If we keep messing with his position, he will be the new O'shea instead ofhe awesome future cb plus captain who he was supposed to become.
Phil Jones | 2013/14 Performances
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I feel a bit sorry for him, because I remember O'Shea got some stick from time to time when he was being played in a number of positions and was expected to be equally good in all of them.
His problem is that he's not all that bright. The reason he keeps getting hurt in games is because he does stupid things like jumping over an opposition player and falling over, throwing himself into a challenge when the ball isn't there to be won and various other things. He needs to be told to calm down.
He hasn't regressed since he joined, but he hasn't really kicked on either. My original viewpoint was that he really just wasn't that brilliant, and I feel like I'm still correct on that. Just a good defender, but not anything massively special.
His problem is that he's not all that bright. The reason he keeps getting hurt in games is because he does stupid things like jumping over an opposition player and falling over, throwing himself into a challenge when the ball isn't there to be won and various other things. He needs to be told to calm down.
He hasn't regressed since he joined, but he hasn't really kicked on either. My original viewpoint was that he really just wasn't that brilliant, and I feel like I'm still correct on that. Just a good defender, but not anything massively special.
He has bags of potential and is still very young. People forget how young he actually is. He'll turn into a briliant defender.
thats madness, he's a young lad who needs as much game time as we can give him. if CB is not available i'm more than happy to see him at RB, its not like he's catastrpohic there, he's a brilliant defender.
he didnt have the best of games yesterday but he's keen as mustard and as commited as anyone on the pitch, i love having him in our side he's a warrior
he didnt have the best of games yesterday but he's keen as mustard and as commited as anyone on the pitch, i love having him in our side he's a warrior
Hard as iron, he is the next Chuck Norris
Yep, I refer you to my post in the Rooney thread......Phil Jones, the Luca Brasi to SAFs Don Corleone
mixed feelings on him - limited as a player in terms of football ability and has very poor positional and man marking sense, however he is commited and young.
he is extremely over rated and valued though and he should never play at RB again.
he is extremely over rated and valued though and he should never play at RB again.
those feelings sound a little more than just mixed!!!
Of course he'll play there again. Not ideal I know but these are the things you need to put up with when developing young players.
Would be my first choice at centre half along with Vidic.
Mixed feelingsWhy? Smalling, Rio and Evans are probabl all better CBs
I don't think they are personally. Jones is definitely better than Smalling, Rio's distribution has been terrible so far this season and with Vidic and Evans at the back we lack a bit of pace.
5th choice CB in my opinion, Vidic and Rio is obvious first choice, then Evans. its between the other 2 then, and i think smallings ball playing and man marking, shades it for me.
I'd rather have defensive ability over pace/distribution to be honest. I l rate Jones, but I understand why he doesn't play at CB. He Evans and Smalling are the future though. I also think Smalling will be a better CB than him long term.
I still don't think he's developed as much as I would have expected by now. If anything, he seems to have regressed a bit.
Being played as CB, RB and in central midfield certainly did not help though.
In danger of becoming the new O'shea instead of the predicted future England captain+commanding CB.
I don't think there's a doubt Smalling is better than him, but Smalling probably has been moved around less.
He's one of the players about which loads of people, including SAF, go on about how great he is, how important he will be, and so on, but I just don't see it. I have nothing against the lad, he's committed, he has great spirit, but if he's the future of English football, the future is grim.
He's one of the players about which loads of people, including SAF, go on about how great he is, how important he will be, and so on, but I just don't see it. I have nothing against the lad, he's committed, he has great spirit, but if he's the future of English football, the future is grim.
When he's a top class centre back in a few years time we'll have a good laugh about him playing right back.
I'll laugh at myself for having misjudged him if he does, and I'd love to. I just don't see it. Not in the sense where I see Varane, for example, becoming a 'top class CB', I think Jones will have a very decent career but not reach the heights that many have predicted.
Again, I'd be delighted to be wrong.
Really really hope so.
Whatever else you say about him, whatever his flaws, he's a 21 year old who (when fit) almost invariably starts for one of the biggest clubs in the world. It's a pretty rare achievement.
I just hope he doesn't end up like Robbo with his fitness. Otherwise he'll become a fantastic centre half.
Where's this poor footballing ability come from? Bizarre, maybe poor ability for a number 10 but he's pretty good on the ball etc. Do you think people who have forged great careers such as Makelele and Gattuso had more? And then he's better physically than both of them.
I 'm a big fan of Jones. I think he'll eventually flourish into our best CB out of the 3 younger ones, Smalling Evans and Jones. He looked excellent at Blackburn, but his progress has dithered, purely because he's not playing where he should be on a regular basis. I believe he's got what it takes to be a Vidic-like defender in the future.
He's worryingly ungraceful though. Everytime he jumps for a header, he seems to fall like a bag of spanners, twisting his ankle in half and smashing his back into the ground, then he limps off. He needs to work on his balance and agility.
He's worryingly ungraceful though. Everytime he jumps for a header, he seems to fall like a bag of spanners, twisting his ankle in half and smashing his back into the ground, then he limps off. He needs to work on his balance and agility.
Well pace and distribution (the former in particular) is a key asset to defensive ability. I thought Jones outperformed Smalling at centre half last season, in fact I was quite surprised to see Smalling being on the bench ahead of Evans.
Him and Smalling would be a great CB partnership. And Evans is top notch too.
With Vidic back in the side I do think we should start to phase Rio out.
With Vidic back in the side I do think we should start to phase Rio out.
What the hell happened to his crossing ? It used to be better no ? Unless I'm imagining things...
I used to tell my mates he was one of the best crossers at the club...now I'm just hoping he beats the first man. Annoying.
Yep. His ability to beat a man too, he used to power past players when he started at right back with us, he seems a lot more conservative now.
I always thought his crossing was a bit hit and mix, capable of putting in a beauty of a cross but plenty of duff ones too, which is fair enough as no reason he'd have been heavily practicing those. I think he's still got the dribbling ability, he had a couple of great bursts against Arsenal in the tail end of last season that I remember.
Smalling's ball playing? Smalling cannot pass the ball. Good defender, woeful passer.
For what it's worth I'd like to see Evans back in there when he's fit. I think him and Vidic were our strongest partnership last season, and they built up a good understanding with each other.
I'm also seeing Jones become more and more of a jack-of-all-trades. He's not our best right back, he's not our best midfielder, and he certainly isn't our best centre back. As a result he's plugging leaks wherever they are. It's nice that he can do that, but he'll never become the player we all thought/expected of him while he does.
It's funny to me that everyone assumes being asked to play a few different roles will ruin Jones' development but when players at other clubs have done the same in the past nobody made similar comments, just accepted that the teams they played for were lucky to have such great, versatile footballers in their squad.
Off the top of my head I would be thinking of Song (at Arsenal) Mascherano, Essien (pre-injury), Martinez, Lahm. Bound to be loads of great players from back in the day that also excelled in a number of different positions. My memory is shot but I'm sure our resident football nerds can help out. Baresi? Hierro?
Off the top of my head I would be thinking of Song (at Arsenal) Mascherano, Essien (pre-injury), Martinez, Lahm. Bound to be loads of great players from back in the day that also excelled in a number of different positions. My memory is shot but I'm sure our resident football nerds can help out. Baresi? Hierro?
Really surprised there's not more Jones love today. Thought it was one of his best games for us and really stood up for the aerial battle when Vidic was poor. Great game Phil!!
Yeah, I was quite pleased with him today. He messed up real bad once (and should have done better for the goal) but then pulled off a fantastic recovery.
Just showed even more why he should be playing at centreback. He was excellent barring the odd horrible error, which is the sort of thing that'd probably iron itself out if he was played at centreback often enough to get used to it.
This lad can be our version of Kompany maybe even better. Get the young lads in Moyes, AJ was superb time for Zaha to get a chance to shine.
I'd love to see him get regular games now at centre back. Don't think it's doing him any good constantly playing him in different positions. There'll be a few mistakes along the way but it'll be worth it in the long run.
I think that Phil Jones is a David Moyes-type player.
I thought he had a good match, though Vidic does better with a more technical partner like Rio or Evans in my opinion.
I thought he had a good match, though Vidic does better with a more technical partner like Rio or Evans in my opinion.
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