Any word on Jones return date?
Jonny Evans - What do we think?
- Thread starter LawCharltonBest
- Start date
Cheers for that.
Hope not, he is key for us in my opinion.
For me I have always liked Evans and I hope for a settled partnership with Jones.They should be given the chance to grow together and form an understanding.Smalling as back up.This depends upon whether we buy or not and who of course but right now, Evans should be a starter when fit.I don't want to see Vidic or Rio again this season if possible!
Jonny is a decent option to come on when either of our first choice CBs need a rest, but I've given up on him achieving greatness. But don't get me wrong -- he's great to have on the squad and surely has to the league's top "third CB", right?
Evans really does have an injury prone career, Wes Brown was a bit like that
He had a great season last year and defo one to keep around, the mess that has been this season has stunted progress not just for him but for others too. He seems content at the moment not be the main man but come in and do a job when required, sometimes for prolonged spells to a competent level, that is very useful to have in the squad. IMO I would like us to sign a cast iron solid CB in the Summer and throw Jones in alongside, bringing Evans and Smalling in when required.
He is our first choice CB
And been so for a couple seasons IIRC
" a decent option" indeed
He's probably been making more tackles because he's getting less protection than the others mentioned but his ability to make so many challenges without giving away fouls is admirable. Especially for a player who's previously been criticised for being rash in the tackle.
Then there's his ability on the ball. Best of all our central defenders IMO. Especially with Rio getting "hoofier" with each passing season.
What's the latest on his injury?
Always stood by him, think he's a really good defender.
His stats on fouls are great too, reminds me of Rio, remember when he went 10 games without giving a foul away or something ballistic like that? Not saying he'll ever be as good as Rio, mind, but certainly his distribution and finesse remind me of him at times.
He'll always have a future here and he's a very good defender on his day, but I think that we should be aiming higher for first choice options. We'll probably never fully replace what Rio and Vidic offered at their best, but we can come closer than what Evans offers IMO.
He deserves a run with a regular partner, and to never have to carry Rio around on his back (often for months at a time) ever again.
Actually its only in the champions league he's made the most tackles of our CBs. In the league only Ferdinand makes less.
The CL is also over the span of 3 matches for him.
The CL is also over the span of 3 matches for him.
I'd love to see Evans and Jones as a partnership. I rate Smalling but the passing ability of the other two could really help us. Saw glimpses of that with Carrick in defence at WHU. In modern football it's a real boost having ball-playing central defenders (e.g. Hummels or Pique)
Nobody claimed he made the most tackles of our CBs. Read the tweet.
A very underrated defender on the world stage, in my opinion. I agree that he probably will never be of the same quality as Ferdinand and Vidic, and perhaps we should be looking for that quality a centre back to be a regular starter, but I wouldn't say it is top priority to upgrade Evans at the moment. Not with the midfield anyway.
I went over the Cox's twitter* and he gave a list for all our CBs.
Pretty much confirms my suspicions about all of them. Especially that Jones fouls like a maniac and Rio basically doesn't do anything anymore.
*wherein he's dealing with dog's abuse for daring to point out that Evans is great, why do certain of our players just get wildly and even aggressively underrated by so many?
Pretty much confirms my suspicions about all of them. Especially that Jones fouls like a maniac and Rio basically doesn't do anything anymore.
*wherein he's dealing with dog's abuse for daring to point out that Evans is great, why do certain of our players just get wildly and even aggressively underrated by so many?
I love Evans. Particularly his ability to carry the ball forward. Really hope him and Jones can form a solid partnership.
Rio hardly ever fouls. Always been that way. Someone already pointed out he once went 10 games without a single foul, back when he was in his prime. That stat is not a reason for critcism.
I'm pretty sure he once went a season without fouling, or something absurd like that. He's so far from being the player he was though, he's basically useless now.
Think he may have had a season in which he was never booked, or maybe only booked once. Could have been something like that, I think.
Sure didn't Ferdinand evade a yellow card for a number of his early seasons at United?
Sure didn't Ferdinand evade a yellow card for a number of his early seasons at United?
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Jones is probably an unfair comparison as he played a chunk of games in CM earlier in the season.
Its a weird one comparing him with Terry and Cahill who dont have to make tackles and Chelsea still dont conceed because of how well they are protected and Shawcross who has made the 6th most tackles of Stoke's defenders. Evans hasn't been great this season, making a few more fouls at the right times could have helped instead of hindered
Steven Caulker averages 0.1 more fouls per game and he's played 31 times to Evans 16. He also averages exactly the same amount of tackles. Coloccini, Jagielka, Distin and Mertesacker 0.2 more fouls per game than Evans with them all making more tackles than Evans does.
With Evans, Jones and Smalling we really should be very close to securing the CB slots for the next decade and yet - due to their inability to fecking stay healthy - we're not. I just can't see two of them consistently putting together the kind of injury-free runs needed to form a solid partnership on which to base the team. A good injury record and a proven ability to play 40+ games a season should be a prerequisite for whichever center back we bring in this summer.
remember them two looking very good together in some of our previous matches. But they've also been up and down in how they've gelled. They did well against Real Sociedad but were pants against Stoke.
Evans just needs someone a bit more brutish next to him and he's a fine choice. His distribution is absolutely class, too.
His problem is that he's so injury prone.. Always gets these periods where he's out for a month or two and gets a lot of niggling injuries throughout the year, which isn't good at all for center backs. It's the same with all of our defenders bar Evra really.
Evans makes our 2nd highest amount of clearances behind Vidic and is just 0.1 off Smalling who wins the ball in the air 2nd again behind Vidic. Vidic will always top these things, but its nice to see Evans has been improving in these areas from a couple of seasons ago. He can do that dirty work too.
You don't think it might just be growing pains? I'm still hoping at least a couple of them get more robust as they mature. Might be overly optimistic though.
Evans is 26, though, and Smalling will be 25 later this year. I hope you're right but I've wrongly thought to myself this is it, they'll stay healthy from now on too many times to share your optimism. I guess Jones is still young enough to snap put of it, especially if he learns when to put his body on the line and when to hold back rather than charge in at full force every chance he gets.
Jaysus, time flies. Didn't think Evans and Smalling were that old. Feck.
Yeah, it's depressing, isn't it? Evans' loan at Sunderland feels like yesterday.
What's really depressing is that so many "young" players are hitting their peak years without the sort of improvement I was hoping we'd see from them.
That and my receding hairline.
That and my receding hairline.
What is he injured with (still) and when is he back?
They will never improve by playing one game and being rested for the next five, or playing in unnatural positions every now and then.
Yeah, we do have an alarming number of players who seem to have stagnated and a lot of it seems to be down to injuries. The year City won the league I vaguely remember somebody posting a stat which basically showed that we had several times as many injuries as them. I don't remember the exact numbers but I think on average they had one or two players out while we had 7ish. Let's hope this new medical center at Carrington serves its purpose.
Sorry about your hairline, bro. That shit is rough.
Really need him back to partner someone at the back, no composure back there on the ball.