High praise indeed, then. But one wonders how necessary it really is, just a few games into Jones’ debut season at Old Trafford. The centre-back is, after all, just 20 years old, and if there is one nation who know exactly how to ruin a footballer’s career with unreserved hyperbole in the infancy of their career, it’s the English. Besides, one key area of Jones’ game could still do with polishing, and that, unfortunately, is his defending.
The youngster showed some of his lack of experience against Chelsea, particularly when he was left for dead by Fernando Torres late on as the Spaniard raced clear only to round de Gea and miss an open goal. Tuesday night’s second-half collapse again displayed frailties in Jones’ play – he was caught out of position for Alexander Frei’s equaliser and his poor pass to stand-in right-back Antonio Valencia led to the penalty from which Basel briefly took a shock lead.
This is not to say that Jones will not be the player that everyone expects him to develop into, or that United made a mistake. The biggest strength a defensive unit can have is steady playing time as a five (including the goalkeeper), and United are in no position to achieve that. Ferdinand and Patrice Evra were also poor on Tuesday, and after Fabio went off (yes, another injury) Valencia demonstrated again that he is a willing but suspect full-back.
Jones cannot be held responsible for United’s current defensive frailties, and certainly should not be. But too much expectation, too soon, has overwhelmed too many players in this country in the past decade or so. Perhaps laying off the hype would help Jones’ career more than the endless praise he has received in the past few weeks – but I don’t expect that to happen any time soon.
Written by Rob-Schatten for FootballFanCast.com
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