Jonny Evans | 2011/12 Performances
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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.
And some people can't help but shower him with ridiculous levels of praise for having an average game. Or claiming he is or has been the best defender in the league or that his ball play is world-class.
Some of the reflections on Evans' ability are wildly OTT.
No I don't agree at all. Of course he still has to prove he is capable of forging a first team career, he shouldn't have a place reserved for him on the squad list just because he is Jonny Evans. If he has a shit season then it is back to square one and there are very talented central defenders competing with him in Smalling and Jones. He's been given time and opportunities as he is an academy product, but he can't take anything for granted. When Ferdinand and Vidic are spent United will recruit more top class defenders and he will have to prove himself again.
He simply has not been consistent enough on a regular basis, or has the complete quality where he can realistically demand a starting spot week-in week-out. Hopefully he builds on last season and improves more and more to the extent where he is too good to leave out and cements himself as a permanent fixture. I will be honest though and say I don't think he is good enough to be guaranteed a starting spot medium to long term. Smalling and Jones are the greater talents in my opinion but the same conditions apply to them in the the long run.
The two penalty claims - one was a clear penalty just like Vidic against Galatasary - we got lucky. The one against Suarez was too close to call.
To me he still looks on the edge of making a costly mistake against the top teams. I just feel he is a little slow or a little undersized and gets caught out of position or caught in the tackle. But then again, compared to Vidic and Rio most CB's are going to suffer by comparison.
With the injuries at CB, he is nailed on to start every match, and with the difficult matches coming up against Newcastle, Stoke, Chelsea away, Arsenal, Villa and Norwich, plus the Champions League, he has nowhere to hide.
He will get his match fitness and if he performs on the pitch, then his doubters, myself included, will have to give him the credit he deserves.
With the injuries at CB, he is nailed on to start every match, and with the difficult matches coming up against Newcastle, Stoke, Chelsea away, Arsenal, Villa and Norwich, plus the Champions League, he has nowhere to hide.
He will get his match fitness and if he performs on the pitch, then his doubters, myself included, will have to give him the credit he deserves.
Evans isn't that slow, his positioning is good and he's comfortable on the ball. He thrives next to Rio. I am not sure why he has doubters, he's 24 and still a few years off his best considering his style of defending. He can be a bit rash in the challenge but I put that down to the over eagerness to impose himself on the game.
I disagree about Kompany and Pepe. Both of those are Vidic-style defenders. Luiz is good with the ball in his feet no doubt, but makes more stupid errors than Evans because he is overconfident.
I think Evans is world class with the ball in his feet as a CB. If there arent more than 5-6 people better than him in the world, then surely hes world class in your eyes as well, unless you have a really strict definition of what the term world class means.
And Rio has dwindled seriously the last few years. He resorts to hoofing way too much. Just look out for it...
On a forum where even Rooney isn't always considered World Class, I think you'll have a hard time convincing anyone that Evans is.
Im not saying hes world class overall, just that hes world class with the ball in his feet considering he is a CB. I dont see many CBs in the world better than him there. He obviously has a lot to work on to be considered a world class CB on the whole - aerial challenges and tackling timing being the two most lacking areas of his game.
Jonny has shut a lot of doubters up with his performances last season and has shown people what he is capable of but there is still a lot of improving he still needs to do. He is far from imperious yet and at times he can be a little indecisive, with and without the ball. He also needs to get tighter to his opponent and be more physically commanding, not to mention more dominant in the air.
Good news is he's nowhere near his peak yet has shown already he has lots of ability as well as good mental strength and can recover from setbacks. He needs to keep improving and a consistent run of games is essential to doing that. If he irons out his flaws he can become one of the best centre-backs around but he isn't there yet.
Good news is he's nowhere near his peak yet has shown already he has lots of ability as well as good mental strength and can recover from setbacks. He needs to keep improving and a consistent run of games is essential to doing that. If he irons out his flaws he can become one of the best centre-backs around but he isn't there yet.
I know what you mean. He makes me nervous all the time.
Then again with so many defenders injured we should be grateful he isn't and seems to be playing well alongside Rio.
No question he's improved and I was worried when he came back into the team this season but he has looked ok.
But all this talk about a great season last year, he played well in games when he wasn't under pressure and he does bring the ball out of defence well but when asked to actually defend he was found wanting on several occassions, Everton at home immediately springs to mind. In addition to that lets not forget we lost the league on goal difference and obviously every goal that city put past us after his ridiculous sending off cost us double i.e. a total of 10 goals when directly comparing city's goal difference with our own. Don't get me wrong I'm not blaming him that we didn't win the league but all the talk of a fantastic season and best defender in the league is just silly.
But all this talk about a great season last year, he played well in games when he wasn't under pressure and he does bring the ball out of defence well but when asked to actually defend he was found wanting on several occassions, Everton at home immediately springs to mind. In addition to that lets not forget we lost the league on goal difference and obviously every goal that city put past us after his ridiculous sending off cost us double i.e. a total of 10 goals when directly comparing city's goal difference with our own. Don't get me wrong I'm not blaming him that we didn't win the league but all the talk of a fantastic season and best defender in the league is just silly.
Saying hes the best defender in the league is heavily over the top. But last season there were many on here who had him in his top 3 players of the season. The only other clear candidates were Valencia and Scholes.
This is BS. I would say maybe 2-3 serious posts in the thread went OTT with praise. All the rest have been realistic or slightly optimistic. It's this selective reading of a thread. Even the post you responded too only called one tiny bit of his game world class. That was his calmness on the ball, and I gotta say for a center back he's on of the best I've seen at carrying the ball and passing it around. That's not saying he's the compete package, but he could be and he's well on his way to being!
Come of it Kompany & Pepe have both played in midfield for club & country, they are great on the ball. What exactly is a "Vidic-style defender?" it's just a lazy term you have created. I never mentioned how many errors Luiz or anyone else makes...Evans makes his fair share including two highly visible ones in the last week. I took argument with your suggestion that you could only think of two defenders who are better with the ball than Evans...and that is clearly rubbish. Off the top of my head here are a few more from the Premier League....Cahill, Vermaelen, Agger, Colloccini and wait for it.....Rio Ferdinand. You are claiming that because he likes to play a few long balls that constitutes hoofing it? Check Evans out he does it too....just look for it?
As for the definition of world class well its a pointless argument as far as I'm concerned. Everyone has a different idea of what makes a player attain this status. If you think Evans is world-class with "the ball at his feet" then your definition of the term is unbelievably loose. It could include so many good central defenders in European football. I've already named 5 from the Premier League so that renders your "5 or 6" reasoning redundant.
I'm not sure you have quite thought through the finer details of your opinion.
didn't put foot wrong today 
didn't put foot wrong today
Calm down now SJ!! Don't want to be blowing one good performance out of all proportion there!
Nice counter-argument. "your argument is rubbish" "lazy term you have created" etc..
I'd love to see his posts from the noobs on Evans if there are any. It seems to me he's one of the many United fans that refuses to accept the fact we have a gem on our hands.
Or maybe I just don't get carried away by someone who is clearly a decent defender and is still improving.
As for my previous posts on Evans well you might be surprised, but I'm afraid I'm someone who revels in realism. From my point of view I'm glad someone liked it seeing as it contributed significantly in my generous acceptance into the main forum.
But clearly I'm just talking bullshit as Evans is of course a beautiful little gem of a player who is world class at a tiny little bit of his game and only 2-3 posts in this forum go slightly over the top in praising him. My mistake.
The penny has finally dropped at least.
Mmm. Maybe you could refer to the points I actually raised in the counter-argument?
Or are we done?
He's a Pique fan boy.
Is Pepe feck better on the ball than Evans, wouldn't say Cahill or Collocini are either.
No point talking to you, you seem to be the type of 'fan',that never mind not praising a great young homegrown player, you criticise others for doing so, or try to highlight every little fault that he has and concentrate on that. You've made 7 or 8 posts in this thread and I none of them have Been in the slightest bit complementary. One suggesting that he has only had a half a decent season is more ridiculous than pretty much anything else posted before.
Yea we are done. Its obvious that we disagree and when you resort to that kind of rhetorics I see no point in continuing a discussion with you. Lets just agree to disagree.
Really. You obviously have not seen much of them at all then.
Pepe combines technique with tenacity and Cahill is very comfortable with the ball at his feet. Colloccini is perhaps the only one who may not be superior.
Thought so. You take the moral high ground then, it's all yours.
Just don't make outlandish points and expect people not to question them.
Just feck off will you.
Good one.
Deary me....chill out! It's nothing personal man......I just don't agree with you or your friends.
Who gives a feck about tenacity? We are talking about their technique. I have seen plenty of each of them, maybe you should look a bit closer at Evans? Pepe is no more than average on the ball, Ramos shits all over him in possession, you haven't a clue.
I've seen very few centre halfs that can carry the ball as well as Evans up the field past men and have as accurate and varied a range of passing. If you don't agree that that is one of his major strengths and that for a young player he is excelling at that part of his job then you need to actually stop watching him with predisposed ideas.
I bet you are one of those that used to hate Fletcher and is delighted O'Shea is gone cos you couldn't see what he brought to the team.
I bet you are one of those that used to hate Fletcher and is delighted O'Shea is gone cos you couldn't see what he brought to the team.
Evans is a quality little player. Really has a lot about him. I am a fan. He did to through. Dodgy stage after a promising start but hat experience will do no harm. Certainly has more to come for me.
He used to be really poor at that side of his game though. That's the weird thing.
I remember when he first broke through and went on loan to Sunderland, I thought the thing that might hold him back at United was his distribution with the ball at his feet...now he's probably the best of our centrebacks in terms of distribution and bringing the ball forwards.
Jones is better when he explodes forwards, but also much more likely to lose the ball, whilst hurtling himself into the advertising boards behind the opposition goal at about 50mph.
I have seen plenty of each of them, maybe you should look a bit closer at Evans? Pepe is no more than average on the ball, Ramos shits all over him in possession, you haven't a clue.
I said "combines technique and tenacity" oh wise one. It is an indication that the player can be aggressive whilst also being comfortable on the ball. Pepe is often seen as some sort of hatchet man after various Classicos in pursuit of crippling Messi. He is actually a very accomplished footballer who brings the ball out of defence comfortably for club and country. Seeing him plenty in your words is obviously not enough. To suggest he is average on the ball is ridiculous, average is Ryan Shawcross or Martin Skrtel.
I actually never disagreed that Evans isn't good on the ball, he is, just not world fecking class. I think I'm justified in saying that. Get a grip.
I have seen plenty of each of them, maybe you should look a bit closer at Evans? Pepe is no more than average on the ball, Ramos shits all over him in possession, you haven't a clue.
I said "combines technique and tenacity" oh wise one. It is an indication that the player can be aggressive whilst also being comfortable on the ball. Pepe is often seen as some sort of hatchet man after various Classicos in pursuit of crippling Messi. He is actually a very accomplished footballer who brings the ball out of defence comfortably for club and country. Seeing him plenty in your words is obviously not enough. To suggest he is average on the ball is ridiculous, average is Ryan Shawcross or Martin Skrtel like that.
I actually never disagreed that Evans isn't good on the ball, he is, just not world fecking class. I think I'm justified in saying that. Get a grip.
So smug it had to be said twice.
I've never disagreed he isn't good on the ball, just that he is not world class, which he isn't. His passing ability is good but not spectacular by any means. You obviously have not seen much football outside England as there are plenty of talented central defenders with just as much if not more technical ability with the ball. They are strengths for him but its his positional sense, concentration and decision making that often concern me, and the fact that he sometimes turns like a barge. I'm well aware of his ability and I'm sure he will forge a decent career but he has got a lot of work to do.
I find it amusing how you appear to want to pidgeon-hole me as some sort of anti-fan without any prior knowledge of the opinions I harbour, and because I don't rate Jonny Evans as highly as you. The simple fact is this is a thread entitled "Jonny Evans" and not "Good things about Jonny Evans." You should be able to deal with that.
Oh strange one, no one gives a feck about his tenacity, stop mentioning it. Evans is better on the ball than Pepe, no matter how tenacious you think Pepe is it isn’t really relevant. Ramos brings the ball out for Madrid so you’ve gotten yourself a bit muddled there as well.
It’s hilarious how you are trying to universally decide what average is, as if you can make that judgement and it applies to everyone. What is average depends on who the player is being compared to. If we are judging it on all footballers then Shawcross is infinitely better than average, whereas if we are only judging the best players in the world he is far below average. Seeing as we are talking about the best technical defenders in world football, it’s clearly the latter. In that company Pepe is merely an average footballer, someone like Rio, Hummels, Kompany or Evans are far more talented.