They probably went overboard but I have to admit that I was really impressed by his early appearances for us. He slotted in at right back and was terrific.
4
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 13
- Clean sheets
- 6
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
- Status
They probably went overboard but I have to admit that I was really impressed by his early appearances for us. He slotted in at right back and was terrific.
I like Jones. One of my favourite players. At 24, despite being 'injury prone' at the moment, he's bound to have a break out season soon. I mean, prior to this season, Smalling never had a full season for us and he's 26. Look at him now. Arguably the best defender in the league.
People will talk about him being 'ruined' by U21's, but it happens. If your up against a skilful player, regardless of age, he will give you trouble. Look at what Rashford and Martial have done to opposition players.
I think if Jones can stay fit, which is a big if, then he'll do well. I just get the feeling the staff are running out of patience. To add to that, we have Mensah, Williams and Tuanzebe coming through.
People will talk about him being 'ruined' by U21's, but it happens. If your up against a skilful player, regardless of age, he will give you trouble. Look at what Rashford and Martial have done to opposition players.
I think if Jones can stay fit, which is a big if, then he'll do well. I just get the feeling the staff are running out of patience. To add to that, we have Mensah, Williams and Tuanzebe coming through.
If Mourinho comes to United, Jones will be his Ivanovic, in my opinion.
The thing is he just signed a long term contract worth I believe upwards of 80k a week. Who's going to take him on those wages? Not many teams outside the top 6 and those teams might not need him.
That would save us lot time on scouting and transfer funds and if Jose could perform a miracle like LvG did on Young then maybe, who knows... Still far for Jones to even returning to simple match rhythm and perhaps it would be better to secure a talented defender in the summer but in the same time keep Jones and see what a change of manager can do for him.
Ay, he'd have to take a drop in wages. Agree with that.
I think he's a better defender than Stones but if his injuries have rendered him useless, its best to move on at that point. Weirdly enough his injuries have reached Owen Hargreaves territory right now and even Hargo stayed fit for most of his early 20s.
Ye. Personally, I don't think we should get rid of Jones until he has his break out season. Thing is, we could be waiting for quite a while.
We've waited long enough for Smalling but as soon he had some time without injuries his progress is slowly reaching the world class level now.
Not saying Jones will do the same but sometimes it's really easy to be wrong with assessments. Perhaps Jose's arrival could impact Rojo in a positive way too.
Agreed.
Smalling was fit for most of last season, and the season before that. People often overstate his injury problems for some reason.
Jones by contrast seems to get injured more and more every season. He's been lucky to survive previous culls but will surely be shipped out in the summer.
Jones by contrast seems to get injured more and more every season. He's been lucky to survive previous culls but will surely be shipped out in the summer.
Yep. Fitness wise, Jones has fallen off a cliff. Over the last three seasons Smalling has made 117 appearances for the club, Jones only 76.
Jones has had one injury this season, but LvG has kept bringing him back too early and aggravating it.
A fair point tbh
I'm not really sure how you come to this conclusion without being privy to the workings of our medical department.
He's suffered recurrences of a right ankle injury almost immediately after playing for the first team on each return. He lasted a couple of games in December, and one half of one game in February. If his ankle had been allowed to fully heal, that wouldn't happen.
You can tell LvG is doing things differently this time by easing him in slowly.
And that whole difference comes from this season. In Jones' 4 seasons before this one he made 128 appearances while Smalling made 119 in the same period. They've made roughly the same amount of appearances every season bar this one where Smalling has remained fit and played a huge amount while Jones has been injured the whole time.
Even further, in that 4 year period Jones played 9885 minutes and Smalling played 8974 minutes.
Last edited:
That was more down to the fact Smalling that was competing with Ferdinand, Vidic, Evans and Rafael as well as Jones for a spot while Jones was getting games in midfield too.
Smalling was on the bench a lot, Jones has just been absent due to injuries. A lot of which come from having no idea about self preservation.
Or maybe he has chronic problems.
True. His constant praise of Johnny Evans was also mind boggling. He once said Evans would be a future Manchester United captain with the team built around him and on another occasion said he was fantastic and the best defender in England (2012). I couldn't believe what I was reading. Funny how the one who he didn't really single out with such lavish praise, Smalling, is the one who's really doing the business at OT
Jonny Evans was our best CB in the 12-13 season.
Why post that now? He played 90 minutes so it was clearly nothing..
Because it's an update? Whether it turns out to be an injury or not remains to be seen. If he played through it and it's nothing all the better.
Turns out it was in the 90th min after the subs were made..
Oh well. Hope its nothing. Nothing mentioned in the match report..
Oh well. Hope its nothing. Nothing mentioned in the match report..
Agreed.
Any sign of him actually not getting injured, and getting involved no?
Excuse my skepticism, I don't mean to tarnish the boy but, how long does one wait?
He's not some young prodigy coming through...He was bought for near 20 million and has been utter shite. And that is a kind way of putting it.
He was/is like Scot Parker....Disappear from your role and attempt to make a last ditch "brave" tackle like Scot "Scotty" Parker
I feel for the guy. I hope he becomes an England regular and has a good club career. I have nowt against the guy...But, he's shown himself not to be up to it here
The idea of him and Rojo in the same defence is laughable
Excuse my skepticism, I don't mean to tarnish the boy but, how long does one wait?
He's not some young prodigy coming through...He was bought for near 20 million and has been utter shite. And that is a kind way of putting it.
He was/is like Scot Parker....Disappear from your role and attempt to make a last ditch "brave" tackle like Scot "Scotty" Parker
I feel for the guy. I hope he becomes an England regular and has a good club career. I have nowt against the guy...But, he's shown himself not to be up to it here
The idea of him and Rojo in the same defence is laughable
Last edited:
GNev said a similar thing about PJ a few years back. Essentially GNev questioned PJ's footballing intelligence as a CB but thought he would make an awesome RB because of his skillset.
Sounds like self-deprecating humour from Nev, as a former right back himself.
I don't remember him ever being particularly good at right back. He would sometimes make big runs forward as he has the pace and power to do so, but he doesn't have very good technique. He could potentially make a good defensive fullback but I can't see him linking play and putting in good crosses. We should be aiming higher.
I think GNev's main point was that PJ couldn't be trusted to play CB because of his general lack of awareness and footballing intelligence. TBH I thought PJ has regressed tremendously. Hope he really does turn it around physically but not holding my breath.
As far as putting in crosses, VG clearly disagrees with you b/c he had PJ taking corners in a couple of games remember?
Thought Jones played really well last night against your man Abrahams? He was a handful, at least size and strength wise. Hope that little injury he seemed to pick up isn't too bad.
What a disappointing season behind him, he can't start even in a pointless game now, even though he was supposed to be a starter at the start of the season.
Only LvG would play Blind over Jones, so im not worried. I just want Phil to be 100% fit for when Mou takes over.
Much prefer him at right back than centre mid. That was a mad few years where we seemed to have been under a ban from buying players for that position, so had to pish about with all manner of mad options.
Playing players until they were 40, playing Rafael there, Rooney, anything bar buying a good centre mid player.
Although this was meant to be the summer that changed that!
That can apply for any player on the bench tonight.
I'm genuinely struggling to think of a game he's played in this season.
A waste of a season, really.
A waste of a season, really.
Hell be gone in the summer hopefully.
- Status