I dunno. I dont think he was as bad as people are making out. Certainly his defensive positioning was suspect at times but i thought he was much better than Rio, and arguably our best defender, which admittedly isn't much of a compliment. I also liked his driving runs in the last 10-15 minutes trying to get us an equaliser.
Phil Jones
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Still has to improve his defending and in particular his positioning. Only natural given he's 19!!
Biggest worry is him giving the ball away round the penalty area. 2-3 times he did it against Chelsea. Once against Stoke and once in this game which finally cost us a goal.
Should be an easy thing to buff out. Thing is he seems to pass it without looking. That's a very silly thing to do for a defender whom is under pressure.
Should be an easy thing to buff out. Thing is he seems to pass it without looking. That's a very silly thing to do for a defender whom is under pressure.
Woeful tonight, but like R_Nick said, young and lernin
Hmm, I remember Rio bailing out Jones, but maybe I'm wrong, Rio looked okay to me, besides not getting a challenge in for their 2nd.
One thing I noticed was that the headers he win often go to opposition players. Maybe that's one thing he could pick up from Vidic. All well and good winning it, but not very helpful if it serves as a layoff to an opposition player.
It's obviously an easier role as when you rove forward you're less exposed to leaving a critical gap behind (wasn't anywhere near for their equaliser). At this stage of his learning it's a role which would be easier for us to use him at.
Got taken to school tonight.
Looked like a 19 year old lad, in his first season of CL football.
Funnily enough, that's what is. Oh well. At least that will temper the ridiculous hype that's been surrounding him since his very first game.
Looked like a 19 year old lad, in his first season of CL football.
Funnily enough, that's what is. Oh well. At least that will temper the ridiculous hype that's been surrounding him since his very first game.
Jones is the kind of defender who wants to confront every player who receives the ball in front of him. Today the player in front of him tended to be someone who holds the ball up well and Basle had runners to join up with him. Coming out to each situation left a gap in behind him and Ferdinand never looked comfortable reading and sweeping up the situation. It also didnt help that Fabio wasnt always tracking his man into the box and Evra was, like usual, caught out of position at times
There's some naivity there from Jones, some things to improve on and it doesnt help when he's playing next to defenders who arent particularly comfortable themselves at the present time. But with our injuries we just have to throw together any kind of defesive lineup rather than who's playing well and at their top performance level. Rio and Evra certainly werent anywhere near that today either
There's some naivity there from Jones, some things to improve on and it doesnt help when he's playing next to defenders who arent particularly comfortable themselves at the present time. But with our injuries we just have to throw together any kind of defesive lineup rather than who's playing well and at their top performance level. Rio and Evra certainly werent anywhere near that today either
Yet again you've watched a different game to the rest of us. That golden muppet is clearly for a reason. Learn the game before you talk utter bollocks.
I thought he had a good game tonight. Then again I haven't seen the goals since I got home. If he did feck up, apart from the goals he seemed very assured. But I suppose the goals are quite major points.
Yeah, well done. Jones dug us out of the shit on numerous occasions. Well, he actually dug Evra out of the shit on numerous occasions. If it hadn't of been for De Gea, Rio and Jones we'd have been battered.
I thought Rio was worse given Jones' inexperience at this level. Not that Jones was good tonight.
Rio was worse, yea, given the relative expectations.
You thought Jones had a good game?
I think he had a better game than others on our side. Carrick and Park seemed determined to give it to Swiss players all fecking night. The whole central midfield were a joke and we were lucky to go in 2-0 up.
Neville was saying how sloppy we were but defence was tight compared to how the midfield got took to pieces
Jones suffers from the John Terry "future England captain" syndrome in which a lot of pundits will be blinded by his lion-hearted nature and generally assume he has a good game when he doesn't.
He's got the talent to go all the way, just needs the experience and he's getting bucket loads at the moment. You just feel the main thing he is lacking is experience as everything else that comes with that (positional sense, when to stop looking for the ball) will come.
He's got the talent to go all the way, just needs the experience and he's getting bucket loads at the moment. You just feel the main thing he is lacking is experience as everything else that comes with that (positional sense, when to stop looking for the ball) will come.
If you think Carrick passed it to the opposition all night then you really did watch a different game.
First paragraph bollocks, second paragraph is accurate. Jones doesn't suffer from Terryitis and doesn't give it the big I am.
Rio is being Stupid Rio recently, the kind of Rio that tries to flick passes through Craig Bellamy. I don't think that helped Jones tonight.
Would people still be keen to see him try his hand in midfield? Genuine question.
I don't know myself, when I saw him play there for Blackburn I though his short passing game let him down a bit. Infact pretty soon after I'm pretty sure I had him down as one not to live up to the hype..............glad he proved me wrong!
I don't know myself, when I saw him play there for Blackburn I though his short passing game let him down a bit. Infact pretty soon after I'm pretty sure I had him down as one not to live up to the hype..............glad he proved me wrong!
He won some good header and put in some good tackles. He's a very talented young defender, so no surprises there.
Got given the runaround by their centre forward though and got caught out of position time and time again. Shocking pass across his own box in the lead-up to their pen as well. That's something you're taught never to do as a schoolboy. You know that though, right? Seeing as I'm the one who needs to learn the game?
Did you actually read what he wrote?
He and Rio were pretty shit tonight, though Jones never stopped trying to turn it around which was encouraging.
Micheal Carrick's passing stats today
Michael Carrick Successful Pass Rate: 97% (76/78), (40/41 Forward, 28/28 Backward, 13/14 Square) Attacking 3rd Pass Rate: 100% (28/28)
Passing it to the opposition indeed
Especially considering the length of some of those passes.
Nah, there are things to criticise him for, but passing isn't one of them.
Positionally he was off, he was strong in the tackle but he got little help from Rio who was even worse. I suspect Rio is still rusty from being in and out of the team due to injuries.
Good learning experience.
Good learning experience.
Dont play a 19 year old at CB in the CL...
Well unless everyones injured.
A shit performance from Jones was waiting to happen, it will happen again, he's still an outstanding prospect.
Well unless everyones injured.
A shit performance from Jones was waiting to happen, it will happen again, he's still an outstanding prospect.
I think Jones biggest issue at the moment was that he is sometimes too eager and aggressive to intercept and pressure the player and so comes out to meet the oppostion players when sometimes its better to hold your position and wait for another player to make a move. Its something that comes with experience.
If we didn't have all these injuries, Jones wouldn't be playing as much as he has been of late.
First team back four is usually Smallings/Rafael...Rio...Vidic.....Evra
There is no question that SAF didn't have much of a choice other than to play him. Normally Jones would have probably been on the bench or playing in a role which doesn't require so much discipline and experience.
First team back four is usually Smallings/Rafael...Rio...Vidic.....Evra
There is no question that SAF didn't have much of a choice other than to play him. Normally Jones would have probably been on the bench or playing in a role which doesn't require so much discipline and experience.
He's also played in three out of the four different positions at the back. With a constantly changing cast. All in the first few weeks with a new club. Remember Smalling in his first few games? If anything, it's amazing it took so long for Jones to put in a dodgy performance.
He was dodgy in previous games at times and the hype will certainly cool down now. His positioning is where he needs to work on, he gets caught out of position too many times and yesterday, he got punished for it.
It's a long road to becoming a cultured central midfielder ala Rio and Vida. It will be great watching Jones at CB but we'll have to be patient.
When he was playing as a 3rd CB for Blackburn he could afford to charge about more because there were still 2 more CBs behind him.
And I certainly agree that he's been positionally suspect a good bit before now and it just didn't bite him in the ass so much. But it wasn't nearly as frequent as yesterday.
With his fantastic attitude I'm sure he'll shake it off next game.
When he was playing as a 3rd CB for Blackburn he could afford to charge about more because there were still 2 more CBs behind him.
And I certainly agree that he's been positionally suspect a good bit before now and it just didn't bite him in the ass so much. But it wasn't nearly as frequent as yesterday.
With his fantastic attitude I'm sure he'll shake it off next game.
Agree that his positioning was suspect but that's where Rio should have been taking command of the situation and guiding him, especially considering it was his first full European game.
Not to mention how poor Evra's covering was for the second goal.
Yeah, definitely. You either attack the man in possession or the ball coming across, Evra did neither and just sort of ambled alongside the play. Happens far too often with him these days.