Rojo & Jones Must Continue as First Choice

[sunama]

Long it may continue. Today i did not feel scared once even though, Sunderland has got some physical players.

This is a very good point.
Last season under LVG, with Smalling and Blind as CBs, everytime an opponent got anywhere near our defence, I felt that DDG was going to have to perform a wonder save.
With Rojo and Jones, I never feel worried, even when our opponents are "in the area".
The only way Sunderland were able to score, was through Borini's wonder goal. And lets be honest, no defence or GK was ever going to be able to stop that shot.

 

[carlosp]

They've definitely been tested - Sanchez, Lukaku, Giroud, Kane et al. The only good strikers they haven't yet faced is Costa and Aguero, and lets face it, those were early fixtures where Jose didn't really have a clue as to which lineup was our best and we were using odd combinations like Rojo and Blind, behind yet more experimentation in midfield..

http://www.skysports.com/manchester-united-results

Erm. Bailly and Smalling were the CB's for the Chelsea game. Blind was LB and Valencia RB.

Bailly and Smalling had been playing together as CB for 7 games before that Chelsea game.

Rojo and Blind played the game after against City in the Capital One Cup in which we won 1-0.

 

[Raoul]

http://www.skysports.com/manchester-united-results

Erm. Bailly and Smalling were the CB's for the Chelsea game. Blind was LB and Valencia RB.

Bailly and Smalling had been playing together as CB for 7 games before that Chelsea game.

Rojo and Blind played the game after against City in the Capital One Cup in which we won 1-0.

And ?

 

[carlosp]

And nothing. Just pointing out that we weren't using odd combinations at that time. Smalling and Bailly were our regular CB pairing at that stage.

 

[Mike09]

They suck at build up play, Bailly in as soon as possible please.

Bailly isnt any better at building up play either.

 

[prath92]

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[Denis' cuff]

And nothing. Just pointing out that we weren't using odd combinations at that time. Smalling and Bailly were our regular CB pairing at that stage.

Yeah, but "Raoul" knows better

 

[paulscholes18]

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Jones has good crossing ability feck off

 

[scoi]

Jones and Bailly as first choice for me but only after the Afcon. Smalling has never given me the confidence that a Vidic or Bruce did, Rojo has the liability streak.

Jones has always been a good reader of the game, hence games in midfield, and should be the leader of the back 4. Bailly is the beast. Rotation with 3 is possible but 4 is too many changes for my liking and none of the 4 would be willing to warm the bench that often.

Nice dilemma.

 

[K2K]

Look rather shaky today. Jones especially.

 

[JB08]

Look rather shaky today. Jones especially.

Most of our players look shaky to me, in fairness.

 

[devilish]

Look rather shaky today. Jones especially.

But they looked solid against Rondon!!

 

[Ekeke]

Both have mistakes at the back. Rojo bailed out Jones and Darmian bailed out Rojo

 

[Special_One]

Not their best game but they have been absolutely solid in the previous 12 games. Couple of dodgy moments but I'm not at all worried.

 

[Amar__]

Their distribution has been terrible, Rojo keeps hoofing the ball. De Gea passed the ball much better than them.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Dodgy on the ball, but so are carrick, rooney and the worlds most expensive player so meh

 

[Bojan11]

Rojo had no composure.

 

[SkeppyRed]

Not exactly a solid pairing. All over the place at times. No leadership.

 

[DWelbz19]

The first test and they flounder. Shocker.

 

[3KDré]

Thought they were solid to be honest. They didn't do much wrong.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Thought they were solid to be honest. They didn't do much wrong.

This. A couple of dodgy moments but sorted it out

 

[Ballache]

I thought Rojo specifically was good.

 

[mewnew11]

For a pressing team we need a baily or blind who can pass the balls in channels rather than sideways

 

[AR87]

They were fine while defending. It's a disappointing result but I'm not sure about the negativity around their performance.

 

[Rado_N]

I thought Rojo specifically was good.

He was largely good but needs to start hitting his clearances with a driver rather than a lob wedge.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

They were fine.

 

[ManUnitedCanuck]

These two struggle with a team that presses, and it causes us some issues trying to move the ball up the pitch. They sometimes just thump it when they can play it out, or put us under pressure by taking too much time.

 

[Nani Nana]

Smalling - Jones have a better understanding, Rojo's workrate down the left wing would probably have caused more trouble to Alexander-Arnold than an ineffective Darmian.

Defensive setup is genuinely worrisome, thankfully the best keeper in world football is between the posts. What a downgrade since the days of Evra - Vidic - Rio - Neville though.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Jones was a little bit shaky which cost us a needless corner and the penalty, a bit after.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Think jones made a blunder in the first half but both did well otherwise


At the end they were isolated and did well to stop some of the Liverpool breaks

 

[Bwuk]

It should be Rojo and Bailly when he's back. Jones shat it every time he got pressed.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

He was largely good but needs to start hitting his clearances with a driver rather than a lob wedge.

Agreed, worst part of his game that bizarre wedge.

 

[Minimalist]

I thought they were both pretty shite today despite not conceding beyond the penalty. The composure wasn't there from either and Rojo in particular looked like an amateur at times.

 

[Celestiale]

He was largely good but needs to start hitting his clearances with a driver rather than a lob wedge.

perfect analysis in one sentence

 

[KN5]

Decent today, I feel like Jones read their attacks really well sometimes and had it not been for his patience in situations we may not have come away with a point, didn't have too much of an opinion on Rojo.

 

[Raoul]

Jones was a bit off today - but can't really complain about either as Liverpool were again unable to score an outfield goal.

 

[FromTheBench]

Did decently well overall.

Dont get the negativity when the mids in front of then were shitting the bed against the press.

 

[Kush]

Easy to see why people are portioning some of the blame on them, I couldn't believe how many aerial duels their midgets won vs them. Rojo is okay in possession but Jones thinks football of a grenade as soon as an opposition player is anywhere near him.

I'm disappointed in team as a whole, the heads dropped after we fell behind. There was over an hour of football to play and started panicking too soon. Pogba completely abandoning Herrera didn't help, every second ball fell for them and we just couldn't hold the possession long enough.

 

[Dir Wangem]

It's harsh to single them out today when stars like Pogba did much worse.

But I will say this: today was the first time this partnership got properly tested. Yes, they've faced tough teams before, but in those games we were fairly dominant. One thing I've noticed is how rarely I think to myself "Well done there, Jones" or "Nice job, Rojo". Bailly on the other hand, I find myself praising all the time. The same is true with Smalling and even Blind last season. The reason for this is obviously that Jones and Rojo have had much less to do.

Let's be reasonable for a second here: apart from 1.5 games, we weren't bad defensively before Jones and Rojo became regulars. It was goals we were lacking. Also, let's not forget that Carrick got introduced to the team around the same time, and has stayed there since. That obviously makes all the difference in the world.

90% of the posters in here thought Smalling was better than Rojo and Jones before the Chelsea game. Just saying...

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Liverpool helped out by missing gilt edged chances but they coped decently well considering Carrick pulled a disappearing act.