Phil Jones

gza the genius

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I don't blame Pearce really.

I'm glad he's not actually out for a month but I still hope he doesn't play against Madrid. I'm sure he will though, unfortunately.
 

AngeloHenriquez

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Should have kept his mouth shut, was nothing to do with him...

I sometimes quite like him as a MANAGER, but as a person, I really don't, the more I know, the more I dislike..
 

gza the genius

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It did have something to do with him when he was denied Jones playing for him. Knowing Sir Alex it's obviously very questionable whether Jones actually had anything wrong with him at all, why wouldn't Pearce say something?

Edit: I didn't realize Pearce was the one who revealed jones had shingles, I assumed for some reason Pearce was the one who said he wouldn't be out that long. Either way I still don't think him releasing it was wrong, he was probably just asked why Jones dropped out of the squad.
 

Shimo

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It did have something to do with him when he was denied Jones playing for him. Knowing Sir Alex it's obviously very questionable whether Jones actually had anything wrong with him at all, why wouldn't Pearce say something?
Well from the sounds of it it was privileged patient information that was given to Pearce and the Pearce blabbed the information to the world he had no right to blab about.

Regarding Jones though - maybe he really is ill and Fergie wanted Everton or Madrid to account for him and now that it was broadcasted to the world he'd be out, perhaps this is how Fergie gets them to still think he will be involved - by saying he is in the team for Sunday.
 

adamwest

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He showed he can fill that roll very well. I feel playing like that limits the rest of our play though, and although Giggs had a cracking game i'd have someone with a bit more energy filling his role. There were massive gaps at times in the first half.
 

ha_rooney

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Did a very good job on Fellaini. Hopefully his knock isn't too bad.

I'd prefer if we had a midfield 3 of Kagawa, Clev and Carrick against Madrid but the way Jones has handled Bale and Fellaini in his last two starts in CM, suggests Fergie might start him.
 

Rado_N

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He always looks fecked, even after five mins he looks like he's just finished back to back marathons.
 

Nate Dogg

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Was quite impressed with him, not sure he will play against Real but he deffo can do a job in midfield.

Anyhow what's with the chicken hop after every tackle, challenge.
 

championo

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He always looks fecked, even after five mins he looks like he's just finished back to back marathons.
Has the fact that he has shingles got anything to do with the way he looks at times? I wonder if we knew this before signing him. SAF was very angry that it was let out and I was curious.
Was quite impressed with him, not sure he will play against Real but he deffo can do a job in midfield.

Anyhow what's with the chicken hop after every tackle, challenge.
could be his joints hurting from shingles. When I heard the news this week, a lot started to make sense to me about him.
 

Escobar

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The only question for me is how he deals with much more pressure by Madrid and a tighter midfield. Still not sure if he has the quality to play in midfield in such games. Let's see
 

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He did a good job today by shadowing Fellaini. No wonder everton looked toothless most of the games. Their first proper chance came when Jones tried to make a run and lost the ball to Fellaini who started their attack. Jones was given instructions to allow fellaini time on the ball whenever he felt it was ok to do so. Overall he had a great game. Did his job well.

That said, I don't want Jones to play against madrid in any leg. Today Cleverly had to play under a lot of pressure because Jones clearly had a job to only mark Fellaini and not try to contribute to attack. Also Giggs drifted inside to assist the midfield. He was purely used as a man marker. Ronaldo is a completely different animal to Fellaini. His speed and his runs will cause chaos and one person simply cannot mark him for a whole game. We won't be playing to our strengths and Jones won't be able to provide a satisfactory performance which will give us the desired result, whatever it is. Jones has a tendency to lose focus at certain times and it will be suicidal against madrid
 

Sixpence

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Put in a great shift today with a man marking job, and with shingles that can't have been easy physically. Can't see him being up to playing on Wednesday though sadly.
 

Elliott

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Has the fact that he has shingles got anything to do with the way he looks at times? I wonder if we knew this before signing him. SAF was very angry that it was let out and I was curious.


could be his joints hurting from shingles. When I heard the news this week, a lot started to make sense to me about him.
No. It's not a chronic condition and it very rarely causes joint pain.
 

Kaush949

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Big possibility of him starting on Wednesday in order to nullify Ozil while Carrick and Anderson/Cleverly can spread the play. I have faith in him.
 

Dargonk

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Thought he was very good at the beginning of the game. Though after that I did feel he started to drop a bit before being subbed. Not sure if he picked up a knock or something that caused that.

I quite liked the look of using Jones to negate a key threat in some situations. Fallaini never looked a threat while Jones was on the pitch. Saying that using him in this manner did leave the team a bit light and it really showed when Carrick came one and we suddenly started to control the game far more.
 

Goooose

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I hope the occasion doesn't get the better of him, and I can see him getting frustrated and picking up a yellow because of his physical approach. I think any one of their players will go down at the slightest of touches from any one of our players, not just Jones. He did a good job against Fellaini yesterday but the Madrid midfield is another matter entirely.
 

Dargonk

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I hope the occasion doesn't get the better of him, and I can see him getting frustrated and picking up a yellow because of his physical approach. I think any one of their players will go down at the slightest of touches from any one of our players, not just Jones. He did a good job against Fellaini yesterday but the Madrid midfield is another matter entirely.
Yep, very different playing against a fellow big man who will look to out muscle you, compared to a player that will fall over at the slightest of contact.
 

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He did a good job today by shadowing Fellaini. No wonder everton looked toothless most of the games. Their first proper chance came when Jones tried to make a run and lost the ball to Fellaini who started their attack. Jones was given instructions to allow fellaini time on the ball whenever he felt it was ok to do so. Overall he had a great game. Did his job well.

That said, I don't want Jones to play against madrid in any leg. Today Cleverly had to play under a lot of pressure because Jones clearly had a job to only mark Fellaini and not try to contribute to attack. Also Giggs drifted inside to assist the midfield. He was purely used as a man marker. Ronaldo is a completely different animal to Fellaini. His speed and his runs will cause chaos and one person simply cannot mark him for a whole game. We won't be playing to our strengths and Jones won't be able to provide a satisfactory performance which will give us the desired result, whatever it is. Jones has a tendency to lose focus at certain times and it will be suicidal against madrid
Were Jones to start in Madrid, this wouldn't happen as Carrick would also be in there alongside Cleverley.

Also, I doubt Jones would be asked to man mark Ronaldo either, rather he'd just double up on him on / shut down whatever side of the pitch he is on.
 

Jimy_Hills_Chin

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Were Jones to start in Madrid, this wouldn't happen as Carrick would also be in there alongside Cleverley.

Also, I doubt Jones would be asked to man mark Ronaldo either, rather he'd just double up on him on / shut down whatever side of the pitch he is on.
Rafael + Jones = thou shalt not pass. I am quite confident about this Madrid game. 94% pass completion rate for big Phil too, Xavi style!
 

Rowem

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I do like the idea of Phil Jones in there to help do a job on Ronaldo. I suspect that the decision to use him in this way against Fellaini and Bale is in order to prepare him for Ronaldo. It's a tactic we have employed in Europe in the past with Fletcher or Park being deployed in odd positions to handle an opponent.

However as of yet Jones is not at the level Fletcher was at his best. His passing stats are good but it is evident that sometimes the team passed around him, and he wasn't always looking to receive the ball when he could have done, and sometimes he was so deep/wide that the centre midfield area was vacant. For it to work the rest of the team are going to have to play extremely well and SAF will have to twink the whole team shape accordingly to ensure we have enough in midfield.
 

SER19

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could have a big night ahead of him. have a feeling he'll play.
 

AlwaysRedwood

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I'll go with what Sid Lowe said. The way to beat Real is not to try to man mark Ronaldo. If Jones is in there to do that, we better score 4 goals because Real is going to score a lot.
 

ghaliboy

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I'll go with what Sid Lowe said. The way to beat Real is not to try to man mark Ronaldo. If Jones is in there to do that, we better score 4 goals because Real is going to score a lot.
He shows up everywhere though? Or he did with us. Haven't watched him all that much for Real though to be fair.
 

KingEric7

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I'm terrified that we're going to set up so defensively that we're going to have too few people good enough or on form enough to actually play football and keep possession against such a strong team. Would not be too confident at this moment in time if we played both Jones and Valencia.

Not really a fan of the idea of some sort of man marking job on Ronaldo, to be honest. For one, I think the main and key battle will/should be held between Carrick and Ozil, and secondly it may end up with us having a midfielder dragged all over the pitch, in turn making it difficult to retain possession. It made a bit more sense with Fellaini given that a player like that is a lot more specific in what he provides and how he plays, and it was also of lesser consequence against Everton if we didn't dominate central areas throughout.

Carrick, Anderson and Cleverley make so much sense as a 3 if we're to line up like that. Give Carrick the job of monitoring Ozil, put Cleverley in there to aid in controlling the game and task Anderson with providing that bit of drive and vision. In such a scenario we'd have a well balanced midfield capable of keeping the ball, creating and providing cover.

Carrick and Jones both doing a defensive job on the other hand just seems unnecessary. Not only could it be of detriment to Rooney's attacking threat, but it's probably going to make us more dependant on counter attacking football - something we haven't been too good at this year.
 

Wittmann45

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I'll go with what Sid Lowe said. The way to beat Real is not to try to man mark Ronaldo. If Jones is in there to do that, we better score 4 goals because Real is going to score a lot.
Did Sid Lowe talk about this in an interview or was it part of an article he wrote?

Do you have a link? I'd be interested to read/hear his opinion
 

fishfingers15

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Sid Lowe has suggested that David De Gea is groomed as a replacement for Casillas. He hasn't made it clear if it's for Spain or for Real Madrid. It's speculative bullshit from him and I expected him to do better.
 

TheReligion

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I am pretty sure Jones won't play tonight and I think the correct decision.

Man marking Ronaldo would be a waste of time, especially with someone of Jones current quality and experience. If we ensure he is kept an eye on, doubling up with one my staying tight and the other moping up, we could do some sort of job on him without having to shift personnel specifically for the task.

The issue with this Madrid team is it can hurt you in a number of different ways. Doubling up on him will open up other doors for creative players in their midfield. Also I think we are at our best in Europe when we play our own game and don't simply try and tactically nullify another side.

Tricky one for Fergie, but I expect he will go out to nullify Madrid and it will be backs to the wall stuff for large chunks. Won't be pleasant watching.