Jonny Evans | 2011/12 Performances

Eh? What choice did Rio have? He had to follow Defoe's run on the first, was left horribly exposed against the quickest in the league on the 2nd and had to go out with Defoe on the 3rd because Rafa had gone past halfway.

Did anyone see Nev's analysis last night? It was outstanding and spot on as ever. Basically saying the team defending apalliningly as a unit and left Rio exposed 1 v 1.

He wasn't getting at Rafael much coz he was saying you'd expect him to get forward but more Evra for not tucking in alongside Evans and leaving a huge gap.

I need to see this analysis, but if he's absolving Rafael, then he's being very very generous. For the 2nd goal, he see's Bale making a run and makes no attempt to either keep-up with him or follow him. He instead runs into a right-back like position where there is feck all to do. But alas, what explanation did Nev give for Evans being 10 yards behind Rio? and 5 yards away from Defoe? It's just very odd positioning for me... You'd want your Centre Backs to be level in that senario so you can a) try and play offside, and b) switch men easily, instead of leaving a huge gap for Bale to run into.

As for Evra... well as I said, I need to see this analysis because that just doesn't make sense to me. The attack we were building was from the left hand side, so it would make sense for Evra to be further up the pitch (It's why Carrick got caught high up the left hand side as well)... added to the fact that he's got Lennon to worry about and I'd say it's incredibly harsh to blame him for the goal.

And as for the third goal, again, how on earth can he absolve Rafael here? He just lets Bale run in behind him without a worry in the world! Though I can at least see what he's saying that Evra should be closer to Evans... but he's hardly the only person at fault for that goal.
 
He doesn't absolve any particular individual. Just that it's not as obvious as just blaming Rio when he had no support.

I'm sure you'll find it if you look around for it.
 
Ah right... to be fair the only thing I'd really blame Rio for is not dealing with the long ball or Jermain Defoe better then he did for the third... but even then, we should have dealt with the rest of the play.

I'll have a search for it later.
 
How'd he lose the Cluj player so easily for the Cluj goal?
 
Good movement. Not all his fault though.

The movement wasn't Chico like Jonny just burst for the near post and forgot the man behind him. In fairness given that it was 2 on 1 in our favour he may have assumed Rio would cover the man but because he committed to the near post he was totally off balance when the cross was cut back. Bad. Just bad.
 
So was that yet another defensive injury, or was Fergie merely taking no chances?
 
I was first one to defend him, but he doesn't look good at all atm, probably his worst form in last two years.
 
Eh? What choice did Rio have? He had to follow Defoe's run on the first, was left horribly exposed against the quickest in the league on the 2nd and had to go out with Defoe on the 3rd because Rafa had gone past halfway.

Did anyone see Nev's analysis last night? It was outstanding and spot on as ever. Basically saying the team defending apalliningly as a unit and left Rio exposed 1 v 1.

He wasn't getting at Rafael much coz he was saying you'd expect him to get forward but more Evra for not tucking in alongside Evans and leaving a huge gap.

He didn't have to follow Defoe at all. That was a huge mistake. He left a huge gap which Verthongen walked through. Every single person could see that it was a mistake.
2nd goal, Evans shouldn't have followed Defoe. Why? Well, you saw what happened. Again. Left a massive space open. Rio should have taken over Defoe and Evans should have stayed in his zone. There's a reason that these types of forward runs are the most basic runs in football. Evans should never have given up his position like that. It was schoolboy defending for both goals. That's pretty much always the case when a center back leaves such a gap through the middle.

Evans is clearly not fit but that's no excuse for the kind of goals we've conceded. When someone runs away from the box you let them.
 
He didn't have to follow Defoe at all. That was a huge mistake. He left a huge gap which Verthongen walked through. Every single person could see that it was a mistake.
2nd goal, Evans shouldn't have followed Defoe. Why? Well, you saw what happened. Again. Left a massive space open. Rio should have taken over Defoe and Evans should have stayed in his zone. There's a reason that these types of forward runs are the most basic runs in football. Evans should never have given up his position like that. It was schoolboy defending for both goals. That's pretty much always the case when a center back leaves such a gap through the middle.

Evans is clearly not fit but that's no excuse for the kind of goals we've conceded. When someone runs away from the box you let them.

If you're passing them on to someone. If they're running into free space you have to try shepherd them away from goal until support comes. Rio did the right thing badly.
 
Late analysis on ITV from Stachan reckons that Evans was in the right place for the Cluj goal. Just saying like.
 
Am I right in thinking there's an international break after the game on Sunday?

If so we just need Evans to play through the pain once more then we've 2 weeks to try and sort summat out.
 
Late analysis on ITV from Stachan reckons that Evans was in the right place for the Cluj goal. Just saying like.

Well he can't have been... because if he was in the "right place", he'd have cut out the ball! The question is rather was it Evans fault that he took up the position he did... and for me I would have to say yes, there is only one man in the box to mark, and at no point did it seem like Evans was even aware of where he was.
 
Evans is astonishingly good positionally, if he decides to move somewhere I'm more likely to trust him than than some of the analysis here. There's a reason he's playing for Manchester United.
 
I thought Evans did the right thing. He can't really gamble on the ball being played out like that. If he does, two yards from the striker and the ball being played on the inside and BAM, that's your unmarked goal from half a yard out.

Ideally he would be able to cut out the pass, but his main job as the closest CB there, after Evra's skinned, is to cut out the pass to the first post. He did that.

I felt Ferdinand should have got closer to the striker though. He didn't have anyone remotely close to mark, and should have tracked the striker's movement better.

Also, I'm not entirely sure about De Gea's work, and for me Evra's the main culprit as he got drawn to the ball far too late, resulting in one easy touch taking him out of the game.
 
Passed fit for Newcastle, according to ESPN.

"Jonny Evans is okay," Ferguson said. "He had a dead leg that he picked up on Saturday against Tottenham and we just took him off towards the end [in Romania].

"Smalling has started training on the football side and that helps us particularly as we have problem at centre-back. [Phil] Jones is still out."
 
Well he can't have been... because if he was in the "right place", he'd have cut out the ball! The question is rather was it Evans fault that he took up the position he did... and for me I would have to say yes, there is only one man in the box to mark, and at no point did it seem like Evans was even aware of where he was.

No. If he was every place he'd have cut out the ball. Being human, he had to choose one place or the other.
 
No. If he was every place he'd have cut out the ball. Being human, he had to choose one place or the other.

Well said.

He'll have been coached to either stand where he was standing or stand somewhere else. To me it looks like he was in the correct position to stop a ball being put across the goal. I believe centrebacks are told to do that at the front post, and that's why you see so many goals from strikers peeling off backwards a few yards and the ball pulled back to them.

As you said Will, he can't be everywhere.
 
He hasn't been bad, but he definitely hasn't been as solid so far as he was last season.
Not saying he was the only (or the main) culprit for some of the goals recently conceided, but he also made a couple of mistakes in earlier games that in a different circumstance would have led to a penalty.
 
he has been poor, cant see why people are defending him so much.

shouldve conceded two penalties in a week, one against galatasaray and one against liverpool, missed the spurs game so can't really comment on that
 
He has been very mistake prone. Although you probably can't blame him too much as he clearly isn't even close to 100% and we rushed him back just because we are down to 2 central defenders right now.

The whole dead leg thing gives me absolutely no confidence in him against the geordies. I can just imagine him struggling to keep up with ba and cisse.
 
He has made a few errors but as have most our defenders this season, we're certainly going to be better off with him then without. The thing is this season Fergie has not really looked to protect our defenders despite knowing they're not really 100%. He could have changed the system to make sure there are lots of bodies to help and less space to exploit but mostly he's gone for very wide systems. Hopefully for a few games anyway untill the defenders find some form and proper fitness he'll give them a bit more protection.
 
It's true we're better off curently with him than without him, but I wonder how much worse off he could be if we keep "pushing it".
He's already error prone (besides late into previous season) and not being 100% phisicaly prepared on top of that can make a very shaky defender at times, and even though I've "warmed up" to him I can't say he fills me with confidence lately.
Thank god Rio's as awesome as he is.

Hopefully we play more games in a 4-3-3 formation, should help our defense get on track.
 
I thought he was excellent last season and in all honesty Rio has been just as dodgy this season. Like I said it doesn't help that no one is really playing well defensively and we're not given them any real protection to ease them in.
 
As long as we don't go with a midfield of Giggs/Scholes/Carrick then I think we will see an improvement in our defense. The midfield just HAS to help shield the back four at this point in time. Our defenders are basically playing at half strength and we can't afford to let pacy attackers run at them unprotected.
 
As long as we don't go with a midfield of Giggs/Scholes/Carrick then I think we will see an improvement in our defense. The midfield just HAS to help shield the back four at this point in time. Our defenders are basically playing at half strength and we can't afford to let pacy attackers run at them unprotected.

I don't think it's so much personnel, though Giggs won't help but the system. In general we play in a way which leaves as much space as we could leave. We allow our defenders to really get 1 on 1 a lot and with them not being at full fitness or form it's not great. The midfield does contribute but I think in general aside from Carrick and Fletch they all have issues. Clev lacks the tactical knowledge of where to position himself when we're defending and often gets attracted to the ball rather than the space, Scholes know's where to go but gets exposed for his lack of speed/energy. Ando has a good understanding but can get tired/lose concentration. That's why I think the system has to be adapted to accommodate this.
 
Very good today, great goal and fabulous back heel for Welbeck, doesn't seem afraid to get forward does he?
 
I was so relieved he recovered from that injury in the first half. It looked like one of those bad ones that just happen.
 
Whole defensive unit great today and Jonny and Rio were immense. About time he started doing some damage in the opposition box. Great run, great leap. More of the same, Jonny boy.
 
Very good today, great goal and fabulous back heel for Welbeck, doesn't seem afraid to get forward does he?
That little back heel was great. Welbeck finish was very poor though as I thought that bit of build up play really did deserve to end in a goal.

Very pleased to see him get a goal. Overall he handled newcastles big forwards very well as well and didn't really give them much of a sniff for long periods in the game.

He did have me worried when he went down holding his knee, so it was a relief to see him come back on and finish the game without looking like he was in any real discomfort.