Jack of All Trades But Will He Be A King: In Which Position Will Phil Jones See Himself Develop?

Chris Smalling is set to be United, and England's, future defender but will Jones be his partner?

Some players you see and think "He's going to be special", I didn't get much of a look of Phil Jones while he was at Blackburn except his two matches last season against United both of which were played in midfield. One was the 7-1 drubbing at Old Trafford while the other was the 1-1 draw late in the season. It's always hard to judge a young player on the side of a 7-1 loss but the 1-1 draw seemed a decent performance, the hype surrounding him was ever present so even regarding those performances, the 16 Million Pounds United spent over the summer to secure Jones' signature (under competition from Liverpool and Arsenal) seemed worthy. 


Three months onwards though, the deal seems a dead-on bargain. Jones' performances have surpassed that predicted by even the most optimistic of fans during the first 5 games of the Premier League season, praises have rung through from all corners of England for the player many called the 'Next John Terry'. But after his marauding runs forward from defence, that seems more a criticism of his overall abilities rather than praise. 


Even though, with all that has been said, there should be perspective. With all the moments of class and potential, there are still signs that Jones is lacking a bit defensively, in so far that it might be worth considering changing his position from center back to a more advanced role in central midfielder where his runs would also be encouraged more. After all, this is what Sam Allardyce, the man who had been in charge of Phil Jones' grooming since he was 16 who said about any worries in moving him from the center of defence to midfield:

"Not a lot. If you are a natural, you are a natural........Moving him into midfield was a big ask because the game is so much more difficult in there as it is all around you, rather than just coming on to you as a centre-half."

"So we've dropped him in midfield and you saw what he can do. It doesn't need a trained eye like mine to show what a quality player, even in midfield, he is.

Though Allardyce did go on to mention that he does see Jones' long term position in the center of defence, his natural ability does beg the question as to whether Jones should be played in the center of midfield since he likes to move forward with the ball often and therefore leaves a big gap in behind him. One might argue that you can simply adopt a system which would have an extra man move back into the center of defence when Jones moves forward but then a problem would come in the face of a mismatch between a central midfielder and a center forward if the ball is lost and a counter attack is initiated. 

Before Torres Chance: Phil Jones (red) is seen here in the strikers position as United lose possession. 

Before Torres Chance (2): As Chelsea move forward, Fletcher (white) is out of position as a CB covering Jones' (red) position. Torres (blue)  looks to attack Fletcher. 

The above is one illustration of the potential dangers of Jones' forward forays. With United already being 3-1 still with around 10 minutes remaining, you would think that trying to sustain the lead would be a priority but Jones is for some reason seen as United's most forward player as United have the ball. Subsequently, United lose possession and Chelsea gain the attack with Torres now having Jonny Evans and natural midfielder Darren Fletcher ahead of him. Jones is  not able to recover his lost position and Torres recognizes the mismatch he has infront of him in the form of Fletcher acting as emergency CB, he decides to try and attack the Scotsman. Torres ends up running through Evans and Fletcher, collecting the pass and having a fantastic opportunity to score and put Chelsea within one goal of United and have the game set for a tense finish. The chance was ultimately missed, inexplicably, but the point about the defensive lapse still remains. 

That being said, Jones has shown many reasons why he should be allowed to move forward from the back:

Before United's goal (1): Jones (red) in his usual advanced role picks the ball and is already on the move towards the acres of space (yellow lines) in front of him. 

Before United's goal (2): Jones (red) collects the pass from Rooney and attacks the acres of space left by Ashley Cole being out of position. 

The Jones foray forward ultimately lead to United's third goal but this is not the only example of Jones creating chances with his runs into the box. United's second goal against Bolton last week also came about from a fantastic run forward from the young 'defender'. The trait shown here is not something which is easy to learn for a defender but rather one which is considered to be engrained into a footballer at an early age. Attackers are praised for their ability to be able to predict pockets of space so for a defender to show this much ability is very rare to see. There are some examples from the past and present, Lucio of Inter Milan has been equally praised and criticized for his forward runs while David Luiz of Chelsea has managed to score spectacular goals because of his forward runs but again has been criticized for being to aggressive and leaving space in behind. 

Coming to Jones' ability as a defender. Jones has maintained, according to Guardian Chalkboards, a tackling success rate of 71% from the first 5 games of the season. A comparison with John Terry's figure of 58% shows how impressive Jones has been in that respect. Always known as a strong and intelligent tackler, Jones' speed when compared to other defenders gives him an added advantage. Standing at 6'2 and with a stocky build, Jones has also maintained supremacy over much of his opponents in the air, another plus point for a central defender. 

The weaknesses are there as well though. Along with the errors that have come about from his runs forward, Jones has shown over the season that he does have a weakness in marking  strikers. 

Chelsea Goal: Jones is caught ball watching as Torres roles right past him and scores. 

Arsenal Chance: Jones again caught ball watching as Van Persie runs along his blindside and has a chance at goal from the rebound of De Gea's save.

On both occasions seen above, Jones has no idea about where his closest opponent. That is a cardinal sin for a central defender and one that can be easily punished by the best strikers in the league, ones who have a natural ability of being able to make those clever runs and get into positions to score. If Jones is to become a top central defender then this is one issue which he has to work on. 

When it comes to play as a central midfielder, as mentioned at the start of the article, Jones displays tremendous ability when making forward runs. One thing that Jones does not possess though is the touch of a natural midfielder, that can present problems when Jones will come across a midfield that is willing to push high up the pitch and pressurize him when he is in possession. Another question might be his abilities as a passer but given that his role would be a defensive one rather than one of a playmaker, it should not be that much of an issue. A look at his passing numbers brings a surprising good outlook of his passing abilities. 

The picture to the left shows Phil Jones' passing against Arsenal (c) Guardian Chalkboards. Arsenal have been known to press defenders and midfielders and that was exactly how they tried to play against United. The results were disastrous for them since United seemed unphased and simply passed their way through and created chances. Jones was having as easy a time as the rest of his team mates in that respect as his passing numbers show, only 4 missed passed out of 42 attempted. His overall passing completion for the season stands at 85%, whats most encouraging though is that majority of the passes are short and there aren't many aimed aimlessly towards the strikers, a common trait amongst most English defenders. That does revolve a lot around how United play. Without a natural target man, Jones does not have the incentive to try for that option, one can only think what might have been though had be chosen to play for Liverpool and in particular, '35 Million Pound Man' Andy Carroll.

Overall, it can be seen that Jones possess both the characteristics to be a fantastic central defender and a central midfielder. The versatility in his game is one that is rare and along with his natural ability both as a midfielder and as a defender, its scary to think how good he might be. But one thing that Sir Alex Ferguson must make sure is that he grounds Jones towards one particular position and works on the abilities needed for that specific role. Jones lacks in some respects as a central defender and in some respects as a central midfielder so there is work to be done. 

United faced a similarly bright prospect in the face of John O'Shea during the early 2000's. Coming through as initially a central defender, O'Shea showed versatility and ability playing across the back-line early and in midfield later on in his career:

“John has done fantastically well,” said Ferguson. “I look at him and Rio, think of next season and think to myself – there’s your partnership. I remember saying it right from the first time I saw him, he could read the game superbly. But now he has size, now he has the shoulders. He looks like a centre half now. Last year he was a big beanpole.” Ferguson on John O'Shea in 2002

That was said by Ferguson at the start of the 2002-03 season during which United were looking at a long term replacement for Laurent Blanc alongside Rio Ferdinand. The options then were Silvestre, a young Wes Brown and ofcourse John O'Shea. Due to the competition, out of 32 appearances in the league, O'Shea though went on to start 23 games as a Left Back and did so quite admirably. The following season then saw O'Shea start 29 games as a Center Back and from then on was being switched between CB, LB and RB. By the end of his career O'Shea became more of a squad player than a consistent starter. This season, Jones and Smalling  have been seen occupying the flanks due to injuries to Rafael and Fabio Da Silva at the start. What's scary to think though is that now, after a series of impressive performances, people are starting to wonder whether either one of them would be better off playing as a wing back. Considering that Vidic's career is far from over and Rio Ferdinand continued to put in superb performances at the end of last season after a torrid time with injuries, it would seem that the only way for Jones and Smalling to get a consistent run in the side would be as a Right Back.


Therein lies a problem for Ferguson, when Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic soon make their recoveries from injuries and in face of competition from Evans and Smalling, the only way for Jones to get consistent starts in the side (besides from the Cup fixtures) would be playing matches out of position. The rotation of position could prove a detriment to his development in a particular position for the future, it would be better for Sir Alex to decide upon where he sees Jones' future and stick to playing him in that role and developing his abilities accordingly. My personal opinion would be that Jones be played in midfield since the natural tendency of players to attack is one which is very difficult to remove and one that could be very dangerous for the team coming from a central defender. Therefore it would be better to work on that tendency and try to build upon it without having to suffer from having space left behind for a central midfielder to recover. He has the passing for a defensive midfielder along with the defensive qualities which he has gotten from being a central defender during his youth days, thus we might just be seeing the characteristics of a great future midfield general within United, the true heir to Roy Keane.