18 Jun 2016 08:48:54
I use to think Jose was pretty switched on, but I have changed my mind since seeing an article claiming Phil "I am made of glass" Jones can be our very own John Terry.
Now putting aside the fact that John Terry has in the past shown himself to be a pretty horrible human being, he was a very good defender for Chelsea and a good capita in. He would run through walls for the club and would play injured if he could.
Phil Jones catches a cold and does not play for three months. I just don't see any point in keeping him around. He looked OK when he was first in the team, but he just isn't available enough. Terry puts his body on the line to prevent goals, Phil gurns and sticks his face in the way ultimately either missing the block of straining something meaning an extended lay off.
It may be harsh, but Phil Jones has had enough time to prove himself and he has failed. Time to move him on and get an established CB in. If we keep him and buy an established CB it just makes it harder for the youth players to break through.
The only reason to keep him is if we are spending all out funds on a marquee signing which means we can't afford another established CB, hence he is being kept out of necessity or nobody wants to buy an injury prone lump like Jones.
18 Jun 2016 09:02:36
We signed Eric Bailly and have Smalling already. I have been impressed by RoShaun Williams, the big question is whether he is going to be good enough. If so then why buy another CB?
I understand the club have high expectations for Williams but Jones would not likely block him, buying another top centre back may do. Having Jones as a back up is reasonable.
18 Jun 2016 09:21:18
Williams is no way near ready for first team football and it will be 2/ 3 years before he will be. Jones if he is good enough then he will stay and it will have nothing to do with Williams, but say during pre-season Jones is utterly useless and better at pulling faces, another CB will come in for cover.
Weather this means we aren't looking at any other CBs or any top CBs I don't no, I have a feeling if Varane became available, it wouldn't matter if Jones was to stay or not!
18 Jun 2016 09:29:42
Hmmm, I think Jones had amazing potential but just seems totally unable to stay fit enough to realise it. Similar to Louis Saha.
I think we need another centre back if I'm honest.
Smalling is decent at best and not world class material, Blind won't play at CB for Jose. Jones is a sick note. Rojo isn't good enough to be first choice.
We have just signed Bailly but he is young and will have to adapt, there is not telling how he will do yet.
RoShaun Williams looks a top prospect but he isn't ready to start for us yet, a loan move or two then a sqaud place is probably the best course for him.
We have no leader in defence, and all Jose teams have had a vocal leader in the heart of their defence.
Blind, Jones and Rojo are likely to be gone by the start of the 2017/ 18 season for one reason or another.
I think we still need a leader at the back, that rock to build around.
18 Jun 2016 09:33:56
I think JM may not want to rock the boat too much now since it is Euro Cup now. So think he is saving the $$ to buy some key players and beside he Phil may just only be good enough as a second stringer. So I wouldn't really form any opinion now about JM. I believe he knows the team's strength and look to have a big enough team to handle the various Cups whilst ensuring we have a very strong team to challenge the PL title. That's my feel.
18 Jun 2016 09:45:50
Incidentally I agree with Shappy.
18 Jun 2016 09:49:11
Red man our current defence consists of bailly, chris smalling, phil jones, blind, darmian, shaw, rojo, CBJ. That is a 22 year old cb with 40 first team appearances who will be playing his first season in epl, a defender who consistently makes mistakes and needs the whole team to defend for him, a sick note who can't play more than 3 games in a row before he gets injured, a midfielder, 2 highly rated youngsters, a decent right back and a defender who is as trustworthy in defence as ryan giggs is with his sister in law. Will this defence get us a top 4 let alone a title, and is a 18 year old kid a good enough reason not to strengthen it?
18 Jun 2016 10:05:43
Smalling, jones, bailly and another centre back brought in.
Rojo and blind will be sold or played in their best positions which isn't centre back.
Thats 4 players for two centre back positions which is pretty much par for the course. don't really see the issue here.
18 Jun 2016 10:07:58
Did anyone think 18 year old Rashford would be good enough to lead our attack at the beginning of last season? Will we now buy a young centre forward and push out the talent of Rashford? Is this not what most on here have lamented about?
I saw that Milan went with a 16 year old Goalkeeper, age is not the decision maker, it's the talent.
I think Jones has lost his way but were OShea, Evans not decent squad players in the past? Jose must have seen something in Bailly and whilst Smalling doesn't dominate he is England's current CB. Beyond that it is up for grabs.
I wonder if this is bluff, mind you to keep the price up on Jones but if we were going to buy that experienced dominating centre half that some crave why buy Bailly?
Williams could have the same talent as Rashford and if we keep buying CB's it's not going to give him a chance. It's a decision that needs making and I won't be sorry if Rojo goes or Blind. Incidentally when I played CB was the easiest position on the pitch to play so coming in there isn't as hard as others for me.
18 Jun 2016 10:08:37
We will be losing bailly for quite some time because of the afcon.
But we still have smalling, rojo, jones and i expect one of poole, williams or tuanzebe to break through next season. Even tfm can play in case of a crisis. So i think we are good for now.
18 Jun 2016 12:12:51
redman we are buying zlatan, who will be first choice while rashford will most likely rotate with zlatan and whoever plays rw where it seems we are buying mkhitaryan. Jones hasn't lost his way, u need to play to lose your way, jones spends so much time at the treatment table that we ought to make him an honorary physio, and unless mourinho has some sort of magic powder to turn jones into titanium or something, jones isn't going to turn into a footballer anytime soon.
Bailly is a youngster with very little first team experience, i don't see him being first choice either, also u need to remember we need to qualify for ucl next season, as not doing so will lead to penalty from adidas deal. I don't see jose taking a risk, given his job will be on the line.
18 Jun 2016 14:51:34
Common sense M
If we buy Zlatan, it's likely a one year deal, would we buy a CB in a similar way? I don't view Zlatan as a blocker but could bring Rashford and Martial on quicker.
I watched Jones play in the U21 and he was made a fool of quite honestly. Let's see what one of the worlds best coaches can do with him.
I don't think Jose's job will be on the line at all, the difference is that the club know Jose can achieve everything and has done, something Moyes had never done and LVG not in this country or for some time. Therefore I believe the club will be more confident of giving him the time. So would I.
The club can hardly tell Jose to continue Uniteds youth tradition then put his job at risk for doing it. If his job was under that pressure like it was at Chelsea he would likely go for experience but then why buy Bailly? Why not go straight for the top CB. He may buy a top CB but I hope only if Williams isn't going to make it. The Williams I have seen keeps improving, made mistakes early on in the season yet really looked to have something. He is at the age when often they take a huge step or don't tend to make it. I will be interested to see what Jose does.
18 Jun 2016 16:37:22
I frankly believe, jones was a better player during his blackburn days than he is now.
18 Jun 2016 16:24:42
Red man as i said in the earlier post, i don't think jose is a magician, he is one of the best managers in the world, but jones for me is bit of a stretch even for him.
I haven't seen williams play so i take your word for it, but the point still remains is our defence solid enough to accommodate an 18 year old kid, who is bound to make a few mistakes, we needed ddg to save our bacon fair few times, that's with van gaal playing his no risks approach, every time we needed to play for win we messed up badly in defence, remember wolfsburg away, arsenal home or westham away.
in ideal world jose should get rid of jones, rojo, young, bastian / carrick. Replace jones and rojo with someone like varane or bonucci. It leaves us with valencia and darmian rotating for rb, smalling, varane / bonucci, TFM, Ro-shaun williams, rotating for cb while CBJ and shaw can rotate at lb, with blind replacing carrick / bastian on bench. Bailly iirc can play both as cb and rb.
18 Jun 2016 19:18:30
Jones is poor in every sense, can't pass and poor defender. he will be gone next after one more year. like most overhyped players, he will earn a kings ransom whilst doing nothing on the pitch.
19 Jun 2016 08:15:35
I didn't see a single Mourinho quote in that article. Meaning the whole thing was probably made up.