In europe especially and against top teams in the EPL i want us to use Phil Jones as a Defensive midfielder next season, we need some energy, somebody who can drive forward, next to him have Paul Scholes, Phil can help protect Paul. My formation and team is. ----------------De Gea----------------- Rafael-----Ferdinand-----Vidic-----Evra -------------Scholes--------Jones---------- -Kagawa--------Carrick--------Nani ----------------Rooney---------------- Or you could push Scholes into CM next to Carrick and have Jones playing just ahead of the back four and just behind the midfield, also could change Kagawa for Carrick and have Valencia on the right wing, also some games use Giggs on the left wing or rather controversely have Giggs as our lone striker, i think he's very effective in that role, Rooney can be rested at times.
Hopefully we will avoid the injuries that struck our defence which led to Jones playing so many games. He's only 20, mind you.
He's not technical enough nor does he have the defensive discipline to be a DM. It might come with age and experience but right now to have him in there would be a mistake IMO.
Running around and being strong in the tackle does not = a defensive midfielder. At least not a good one...
Doesn't have the defensive discipline to be a DM but ok to be a CB? You can get away with any discipline lapses in midfield than you can at CB. He has technical ability, evidence is shown in his driving runs from deep, you can't do that otherwise because it demonstrates close control and dribbling. He played most of his whole last season with Blackburn at DM, which I watched and he did extremely well. The CB position is a much more mature position for a player than DM.
There completely different positions for starters, you can't compare the defensive discipline of a CB and a DM. As it's easier to be dragged about the place as a center midfielder and as such you need more defensive discipline and know when to sit and when to drive forward. You don't get the chance to drive forward nowhere near as much as a center half as a center midfield does. He doesn't have the understanding of the game yet to play there and would leave us so exposed in the middle of the park if he was our main defensive midfielder. Hell there was times we were been exposed, especially in Europe with Carrick as our DM and he has 10 times the defensive discipline that Jonsey has in the middle of the park. Yeah he has technical ability but at the moment not enough to be a constant starter in the midfield for Manchester United. I was more on about his passing abilty at times too, he gets too flustered and doesn't have a great range of passing, again it will improve with age I'm sure and playing with better players in a better team. I'm sure you watched Blackburn week in week out No it's not, I'd feel much safer having him play at center back alongside somebody like Rio and Vidic with their experience to guide him or at right back then in the middle of the park as a defensive midfielder leaving us exposed because he doesn't have the defensive discpline to play there and bombs forward to much to play there. In a midfield 3 with Carrick and somebody else and Carrick as the DM and Jones as a box to box type player then yeah I wouldn't mind that too much, but not as THE DM and we won't be playing a real midfield 3 this season anyway IMO with Kagawa been brought in. You're acting as if this is a Jones bashing type post when I'm one of his biggest fans on here and have been even before we signed him
A DM position doesn't necessarily mean a holding role. He's more of a destroyer type with the freedom to get forward if partnered with someone like Carrick, such as Fletcher but he's shown more than Fletcher at the same age.
Phil Jones might have done well at Blackburn as a DM because it's not a team that is based around keeping possession or passing to feet. There's always an easy way out by hoofing the ball to the front man, which is not something done at United. More than discipline or technical execution, I think that it's his passing that, at the moment, prevents him from being a DM.
maybe we can try to make Jones a "libero", not the old-fashioned libero but like the one which De Rossi was doing when he played as centre back in the Euro. Since Jones is famed for his trademark run, and Capello even compared him to Franco Baresi.
That's a fair point although I think he's better at passing than some give him credit for, switching philosophy can take a while. However it's not a complete necessity to be a great passer in the destroyer role, again look at Fletch, De Jong, Parker and Kompany (when he played there) as recent examples.
I agree with some of the comments against Jones as a DM. I used to strongly advocate him to be one but I am not too sure now after the season ended. A strong and promising young player but with rather rough technical abilities and passing, and does not have enough defensive discipline, maturity or reading of the game in the middle of the park yet. May still be useful there as an impregnable shield though if we just needed to defend for dear life, provided he promises not to vacate his spot just in front of the centre backs. But in usual games when there is everything to play for, no as a normal functional DM.
The thing about Jones is that he's an all rounder. He's good at most aspects of the game, but not really a master of any. He's still incredibly raw and naive at times. He's still only 20 years old, so that's to be expected. He has time to iron out the flaws in his game and is at the right club for developing players. We've seen Fletcher and Ronaldo in a similar situation when they were teenagers and in their early 20's. I don't think he'll ever be an out and out holding midfielder. Especially not in a midfield three, where you have to be incredibly disciplined and intelligent. He's not a Busquets or a Carrick, he has his own style of play. But he could become a good defensive midfielder who looks to break up the play higher up the pitch, and who is more involved in different phases of the play. He's a bit similar to Khedira or De Rossi. If he could develop into that type of defensive midfielder, we'd have a very good and useful player on our hands. They're nearly box to box midfielders more than anything else. But they're effective because of their defensive qualities more than their attacking traits. Carrick next to Jones (both deep in midfield), with Kagawa roaming between the lines could be very interesting. We should try that out on the pre-season tour.
He'll be a world class CB in future, of that I have no doubt. First Fergie needs to stop playing him in a variety of positions or he'll end up like O'shea. First time I paid any attention to him was when he played in the U20 euro's last season and he oozed quality next to Smalling. Quite dissapointed we didn't see much of them playing as a partnership last season. He'll be a quicker more technical version of Vidic in a couple of years IMO.
I think Fergie is just trying to utilise promising young players more and thought he could also kill two birds with one stone by giving them a more rounded education by making them more versatile in other positions. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be working, and I am beginning to suspect it may actually be detrimental because they are just at their critical stage of development; cue Anderson now formless (excuse the pun) and unrecognisable from his glory days at Porto which first prompted us to snap him up. As said before, I would prefer him to find another fringe player like O'Shea or Park for the utility-man job but not one of our future stalwarts. Better to focus them on the appointed role they are groomed here for.
Hargreaves is one of the few players I can ever think of capable of putting in a world class performance in numerous positions. Hopefully Jones can do that eventually, but he should stay away from Owen just in case his tendinitis is contagious.
he could opperate on cm. he could be good aswell. in a box to box role.. next to carrick and behind Kagawa..
