talent compared to the vast majority of other forwards we've had at that level. At least in the time I've been supporting at least.

 

[Brightonian]

What other club in the world can take away two world-class first choice central defenders like Rio and Vidic and still have three left as good and as promising as Smalling, Evans and Jones? Wonderful depth of quality there.

And anyone claiming that Fergie won't also leave his successor a brilliant set of forwards is barking. Currently, ours is up there with the best in the world. Yes, RVP and eventually Rooney will be too old, but some people are talking as if Fergie will just do nothing about that. He'll replace quality with quality, and unlike with midfielders, he has a flawless record at buying or nurturing strikers. You have to base your assumptions on what we have now - a problematic midfield, but an excellent set of forwards and defenders.

 

[lunchforthesky]

Terry, more than any defender I've ever seen, got away with a massive number of fouls and handballs in the box.

I hope Jones never has to resort to serial cheating to accomplish what Terry had accomplished during his career.

Gentile, Montero, Samuel, Carvalho, Goikoetxea, Materazzi and all sorts of other world class defenders loved a foul.

Fouling is part of good defending to be honest. You do what it takes to stop goals going in your nets.

John Terry at his peak was better than any of the current crop of centre backs imo. We have a really crap bunch at the moment, pretty much no genuinely great centre backs around imo. If Jones turns out as good a stopper as Terry was I'd be very happy indeed.

 

[Relevated]

Gentile, Montero, Samuel, Carvalho, Goikoetxea, Materazzi and all sorts of other world class defenders loved a foul.

Fouling is part of good defending to be honest. You do what it takes to stop goals going in your nets.

John Terry at his peak was better than any of the current crop of centre backs imo. We have a really crap bunch at the moment, pretty much no genuinely great centre backs around imo. If Jones turns out as good a stopper as Terry was I'd be very happy indeed.

Even Vidic has done it on occasion.

 

[kps88]

He's been selected in the England U-21 squad for their friendly. Hodgson apparently keen on him to be part of the tournament in the summer as well. Bit bizarre, he should be part of the senior squad really.

 

[Forevergiggs]

He's been selected in the England U-21 squad for their friendly. Hodgson apparently keen on him to be part of the tournament in the summer as well. Bit bizarre, he should be part of the senior squad really.

It's more nonsense than it is bizarre. He is way over the U21 level. Already has 5 caps for England and was part of the Euro 2012 squad. Preposterous to name him in the U21 squad for the friendly. Fergie won't be happy. He should express his views on the decision.