He needs to go. I was an ardent supporter of Evans under SAF. But now he's become a complete liability. I have no idea what LvG did to him but he's in complete shambles. He's so afraid of putting his foot in. Always waits for the attacker to make his move and then tries to intercept him. He's playing like a frightened kid. His passing was his greatest asset and that's gone down the drain. How many times did he lose the ball under no pressure whatsoever. He got enough opportunities and didn't take them. Definitely he'll be the first to go this summer.
35
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 17
- Clean sheets
- 9
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 1
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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.
He just isn't physical enough. I don't know if he has lost weight or a previous injury has left him being timid to contact, but he just looks scared stiffless as soon as anybody get's near him. He doesn't even need to be the hulk either, just enough to not let the strikers get 1 over on him, but every game they run him ragged or push him around. I would genuinely rather use Thorpe than Evans at this point.
He's a great example of how much a centre-back can contribute if he has a strong partner (Vidic) next to him.
Its nothing that LvG has done to him, he has never been a good player.
For what ever reason his myriad of long term faults were washed over when we were winning things and people seemed to willfully ignore the fact that he has always been liable to panic under pressure, struggled with physicality, always made dozy hospital passes that put us under pressure, always been suspect with his positioning and not great in the air.
Its no coincidence that as soon as he didnt have Vidic and Ferdinand to play along side him it became increasingly obvious to more and more people that he is not a very good player.
The bold part is absolute tripe and a great reminder of how shortlived the memories are of supporters.
He was very poor, as poor as he has ever been but some of the shit he is getting is embarrassing. I still have a lot of time for him and thought from a defensive point of view, he was okay. On the ball though, he was woeful, I'll accept that.
Still a United player and needs the support which he just isn't getting. Just like Fellaini last year, not supported, shit performances. This season, fans behind him, positive performances.
Smalling and Rojo have the best chance of a decent partnership though.
Still a United player and needs the support which he just isn't getting. Just like Fellaini last year, not supported, shit performances. This season, fans behind him, positive performances.
Smalling and Rojo have the best chance of a decent partnership though.
Chelsea would get 12-13m for him
I hope 7-8m for Evans and 15m for Jones.
More like 4 and 6, on a good day.
Looks mentally shot but to be honest if my mrs looked like his I'd have an issue focusing on anything other than the needs of my knob.
He's not far off from becoming the subject of a match-fixing investigation.
Bramble > Senderos > Traore > Evans
Bramble > Senderos > Traore > Evans
LVG with the stinger.
Ouch!
Bit mixed for me, on the one hand I remember him having excellent spells. We once played a match in the Bernabeu, drawing there with Jonny having a decent match, great to see. On the other hand I remember the City match. And against Everton with him just standing there, letting Fellaini score the equaliser when we gave the league away.
In pre-season USA I remember a moment where Van Gaal started pointing and shouting at Evans at half-time because he was losing it. Very similar to this one years ago:
He's never looked less confident than this season though, shame to see because when he's confident he's not a bad player.
Honesty from LVG, at least he says what he thinks.
But regarding Evan’s performance yesterday, he was terrible. I can’t remember when was the last time he was so bad… Often he looks weak defensively, but he can compensate with a good distribution, and a good intelligence, but he can’t head the ball… did he won a dual yesterday?
At the beginning of the season I was sure that he was our best defender. He’s the most experienced, he play a lot of games, he had bad moments and top ones. He had a great partnership with Rio and was a rock defensively, and I thought that he would step up this season, as during the preseason LVG said that he was impressed by him…
The worst in this entire thing is that in the famous PHILOSOPHY, Evans is the type of player LVG is looking for. Somebody able to pass the ball, to play simple passes forward, who can integrate the midfield on possession.
I think that I will regret him this summer, but it’s for the sake of the club and his own… Good bye mister Evans. We’ve been ruthless with Cleverley, Welbeck and Fletch regarding their level recently, we must do the same now with him (and maybe one of Smalling and Jones too)
But regarding Evan’s performance yesterday, he was terrible. I can’t remember when was the last time he was so bad… Often he looks weak defensively, but he can compensate with a good distribution, and a good intelligence, but he can’t head the ball… did he won a dual yesterday?
At the beginning of the season I was sure that he was our best defender. He’s the most experienced, he play a lot of games, he had bad moments and top ones. He had a great partnership with Rio and was a rock defensively, and I thought that he would step up this season, as during the preseason LVG said that he was impressed by him…
The worst in this entire thing is that in the famous PHILOSOPHY, Evans is the type of player LVG is looking for. Somebody able to pass the ball, to play simple passes forward, who can integrate the midfield on possession.
I think that I will regret him this summer, but it’s for the sake of the club and his own… Good bye mister Evans. We’ve been ruthless with Cleverley, Welbeck and Fletch regarding their level recently, we must do the same now with him (and maybe one of Smalling and Jones too)
Well I'm sorry but he's still the idiot, for want of a better expression, for refusing to start a superior centre-half because he is stronger on his right side anyway.
- Nooruddean @BeardedGenius
I feel sorry for Evans. Painful to witness last night. He may need to move on to get his career back on track. He's far better than this.
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@BeardedGenius pre-match interview with LVG: "Evans is back, has he impressed you in training?" "He plays because Shaw is banned.
Let's be honest here, as bad as Evans was defensively, Smalling wasn't to far behind. In fact our whole defence was shit, but mainly the two CBs.
His decline this season has been horrific. By all accounts, he's quite an intelligent lad. I wonder if he's getting too caught up in this whole philosophy thing and over-thinking everything he does?
Nothing seems to come instinctively or naturally anymore. It's all tortuously drawn out and laboured. Utterly bereft of confidence too. If there's nothing else going on then it's one of the strangest and most dramatic regressions I've ever seen. At an age when he should be hitting his peak too.
Nothing seems to come instinctively or naturally anymore. It's all tortuously drawn out and laboured. Utterly bereft of confidence too. If there's nothing else going on then it's one of the strangest and most dramatic regressions I've ever seen. At an age when he should be hitting his peak too.
I think it's simply down to confidence, but you are 100% right when you say his decline has been horrific. What ever the cause, its going to be hard to come back from it.
He's playing with absolutely 0 confidence, and he's been like that since the start of the season. The only way to start getting confidence is by doing the basics right, and for a defender that just means hoofing it out rather than trying to play your way out. But obviously, LvG won't condone that, so there's a bit of a catch 22 there...
Smalling hasn't spent the entire season trying his level best to pass the ball to the opposition though.
He does end up doing that often, though. The difference between the two is that Evans seems to have trouble dealing with long balls at times and gets nervous and goes through terrible spells (remember the West Ham cup game?), whereas Smalling is almost always good defensively and just not so good on the ball.
Evans' slumps would be fine at a position like winger, but at CB it's more important you have a high floor than a high ceiling. He was excellent at times, especially during our streak where we didn't concede when Van Der Sar was around.
even by his recent standard, yesterday was really, really, really bad from evans.
definitely the first one to go once we bring in a new CB this summer.
definitely the first one to go once we bring in a new CB this summer.
Smalling may or may not have defended poorly on the night. But if LVG feels that he simply could not play Smalling because he is predominantly right-footed, then he's quite simply an idiot. And that is the implication I got by him saying he played because Shaw was unavailable (which meant we needed Rojo at left back and a new centre-half). The obvious question then is 'why not Smalling then?', and the likely answer is that he wasn't an option, due to not being left-sided.
As I said, that scenario would, in my opinion, make LVG an idiot. And I don't really care for anyone saying 'well I'm sure he knows more about football than you' etc. For all his footballing theology, he did not invent football, and there have probably been a lot more all right-footed partnerships than one right/left-footed one. There are better partnerships in this very league than any his right/left fettish allows that are all right-footed. He seems to like to over-complicate the game.
Evans is right footed as well.
And I don't think Smalling has ever even played LCB for us? It was always Rio and Jones who shifted to the left when partnered with Smalling, with Vidic and Evans almost exclusively playing as the LCBs under Fergie/Moyes (apart from when partnered with each other).
Is he not right footed but can also play with his left?
It's simply the way he operates, he must not like Smalling playing on the left side of a cb pairing. In fact he doesn't seem to rate Smalling in the right of a cb pairing.
No, he doesn't. Nowhere near as often as Evans has this season at any rate.
Bulk is not an issue. To be a top class footballer, you need to be thin.
Rio Ferdinand in his prime was built like a rake.
Di Maria is our thinnest player and some might say one of our best.
J.Terry is Chelsea's best defender and he is thin.
I could go on, but you get my point.
Contrary to what some believe, to be a top class footballer in 2015, being thin is better than looking like WWE wrestler.
J.Evans' problem is that he is scared of making an error and his size/weight wont make any difference - this is mental issue.
I agree though, that as long as he and P.Jones are on the pitch, we are likely to concede. This guy needs to be replaced.
Nope, you can go over my posting history.
I've never rated him at all.
I like to think for the most part I am a fair judge of players and for the most part get it right.
I never rated Welbeck either.
I remember saying Fletcher was finished two seasons ago and being shouted down and that he would be OK with a pre season under his belt.
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1. I am not saying he needs to be fat
weight can be lost muscle mass too. he IMO to me looks less powerful and has worse balance than he used too.2. John Terry may be in shape, but he is certainly not "thin". He's a big guy and certainly able to throw his weight around.
3. Di Maria is a completely different area of the pitch, and does get bounced around quite a lot in some challenges. He rarely wins a 50/50 shoulder like Nani or Valencia could. They aren't fat either but certainly aren't "thin".
Remember when we thought it was "three at the back" causing the problems?
Put these clowns in any formation you like, they're shit. Jones and Evans giving perfect cameos to their United careers last night.
3 at the back, 4 at the back - it doesn't matter. They simply don't have the quality to do what is required of a modern European level centre back. That's the level we should be going for!
Put these clowns in any formation you like, they're shit. Jones and Evans giving perfect cameos to their United careers last night.
3 at the back, 4 at the back - it doesn't matter. They simply don't have the quality to do what is required of a modern European level centre back. That's the level we should be going for!
Not at all. My post states 'due to not being left-sided' and 'predominantly' right footed. I am fully aware that Evans is right-footed. I am also aware that he is left-sided, and is generally ambidextrous.
