How good can he become?! Seriously, he's only 25 now and probably one of the most consistent centre-backs in the world this season. Cracking performance once again and totally justified his inclusion ahead of the legend that is Vidic 
Jonny Evans | 2011/12 Performances
- Thread starter Sir Matt
- Start date
Looked very good. Didn't put a foot wrong.
Lets sell him. Not Man Utd quality.
this. not fit enough for modeling career.
Thought he started nervously, but properly grew into the game.
What a defender he is going to be.
What a defender he is going to be.
I was worried about him playing instead of Vidic but he was majestic tonight.
It's quickly becoming Evans + Vidic/Rio/Smalling as our central defence.
Great game, I put the spine of this performance down as DDG, Evans, Jones, Welbeck and RVP.
EVans was great, I'm one of his biggest fans but even I was shocked to see Vidic dropped, but in fairness to Jonny he was very very good against a top attack.
EVans was great, I'm one of his biggest fans but even I was shocked to see Vidic dropped, but in fairness to Jonny he was very very good against a top attack.
I thought not playing Vidic was a bizarre decision - him with either Rio or Evans was what I expected. But fair play, it worked. And Jonny looked the part tonight again.
That's the way it has to be, Vidic and Rio no longer play a higher level above him and they can't play every match & Smalling is quite a way behind him. Evans must bnow be considered first choice centre half IMO.
Vidic can only seem to play in 1 game a week and I suspect we were more worried about Everton aerially than Madrid.
I wasn't expecting Vidic to play at all, I was sure we'd save Vidic for Fellaini and Rio for Madrid with Jonny being the only fella young/old enough to be the common denominator.
I just assumed that if fit Vidic would play every big game, as our top centre-half. Looks like I was wrong.
2 games in 3 days against the likes of Ozil, Ronaldo and Di Maria? Wasn't going to happen.
I think key thing now is building a relationship between DDG and his defence.
Not only Evans quality, but also reliable in terms of fitness, and probably more than we can expect rio and vidic to be from this point on.
In terms of DDG settling and continuing to improve I think striking up a relationship with a defender/Evans could be key.
Not only Evans quality, but also reliable in terms of fitness, and probably more than we can expect rio and vidic to be from this point on.
In terms of DDG settling and continuing to improve I think striking up a relationship with a defender/Evans could be key.
I knew he was going to play tonight. Did very well, I am pleased with his peformance.
Not surprised to see him start the match. Did very well as well. Evans really is showing that he is pushing SAF to think of him as one of the starting CB even with everyone available.
Last night seemed a clear indication of SAF's views on our Centreback situation. All 4/5 are fully fit and Evans got the nod for the biggest game the club has played in a few years.
a big shot in the arm for Jonny, now seems to be a first choice CB
evans seems now first choice with rio.
in a CL final I wonder if vidic would still get the nod though.
in a CL final I wonder if vidic would still get the nod though.
Well if that doesn't give him a huge confidence boost then nothing will.
Knowing Fergie it's going to be a specif solution for a specific problem. He'll play whomever he feels is more equipped to deal with what's going to be thrown at them, similar to his midfield tinkering in Europe with Jones, Park and Hargreaves.
I wonder if Jonny's performance for NI against Portugal last year was on Fergies mind
For me it was a tactical decision to leave vidic out, Evans reads the game up there with the best and against opposition that have small nimble players making runs all over the place having two mobile defenders who can identify and track the runners was vital.
Not saying vidic can't read the game but he's more about crunching tackles and winning the aerial battles, traits that might not be best vs Madrid.
Not saying vidic can't read the game but he's more about crunching tackles and winning the aerial battles, traits that might not be best vs Madrid.
That's a rubbish argument though.
If Vidic was ever intended to play against Madrid he wouldn't have played against Everton. The 2 games in 3 days thing is obviously a load of shite, he was never likely to have done.
Considering that Fergie changed his plans for Everton - it is entirely possible he was intended to play against Madrid but, then got put in against Everton to combat their strengths. So not a rubbish argument at all.
Very possibly.
We could easily have played Evans and Smalling against Everton and still would have been plenty strong at the back. The fact that it was Evans and not Vidic that was pulled aside when the game was pretty much won told the story really. Fergie wanted him and not Vidic for this game. Whether he does the same for the return leg I don't know.
Agreed. And don't rule out the possibility that the Everton match was a "bigger" for us than Real. Obviously, we wanted positive results in both but going up 12 on City -- and sticking the dagger through the heart right now -- was imperative for Fergie. At least he stated words to that effect over the weekend.
As much as we rightly praise Evans here, Vidic was needed for the higher priority match.
Evans had a great game IMHO and I would expect him to start against Real again, but in the grand scheme of things Vidic is still our top defender. Whether he can play two games in a span of four days I have no idea, but there's every reason to have doubts about that at this moment in time. He's only played something like 7 or 8 games (fact check, please) since returning after a lengthy recovery from a bad knee injury.
I think we're going to have to accept that we don't have a first choice set of centrebacks anymore but rather a rotation system based on who's fit and who we're playing. Fergie will dip into the stable and it's horses for courses.
IMO Vidic is our number one, but I think the Real game was the biggest game so far this year. That Fergie played someone else is no belittlement of Vidic, rather that he wasn't the right man for that job.
IMO Vidic is our number one, but I think the Real game was the biggest game so far this year. That Fergie played someone else is no belittlement of Vidic, rather that he wasn't the right man for that job.
I'm so glad for him and very happy I've been backing him when the things weren't looking rosy. I like our Jonny 'Tesco shop assistant' Evans. So many big games he's played and hasn't let us down. Obviosly it won't stop some people from judging him by that City performance.
Yeah it is a shit argument, especially considering SAF alluded to much in his pre-match interview. How many times has Vidic played back-to-back since his 2nd knee operation?
Oh come on Ruud, that's sophistry. It doesn't really matter whether Fergie prioritises the league or Europe, the point is that Everton at home - while no walk in the park - is a vastly easier game than Madrid away, which may be the hardest game we play all season.
Everton at home we would be gutted not to win, for Madrid away we'd even count a 2-1 defeat as a tolerable result.
For the hard as feck game, with Ronaldo, Benzema, Di Maria and Oezil running at us, SAF chose Evans. (In fact he chose him for both, but he left Vidic out at the Bernabeu). I don't think there's any other conclusion than that Evans is first choice.
Can't agree with the people saying Jonny reads the game better than Vidic though. They both read the game really well, and Vidic is much more experienced... he's a lot more than a hard nut who heads the ball.
Yes, Everton are nowhere near the class of Real, but no one is suggesting that. The point is that the win v Everton in this situation was a much higher priority than getting a win v Real at the Bernabeau. That must be beyond dispute. Thus, it may be reasonably concluded, Fergie has Vidic play v Everton and Evans v Real.
Whether Evans has surpassed Vidic in the depth chart is a matter of speculation, but based on what I've seen this year, I would say clearly not. Others may disagree, which is fine. But it's not as though it's ridiculous to think that Vidic is still the better CB, or at least that Fergie might see it that way.
Our defensive record since Vidic has returned speaks for itself.
Evans was the one who played both games. Was it not a case of Fergie choosing Rio over Vidic for Madrid?
Evans is the only one really capable of playing twice in 3 days.
Say we had a run of tough fixtures but each of those fixtures were a week apart then it's possible that Rio and Vidic would start all of them.
I don't know or care who's first choice I'm just being a pedant and pointing out there is a different conclusion.
it's not at all beyond dispute, we had pages on here the other day disputing precisely that, with loads of posters saying thing like Real Madrid in the CL is the biggest game we've played since the CL final. A home match against Everton when we're already 9 points clear is not so obviously a bigger priority.
I'd still have Vidic ahead of everyone, I couldn't believe he was left out - I thought the choice was between Evans and Rio. But I've changed my mind about what SAF thinks, because of the evidence.
I think if Vida was first choice he would have managed things so he played at the Bernabeu.
SAF did say that he would be rotating between Rio and Vida, of course this was right before he played them both together when we hosted Liverpool. And then again two games later both played when we visited White Hart Lane.
He obviously likes to f*** with opposition managers' minds a bit, but of the 14 games we've played since Vida came back from injury he's only started with Rio those 2 times, so it's mostly true.
The choice of Vida for Everton and Rio for Real may have been taken on some subtle point of tactics well beyond the Caf, who knows.
I'm at the point now when I honestly couldn't pick out my favorite between the three of them. Hopefully by the time Smalling really starts competing for a first team perm spot it'll be a bit clearer.
One of my pre-season predictions was that Evans would pass Rio, as far as being one of the two first choice center-backs, some time before the end of the season. I don't know if he's there yet, but I still think he'll be there come the end of May.
One thing is sure, it's great to be spoilt with choices at the back this season whereas last season was more difficult (Vidic injured and Rio had to play a lot of games).