Phil Jones | 2013/14 Performances

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Jones and Evans is the future, it's a copy cat of the previous great partnerships we've had. Think Pally/Bruce, Stam/Johnson and Rio/Vidic, you've always had a good footballing centre half and one aggressive partner. Evans is the footballing centre half and Jones is the aggressive, no nonsense type, all be it with a bit more skill than most. Smalling is very similar to Evans, and that just doesn't work as well. I had Jones as MOTM on Saturday, tonight he was as impressive again. Not quite our first choice partnership, but it won't be long before these two are our number one pairing at the back.
 
A very very good CB, same as Smalling. Each one just needs what Evans had, a long run in the team playing the position
 
He's started the last three games at centre back now. It's the longest run I can recall him having in the position since the injury crisis of the start of his debut season. He is likely to start Saturday and the league cup game(probably with Smalling) so the injuries to Rio and Vidic are a blessing in disguise. I think it's the right time to give him a long run in the side as we all know this is his natural position and he has big potential.

Also think Smalling has played well for United in most of his appearances this season. Very solid when he deputised for Rafael today.
 
Tribec said:
Jones and Evans is the future, it's a copy cat of the previous great partnerships we've had. Think Pally/Bruce, Stam/Johnson and Rio/Vidic, you've always had a good footballing centre half and one aggressive partner. Evans is the footballing centre half and Jones is the aggressive, no nonsense type, all be it with a bit more skill than most. Smalling is very similar to Evans, and that just doesn't work as well. I had Jones as MOTM on Saturday, tonight he was as impressive again. Not quite our first choice partnership, but it won't be long before these two are our number one pairing at the back.
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I had Jones as MotM today - thought he had an immense game (surprised he got so little love).
 
Was so happy to see Evans/Jones again on the teamsheet today, even if it was because Vidic and Rio are unfit. They both did well again; in particular, Jones' pace is clearly a notch above the other players we have there, and allows him to catch up to the play when we get caught a bit too high up. We finally saw some good pressing today, though not nearly enough of it, and in my opinion his presence at the back is vital if we want to play that way.
 
I hope his partnership with Evans continues its run - we have strong options in central-defence but rotation isn't necessary right now in my view.
 
We have a bit of a CB headache when all are fit: Evans, Jones, Smalling, Vidic and Ferdinand. The best depth of CBs in the world I'd say, especially for future potential.
 
Great to see him doing well.


Between him, Smalling and Evans we hopefully have a strong CB group for the longer term.
 
Red Shorts said:
We have a bit of a CB headache when all are fit: Evans, Jones, Smalling, Vidic and Ferdinand. The best depth of CBs in the world I'd say, especially for future potential.
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Vidic and Ferdinand are the past, and not a chance to have they all fit.
 
The pace he showed means that we can afford to play a higher line than when Rio/Vidic are in the team.
 
LR7 said:
The pace he showed means that we can afford to play a higher line than when Rio/Vidic are in the team.
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It's exactly what we did, and that caused our midfield to be more balanced - certainly helped Giggsy.

Jones is like a typical English defender, but with bags of pace. He really has tremendous pace when he gets going, which he showed when he outpaced Vela. With him and Smalling paired up, I would think we would have the fastest CB pairing I can think of. Evans is no slouch either.
 
LR7 said:
The pace he showed means that we can afford to play a higher line than when Rio/Vidic are in the team.
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Having pace isn't everything if you don't do the basics right. He can still get caught out of position and prone to rash challenges. He's learning though
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Having pace isn't everything if you don't do the basics right. He can still get caught out of position and prone to rash challenges. He's learning though
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He was immense at CB yesterday. 15 effective clearances is Vidic-like. I don't think he's been rash this season. Covered well for Evans yesterday and they're looking a well balanced pairing. Other than the pass to Vidic which led to the Sunderland goal (should have just hoofed it out the box), I can't think of anything to fault him on, and even that's a stretch. He has more to his game than just pace.
 
May be worth a shot to pair Jones in midfield with Carrick and let the front four of Kagawa, Rooney, Januzaj and RVP do the business. Jones is without doubt one of our quickest and most versatile players, and Fellaini doesn't look anyway like a proper midfield enforcer.
 
dar10nian said:
May be worth a shot to pair Jones in midfield with Carrick and let the front four of Kagawa, Rooney, Januzaj and RVP do the business. Jones is without doubt one of our quickest and most versatile players, and Fellaini doesn't look anyway like a proper midfield enforcer.
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A 4-3-3 with Jones as a pure DM could work but I don't think it's something we'll ever see.
 
LR7 said:
The pace he showed means that we can afford to play a higher line than when Rio/Vidic are in the team.
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This is true. On merit Evans partners Vidic. But thats not a backline with legs. Both Smalling and Jones are pacy CBs who could be better partners for both of them
 
Gotta agree with the sentiment on here, I think we should just phase out Rio and Vidic now and try Evans and Jones as our first choice pairing.
 
Ekeke said:
This is true. On merit Evans partners Vidic. But thats not a backline with legs. Both Smalling and Jones are pacy CBs who could be better partners for both of them
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Is Smalling pacey? He's always come across to me as strong and a good reader of the game but not that mobile.
 
dar10nian said:
May be worth a shot to pair Jones in midfield with Carrick and let the front four of Kagawa, Rooney, Januzaj and RVP do the business. Jones is without doubt one of our quickest and most versatile players, and Fellaini doesn't look anyway like a proper midfield enforcer.
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Don't see why that would be necessary. Kagawa and Januzaj are hard working players.
 
Randall Flagg said:
Either way it's all good. If he becomes as good as terry we will have a 1st choice defender for more than 10 more years
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Yup, people forget that Terry has been a mainstay in that Chelsea side during a period where they could have bought pretty much any defender in the world they wanted.
 
A nothing player. I thought he was the new O'shea, seems like even that is too much.
 
I've said he was shit for two seasons, my bolo yeung.
 
He's still incredibly young, bound to be a few rocky games here and there.. we should be patient and persist with him in that position.
 
I still think Smalling and Evans is the way forward. Smalling's style reminds me of Rio, but better in the air.
 
Isotope said:
I still think Smalling and Evans is the way forward. Smalling's style reminds me of Rio, but better in the air.
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Smalling was awful today. He's only like rio in that he's physically similar. He's probably the worst player in our squad technically, and you can't become a key player for United when you're that bad on the ball.
 
Raees said:
He's still incredibly young, bound to be a few rocky games here and there.. we should be patient and persist with him in that position.
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Exactly, everyone here should recognise that Jones is still very raw. Vidic and Evans should be the first choice pairing whilst Jones is given the chance to iron out his issues.
 
Shame that he wasn't able to keep recent form up. May have relegated himself to the bench once Vidic is back.
 
Mitch_93 said:
So now he's the shittest player on earth? feck me you lot are fickle.
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It's funny isn't it. Last 2 games he has been excellent. Made a couple of dodgy errors today. (Not unheard of for a young centre back if anyone remembers rio at west ham) and now he is shit.
 
For the greatest human ever, he's got a poor grasp of being goal side when it counts. But since he is the greatest human ever, I am confident he will get the hang of it, at some point.

A bit naff today. Went missing during some of Stokes first half chances, and that foul which led to their 2nd goal was needless considering the boy's back was to goal.

Still love him though. Him and that fecking face. Top boy.
 
Randall Flagg said:
It's funny isn't it. Last 2 games he has been excellent. Made a couple of dodgy errors today. (Not unheard of for a young centre back if anyone remembers rio at west ham) and now he is shit.
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Fans, eh? It didn't help him much that he had Smalling playing at full back next to him. He seemed to lose his positional sense when Smalling was beaten, and that was quite often in the first half. Evans, on the other hand, played it a lot tighter because he relied on Evra to snuff out any threat from their right wing.
 
Still learning for sure, but no worse than Rio or Vidic have been recently.

Red Dreams said:
Jones and Evans are fine. Smalling was awful today.
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I feel sorry for Smalling, both Hodgson and Moyes pick him as a right back when he's clearly not very good at it. Much better at CB.
 
Red Dreams said:
Jones and Evans are fine. Smalling was awful today.
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Nah, Smalling was rubbish, but Jones was appalling... at times it looked like he didn't have a clue what he was doing.

Plus, Jones was in his preferred position, so that has to be considered
 
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