Phil Jones | 2013/14 Performances

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Never liked him playing in midfield before but he's been very good today again.
 
I don't think so, mate. His passing and decision-making have been suspect to say the least, although he has got about the park quite well.

I suppose you could say that he's done the job he's expected to do in that regard. Nothing exceptional, mind.
 
Looks like I spoke too soon, been worse with Cleverley off the pitch.
 
At least he looks like he's about to make a tackle in midfield which is damn sight more than I can say about our 'proper' midfielders.
 
I don't like how he didn't make himself available enough. Often it was only a matter of moving a few feet to the left or right to make himself available, yet he didn't, especially in the second half. It annoyed me a lot and at some point Vidic seemed to be annoyed about it too (not talking about the first half where Vidic pulled of that great pass, but about a moment in the second half). I really don't like him in midfield, despite of him getting in tackles and winning challenges. I know we're short on CMs and that's part of the reason he's played there, but still I prefer a proper midfielder rather than Jones in CM.
 
Cristiano_RAFC said:
I don't like how he didn't make himself available enough. Often it was only a matter of moving a few feet to the left or right to make himself available, yet he didn't, especially in the second half. It annoyed me a lot and at some point Vidic seemed to be annoyed about it too (not talking about the first half where Vidic pulled of that great pass, but about a moment in the second half). I really don't like him in midfield, despite of him getting in tackles and winning challenges. I know we're short on CMs and that's part of the reason he's played there, but still I prefer a proper midfielder rather than Jones in CM.
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Aye, agree with you here. Problem was noticeable for two reasons, Cleverley was off and he couldn't pick the ball himself and then Evans was off as well so there was no real distribution from the back. Vidić was waving his hands at Jones several times to make himself available but I think that Phil just doesn't feel comfortable on the ball so he doesn't want to risk it. Later on it was simply Jones -> backpass -> Vidić -> backpass -> de Gea -> hoofball. Unlucky with the injuries today but it still shows where we're lacking.
 
Goooose said:
I still think he's better in midfield than at the back. His passing's not very good, like.
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Which is where you want your best passers to play. Sorry mate, but he's not a midfielder by any stretch of the imagination. Not a full-time one anyway.
 
Apart from 1 or 2 times when he carelessly lost possession from making a bad decision.....I thought Jones range of passing was very impressive and him and Cleverley looked really good and the back for were definitely more shielded than any other time I have seen the team this season
 
Didn't really notice this during the game, but Jones' movement to open up space for Valencia was great work.
 
Thought he did a good job. Wasn't great, wasn't poor, just a good solid performance, it's what you need at places like Fulham.

Still prefer him at the back.
 
He's just not a good enough passer to be a midfielder. I would only play him in a 3 men midfield with a special mission (like taking a specific player out of the game)
 
He's technically not good enough for midfield, and his spatial awareness & passing is lacking too.

There were a few times where he miscontrolled the ball, and he always passed it back, unless he had a lot of free space.

Center back all the way.
 
I don't know how anyone can consider midfield his best position when short simple passes are completely out of his skillset. He has good mobility and physicality, but unless he becomes a good passer of the ball very quickly, he's just not going to be a midfielder. He's a centre back most definitely.
 
Long term future is at the back. It's obvious.
 
A lot of you mentioned Jones' passing deficiencies as a determining factor on why he won't make it as a top CM here, but I think his positioning deserves a bigger look. Defensively, I think he's mostly fine, but offensively, Phil Jones in CM has a lot of work to do in terms of learning how to show for the ball and where to position himself. If you watch him off the ball, there are too many times where he just sort of ambles along when a teammate is in possession of the ball, or just sort of stands still after passing the ball as if once a forward pass has been played, his job is done. If you look at the good midfielders, they almost always move to a better positioning to make themselves available for a return pass after passing the ball.

A proper midfielder for a top club for me has to have 3 basics down right: passing technique, positioning, and defensive work. Phil Jones is good at the latter, and not so good for the former 2, which is why for me his best position has always been at CB.
 
A 6ft 5in inch goalkeeper comes charging out and head butts his cheek, the result?

A 6ft 5in goalkeeper out sparko on the floor.
 
I love him

He pissed all over arse for that half. Will probably be moved back to his best position now though
 
He develops a limp about 6 times a match from being so warrior like.

Good to see his bursting runs back.
 
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