Sam thinks that was us playing hoofball. fecking tons of morons in that matchday thread.
Jonny Evans | 2011/12 Performances
- Thread starter Sir Matt
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Sam thinks that was us playing hoofball. fecking tons of morons in that matchday thread.
Easily our best centre back, bar Vidic. Has to play every week. He's class on the ball too which makes a huge difference.
Every manager would want his centre half to be playing balls like that.I wouldn't mind seeing Vidic benched in favour of this growing partnership.
Most importantly, they're both quick enough to let us press higher up the pitch without getting seriously exploited in behind.
Most importantly, they're both quick enough to let us press higher up the pitch without getting seriously exploited in behind.
Our best center back. Should start every game and if Jones continues to play the way he is doing, he should partner him. Vidic will have to wait for his chance.
daaaat high line
What does that size of the name mean? Touches?
Yeah, it says 'influence' on the game, but I'm pretty sure it's mainly done by passes.
I think it's done by positioning, too, but I'm not 100% on that.
I think he's currently our best cb although he gets bullied a little to easily by physical players.
I said in another thread on here.
Jones/Vidic - 1.
Rio/Smalling/Evans - 2.
Yet more proof of the one of one combo one of the other.
Jones/Vidic - 1.
Rio/Smalling/Evans - 2.
Yet more proof of the one of one combo one of the other.
Didn't include a few passes. Doesn't matter though, as he had an 89% completion rate.
Yep, always thought along similar lines.
Three of Evans' appearances this season. I think he's comfortably been our second best centre-back.
Not so good today sadly. A little at fault for the first goal, but neither he or Jones was helped by shocking fullback play or the fact Stoke swanned through our midfield.
one bad game, but evans-vidic is our best CB combo at this moment.
vidic returning will improve the defense for sure.
vidic returning will improve the defense for sure.
I was really hoping Moyes would stick with him and Jones for another bit.
I think he's generally been good, although not 'great' since he's come back into the team. I'm not sure what my partnership would be, but what I do know is if I was picking two out of Jones, Evans and Smalling - it would be Smalling and one other.
The reaction of some post match about him was incredible given the praise he has received in recent weeks. It wasn't his strongest game but whenever a team like Stoke has time to deliver crosses, it's going to be a tricky match for the centre backs.
Thought it was a good test that he got through.
Thought it was a good test that he got through.
I like Jonny, but he doesn't half struggle against powerful strikers and big teams, like Stoke.
I don't think he struggled to dominate the big strikers this time. It was more down to his positional sense today for me... He was ball watching a lot. But as far as I'm concerned, Evans and Smalling are ahead of Jones as CBs and one of them should partner Vidic, preferably the former.
Jones and Evans against Stoke were always going to be a bad idea. If you thought Evans gets easily bullied by physical defenders, then you have yet seen Jones. Despite the caf's image of him as some kind of demi-god, hard as nails defender, I've never ever seen him play well against a physical forward.
On European soil, Jones and Evans are a good fit because they are excellent on the ground. Vidic-Evans is our best combo in the PL.
On European soil, Jones and Evans are a good fit because they are excellent on the ground. Vidic-Evans is our best combo in the PL.
I said a few months back that Jones' height would be a disadvantage against teams like Stoke and was laughed off.
The way he attacks the first ball is laughable at best. He has poor judgement on the flight of the ball and when shielded by the forward, he couldn't even jump. A simple punt up the field to a tall striker is enough to cause us major problems if he is playing.
The likes of Carvalho, Samuel and Cannavaro aren't the tallest of CBs but they knew up to position themselves to win the second ball. Most of the the time they would also have an "enforcer" CB playing alongside them. In Jones' situation, more often than not, he would be that "enforcer" in a CB pairing.
We really miss Vidic against the physical teams, and with most PL sides now having a "big man" I think this is a little part of the problem as to why we are dropping points against teams we feel we shouldn't.
Evans needs to play with Vidic/Smalling at CB in the PL.
Oh and what the feck was he doing for the Crouch goal!
Evans needs to play with Vidic/Smalling at CB in the PL.
Oh and what the feck was he doing for the Crouch goal!
It wasn't just Evans' lack of height/strength though. He was poor at what are his supposed strengths. For Crouch's goal, he steps up and calls his other defenders to step up when Pieters had it. Then when Evra and Jones stepped forward, Evans stepped back himself as he got drawn to Crouch, playing him onside. If he held his the line, the line that he created himself, Crouch would have been offside.
Most CBs will struggle with Crouch in the air. That's why it made no sense to play Smalling at RB and Jones at CB. Smalling is 6f5 and is one of the few players in the PL who is close in height to Crouch.
It made no sense leaving Fellaini out of that match either. Evans was really, really, really poor yesterday though. His distribution was woeful and he looked lost most of the time. That said, Jones was equally crap and at fault for the second goal. Smalling looked like he was wondering what kind of game football was - I think it's the worst I've seen him play. Playing him ahead of a fit Rafael should never, never happen! He offered nothing in attack and left Nani isolated time and time again. Nani had a poor game, but Smalling certainly wasn't helping him.
Back on track, even if Evans struggled, and rightfully so, with Crouch, why was his distribution so crap? Also, I think Moyes made a mistake with Evans against Stoke - physical players like that tend to give Evans a tough time.
Didn't seem to recognise his error either, which I hope he does. Poor yesterday, not as bad as Jones but perhaps those calling for these two to be partnered long term might need to think again. Similarly I've seen people in this thread get carried away by proclaiming him our new best defender. He's not.
Issue yesterday was the right fullback area which had knock on effect on the rest of the team, first goal was difficult for Jonny because Crouch is probably one of the few feckers who can reach that excellent cross. It was criminal from Nani, Cleverley and Smalling to let Pieters through however. 2nd goal was silly from Jones. They'll learn, the midfield needs to take a long look at themselves though, seemed scared to take over from the defenders.
Evans' distribution was far from woeful. He had a 92% pass accuracy.... Attempted 8 long balls, 5 of which were a success.
I still can't work out if his attempted clearance for Crouch's goal was ridiculously shit or just unlucky. I'm pretty sure you're best off not smacking it straight into a striker on the 6 yard line, but there's a lot of Crouch to try and miss.
Me neither. He was at an awkward angle too.
At first I thought it was shit but looking at it again I think he was unlucky. He couldn't really do much in that position.
yeah, smalling is much better in the air than jones, and it was weird that jones partnered evans at CB against crouch.
i agree that jones is very poor at judging the flight of the ball. his height is not a big issue considering that he is only an inch or two shorter than an average centreback in the league, but it is the way he attack the ball, he always tend to go all out and lose the flight of the ball completely. maybe he can get better as he ages but at this moment that is his biggest weakness when he is playing as a CB.
First choice, easily.
He's so easy on the eye. Our distribution with him in the side compared to Rio is laughably much better.
Credit to Moyes - he's starting to reward good performances.
Credit to Moyes - he's starting to reward good performances.
Him and Vida are complementary.
Every time he seems to be nailing that first place position, he picks up an injury. Hopefully its not to serious? Anybody hear anything about it?