Phil Jones | 2013/14 Performances

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91% Pass Completion. Not bad for a Midfielder who can't pass.
 
His driving forward runs towards the box are becoming personal highlights :drool:
 
He's brilliant. In one of his runs down the left he just ran straight through one of the West Ham players. Doesn't even need to dribble past them:drool:
 
#07 said:
Right now I see Jones as a footballing centre back who can play in midfield like Pepe, rather than a Javi Martinez type player who is just as good in defence as he is in midfield. But I have been impressed by Jones´efforts in midfield and his growing understanding of how to play there.

I still don´t feel Jones thinks like a midfielder, and that shows in the positions he takes up on the field sometimes, but he is starting to make the right movements and hit the right spaces. Jones looks like he has been studying the tapes and trying to pick up a sense of how to really be a top defensive midfielder, and based on how committed he is I wouldn´t rule out him pulling it off through sheer force of will.
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Totally agree with this. I'm one of Jones' harshest critics whenever he's playing in CM, but lately it seems he's really coming on in the more nuanced part of being a midfield player. He's starting to show a bit more for the ball, and as you said, get in the right spaces and spots to receive the ball and move it on.

Ironically, I do think that Cleverley's short-passing game does suit him more than Carrick's does. Cleverley, being more mobile, was always going to be somewhere near Jones to offer an option. What's encouraging is that when the passing option is not there, but space is, he's starting to learn how to drive forward with more control.

Fingers crossed that he'll grow to become as good in midfield as he is in defence.
 
His emergence in midfield reminds me a little of the 05/06 season when we played O'Shea and Giggs there as our solution. We won the FA Cup that year and went on to fix the problem somewhat by signing Carrick in the summer which was the catalyst to the start of an amazing spell of success.

I'm not comparing him to O'Shea per se, just comparing the scenario. For what it's worth I think he has the potential to be the next Keane. Keane was 2 years older than Jones is now when he signed for us.
 
Pexbo said:
His emergence in midfield reminds me a little of the 05/06 season when we played O'Shea and Giggs there as our solution. We won the FA Cup that year and went on to fix the problem somewhat by signing Carrick in the summer which was the catalyst to the start of an amazing spell of success.

I'm not comparing him to O'Shea per se, just comparing the scenario. For what it's worth I think he has the potential to be the next Keane. Keane was 2 years older than Jones is now when he signed for us.
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The league cup, not the FA Cup.
 
Mitch_93 said:
The league cup, not the FA Cup.
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Yeah that was a brain fart while I was typing. I remember Fergie talking of the significance of that group of players getting any sort of win under their belt and the platform it can provide to greater success. Success breeds success.
 
Pexbo said:
Yeah that was a brain fart while I was typing. I remember Fergie talking of the significance of that group of players getting any sort of win under their belt and the platform it can provide to greater success. Success breeds success.
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Sadly a lot of people see the League Cup as a pointless trophy.
 
kouroux said:
Sadly a lot of people see the League Cup as a pointless trophy.
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If I hear one more person here refer to it as a Mickey Mouse cup ill pull my hair out. Great cup to win when we only enter 4 in a year. Can be the springboard to bigger and better things. Love it.
 
Mickey Mouse was the star of the Disney cast, surely the Champions League should be Mickey. Then the League is Donald Duck and the FA Cup is Goofy.

So the League Cup would thus be Pluto.
 
Phil fecking Jones...

i'm the only one thinking that him in midfield is the only way for England to have some chance to go through to the next round in the world cup?
 
gooDevil said:
Mickey Mouse was the star of the Disney cast, surely the Champions League should be Mickey. Then the League is Donald Duck and the FA Cup is Goofy.

So the League Cup would thus be Pluto.
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Pluto is an integral character in all Mickey does good. Pluto FTW.
 
We're finally matching the tempo Phil Jones wants to play at. Phil Jones can go faster though. Light-speed tempo.
 
Realistically, Jones would never be playing in cm if it was up to the correct standard. He's playing well there but it'd be a shame to miss out on an even better CB just because we're short in midfield. He has so much potential, let's not turn him into a jack-of-all-trades.

The sooner he becomes a fixture at CB the better.
 
sullydnl said:
Realistically, Jones would never be playing in cm if it was up to the correct standard. He's playing well there but it'd be a shame to miss out on an even better CB just because we're short in midfield. He has so much potential, let's not turn him into a jack-of-all-trades.

The sooner he becomes a fixture at CB the better.
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Yeh I agree with this. I think he's lucky that he's young enough to be messed about a bit and still have long enough to really nail down the centre back position when we sort midfield out. He's a great partner to Evans' style of defending too.
 
sullydnl said:
Realistically, Jones would never be playing in cm if it was up to the correct standard. He's playing well there but it'd be a shame to miss out on an even better CB just because we're short in midfield. He has so much potential, let's not turn him into a jack-of-all-trades.

The sooner he becomes a fixture at CB the better.
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He's 21 years old.

Do we use the same logic with Adnan on the wings?
 
sullydnl said:
Realistically, Jones would never be playing in cm if it was up to the correct standard. He's playing well there but it'd be a shame to miss out on an even better CB just because we're short in midfield. He has so much potential, let's not turn him into a jack-of-all-trades.

The sooner he becomes a fixture at CB the better.
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I think he could become just as good a midfielder as defender - possibly even better. You can already see the improvements he's making and he's only 21 years old. His gametime in the centre has been absolutely inconsistent but he's still putting in great performances and improving all the time, he clearly has some affinity with the role.
 
In his last few games, he's being just as good in CM as I've ever seen him be in CB, so I don't really see what United is missing yet. Plus the team isn't exactly suffering in the CB position(inb4 the usual mid season defender injury spree happens), but could do with a competent CM.
 
Pexbo said:
He's 21 years old.

Do we use the same logic with Adnan on the wings?
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There's more of a difference between playing CB/CM and wing/No.10. Fair point about his age though, I tend to forget how young he is.

Theon said:
I think he could become just as good a midfielder as defender - possibly even better. You can already see the improvements he's making and he's only 21 years old. His gametime in the centre has been absolutely inconsistent but he's still putting in great performances and improving all the time, he clearly has some affinity with the role.
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True. I'm basing my opinion off the fact that the coaching staff has previously said his best position is CB. Basically I want him to start playing in his best position ASAP. At the moment that seems to be CB, but if the coaching staff thinks it's CM then I'll have no complaints. My problem is with the idea that we're wasting his potential playing him in a position we don't think is his best.
 
sullydnl said:
True. I'm basing my opinion off the fact that the coaching staff has previously said his best position is CB. Basically I want him to start playing in his best position ASAP. At the moment that seems to be CB, but if the coaching staff thinks it's CM then I'll have no complaints. My problem is with the idea that we're wasting his potential playing him in a position we don't think is his best.
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Aye, I thinks its a fair concern that he's not specialising in one position and that it could hamper him somewhat. I'm not 100% sure that concern is true or even if it is whether it applies to Jones, buts its definitely a fair one.

If we had to make that judgement now then I would hope it was in midfield. Not only because Jones will grow into a brilliant midfielder but its also the position we need to fix, whereas in defence Smalling/Evans is a young, dynamic partnership which is doing well. I think he is needed more in the middle, but also think it will get the best out of him.
 
Theon said:
Aye, I thinks its a fair concern that he's not specialising in one position and that it could hamper him somewhat. I'm not 100% sure that concern is true or even if it is whether it applies to Jones, buts its definitely a fair one.

If we had to make that judgement now then I would hope it was in midfield. Not only because Jones will grow into a brilliant midfielder but its also the position we need to fix, whereas in defence Smalling/Evans is a young, dynamic partnership which is doing well. I think he is needed more in the middle, but also think it will get the best out of him.
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Yeah, I agree we need a brilliant young player more in CM than CB. I just hope that doesn't distract us if his best position is actually CB. As far as I know Moyes has never said CM was his best position though, so until that happens I'll assume we're planning on leaving him to be a CB.

Jones is the type of player who could do well in a few positions, I just want to see us get the best out of him regardless of the weaknesses in the rest of our squad.
 
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