I want to watch training actually just to see what happens to make us think Jones on corner duty is a good idea.
4
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 24
- Clean sheets
- 7
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 3
Bullshit. Absolute horseshit
I actually think he is really improving as a DEFENDER. But why did LVG give him a job he can't do. Our defenders should give the ball to midfielders and if there is space to forwards, but they should not the whole game lead the attacks, while no one is getting into position where they can pass and so leave them without much choice but to hoof the ball.
I know he was horrible today with his passing, but he shouldn't be doing it at all.... It's like putting Fellaini on the wing and di Maria in the middle, so that Fellaini can cross to di Maria, I mean, WTF.
I know he was horrible today with his passing, but he shouldn't be doing it at all.... It's like putting Fellaini on the wing and di Maria in the middle, so that Fellaini can cross to di Maria, I mean, WTF.
As time goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that he's just your standard British centre back who relies on his physical attributes, rather then any real footballing ability or tactical nous. See Shawcoss, Upson, Caulker etc etc.
OK. I must have imagined Rojo hitting loads of shit long balls in the first half and then largely passing it to Jones in the 2nd. In fairness he also had a really good run forward and then passed it to their keeper.
Just to be clear, I'm not getting at Rojo either. He was decent today, but Jones was better. It's nether of their fault that the midfielders and forwards in front of them can't make any space for themselves or pass to each other in the opposition half.
Christ his passing was God-awful tonight. Absolutely Shocking. His defending was decent enough though. He seriously needs to go back to focusing on becoming a defensive midfielder as he is too shaky to be a central defender. His chances of making it at Man Utd look slimer with every game that goes by
For a professional footballer his touch and passing is just not good enough even for a league 1 club....I can see him being shipped out with Evans this summer.
You also must have missed Jones' atrocious 5 yard attempted pass which I think was aimed at Rojo (shows how bad it was that I can't even be sure this is who he was passing to) giving the Cambridge forward a chance to go past Rojo. Luckily, his touch was so bad that it came back to the ... scrambling Jones. Or how about when we had a chance to attack in the 2nd half, Fellaini out wide, in a decent position to whip in a cross, and he managed to pass it out of play from 10 yards away, under no pressure? Or also in the 2nd half, when he gave the ball away, again, under absolutely no pressure in the middle of the field, allowing Cambridge to break?
You've seriously been imagining some things. Have you checked your temperature? Honestly though I think you must have missed the numerous times he gave the ball directly away to an opposition striker. It happened at least 3 times I think.
It happened three times. Rojo did it once. Jones actually finished with a higher pass completion because Rojo was poorer with his long passing. I thought that Jones was better in the second half a did quite well at bringing the ball out but those slack passes are unacceptable. I think that both him and Smalling are old school British defenders trying to adapt to a game that has left them behind a little. It isn't their fault as such, it is how they will have been coached as youngsters.
As poor a match as he's ever had for us. Except now he has a new wrinkle of shitness with the corner duty.
I've always thought there was something about Jones, that he would go on to be top player, and I have said as much many times, but in one fell swoop he has just knocked all of that out of me tonight, he was just awful.
And people wonder what the problem is when in reality our best current CB is probably Smalling, a guy who wouldn't get a kick at any other top club.
And people wonder what the problem is when in reality our best current CB is probably Smalling, a guy who wouldn't get a kick at any other top club.
Yeah the rest of his defending was actually good standard, but with the ball at his feet he genuinely had me laughing. If he is ever going to make it as a key senior defender here then that side of his game simply has to improve. Unfortunately from the years he's been here so far and the lack of improvement on the technical side I won't be holding out much hope.
Apart from being completely beaten for the best chance of the game, from the corner? In fairness, other than that, his actual defending wasn't terrible. But once again, giving up the best chance to the opposition .. not good enough.
Didn't watch the game but as per stats his long ball accuracy seems better than Rojo too.
Jones isn't a great passer but he can carry the ball from the back. After that needs someone available to pass too.
You need to watch the game. He was shite.
This might be the moment we look back on in years to come. The game where he was exposed as being a awful player. He just looked like a player who shouldn't be playing for Manchester United.
Seriously, we've got to up our standards here. For the people who will defend him, we arent West Ham or Sunderland. That should not be happening to a Man United centre half. Have standards at this club fallen so far that we have to defend that?
What saddens me is, I am Phil Jones more or less. When I was younger I was a centre half, who was good at getting stuck in and dog shite at everything else. I even pulled funny faces (but mostly because I was out of shape and in agony). Phil and me should be sitting side by side in Royal Mail call centre on Monday.
Seriously, we've got to up our standards here. For the people who will defend him, we arent West Ham or Sunderland. That should not be happening to a Man United centre half. Have standards at this club fallen so far that we have to defend that?
What saddens me is, I am Phil Jones more or less. When I was younger I was a centre half, who was good at getting stuck in and dog shite at everything else. I even pulled funny faces (but mostly because I was out of shape and in agony). Phil and me should be sitting side by side in Royal Mail call centre on Monday.
His passing is awful. And you want him to be a DM? Ok.
He made three suicidal passes. Add that to his recent reputation on here and that is where the hysteria comes from. Apart from those passes he was solid. He has to cut out those poor moments, however, it can't happen at a top club.
Rojo displayed some awful passing as well, including one suicide ball that led to a dangerous attack, he also gave away a couple of brainless fouls. But he made a really nice and really aggressive tackle in the first half that seems to have coloured most peoples view on his performance to an unbelievably rosey one.
He's just a dumb footballer. That tackle where he went flying sums his type of defending up. It's still crazy how you'll get fans United and non-United fans thinking this guy will be something, but then call Smalling shit.
They still do this, to be fair. It's ridiculous.
I remember when Fergie said he could be the best player in teh history of the club... 
Diabolical performance tonight. One of the worst I saw from any of our payers this season and that says a lot.
Diabolical performance tonight. One of the worst I saw from any of our payers this season and that says a lot.
"Edwards?!" exclaimed Rooney, aghast.
He raised an eyebrow and motioned a response but just then his phone rang. It was his best friend, David Moyes.
He raised an eyebrow and motioned a response but just then his phone rang. It was his best friend, David Moyes.
In my opinion Jones is being told how to play, instructed to move forward with the ball, to be that ball playing centre back who takes control of the defence and instigate attacks. Maybe he's even being put under pressure to create chances as were being marked out of the game in other positions. If Jones fails to impress then LVG buys a new CB in the summer.
Im not too worried by his performances to be honest, the guy is too young to write off as hopeless.
He has a very long career ahead of him and i hope (HOPE) his career doesn't stagnate the way Smallings and Evans has but he has the potential to be a massive presence in the box, John Terry like, and i think at his peak he will be a world class centre back. But not for a few years. He's still learning the game and settling as a first team centre back. Needs a settled team infront of him too.
Im not too worried by his performances to be honest, the guy is too young to write off as hopeless.
He has a very long career ahead of him and i hope (HOPE) his career doesn't stagnate the way Smallings and Evans has but he has the potential to be a massive presence in the box, John Terry like, and i think at his peak he will be a world class centre back. But not for a few years. He's still learning the game and settling as a first team centre back. Needs a settled team infront of him too.
For all the grief he gets, John Terry has far more to his game then just being physically strong. Ala Jones.
Jones has the tactical nous of a moose.
With the consensus after that, at risk of being shown the door with Evans if he doesn't get over his injuries and play better. 23 soon and he's in his fourth season now, not good enough.
Fergie has made some shocking signings in his final years.
If Jones wasn't asked to be a box to box centre back, I think he'd be fine. Yes, he give the ball away a few times (wasn't the only one), but we're asking him to get into positions you'd very rarely see centre back in. As I defender, in my opinion, he's very good, and would be a lot better tonight if he was asked to just give the ball to our midfielders, instead of being asked to do otherwise.
I think under Van Gaal, our defenders ball playing abilities are over analysed. Under SAF, they were asked to get the ball and give it to our more reliable players on the ball, whilst they did what they were asked to do - defend, which is why we saw better performances from them.
In yesterday's game, our midfielders for some reason (obviously tactical) were asked to play high up, which meant our defenders often had to run out with it. This is not to cover for Jones, he did give the ball away carelessly, but he's not the only one in our back four that lost it.
EDIT:
Yesterday, Jones made the highest amount of passes out of our back four (80) and had the second best pass accuracy percentage (86.3%) behind Valencia who made 30 passes less.
I guess Jones's misplaced passes stood out more because they were in more dangerous positions or led to Cambridge attacks.
I think under Van Gaal, our defenders ball playing abilities are over analysed. Under SAF, they were asked to get the ball and give it to our more reliable players on the ball, whilst they did what they were asked to do - defend, which is why we saw better performances from them.
In yesterday's game, our midfielders for some reason (obviously tactical) were asked to play high up, which meant our defenders often had to run out with it. This is not to cover for Jones, he did give the ball away carelessly, but he's not the only one in our back four that lost it.
EDIT:
Yesterday, Jones made the highest amount of passes out of our back four (80) and had the second best pass accuracy percentage (86.3%) behind Valencia who made 30 passes less.
I guess Jones's misplaced passes stood out more because they were in more dangerous positions or led to Cambridge attacks.
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Don't agree with this at all. Jones at Blackburn was one of the brightest centre backs in English football. Had he been played at centre back, and only centre back since joining United, I personally think we'd have a much better centre back on our hands now. As it is, Jones has constantly been asked to play at of position (and done a good job too), which has no doubt disrupted his progression as a centre back.
18 million for this sack of shit and some of you still defend him?! 
Yeah forget Bruce, Pally, Stam, Johnson, Berg, Brown, Rio, Vida, even bloody O Shea.....Jones is the future
And I love how people say, "Oh he's a future England CB"......Really?! Remind me how well England do in these tournament again?! It's usually the defence that's their problem
Jones is a lost cause.....He ain't gonna make it here
Yeah forget Bruce, Pally, Stam, Johnson, Berg, Brown, Rio, Vida, even bloody O Shea.....Jones is the future
And I love how people say, "Oh he's a future England CB"......Really?! Remind me how well England do in these tournament again?! It's usually the defence that's their problem
Jones is a lost cause.....He ain't gonna make it here
He plays like a caveman. All brawn, no brains.
18 million for this sack of shit and some of you still defend him?!
Yeah forget Bruce, Pally, Stam, Johnson, Berg, Brown, Rio, Vida, even bloody O Shea.....Jones is the future
And I love how people say, "Oh he's a future England CB"......Really?! Remind me how well England do in these tournament again?! It's usually the defence that's their problem
Jones is a lost cause.....He ain't gonna make it here
Usually defense is the least of England's problems.
Funny that as it's usually the worst of their problems.
There is a vast difference in what it takes to be a good centerback at a club like Big Sam's Blackburn and Manchester United. Jones has little trouble when defending from deeper positions with last ditch interceptions and tackles. He has a tougher time when being asked to quickly recycle possession and defend from a much higher position on the pitch.
The defense only completely come apart in 2010 and they weren't great in 2004. But, in 2002 Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand were two of the best players of the tournament. In 2006 the defense held a strong Portugal side before losing on penalties and did the same to Italy in 2012.
I think this is the root cause of a lot of our current problems. Too many promising players that haven't panned out, or have been given too much rope, all happening around the same time.
Jones was a rotting maggot tonight, but he wasn't alone in failing to deliver a credible performance.
If we had not signed him, we could have had Varane. Now that annoys me.