Great news. Still need to find out how long he will be out for. I am surprised it was only a bruise, must have been really bad bruising because he was unable to move his arm at all when it happened.
It's still bad news for Jones if he misses the remaining pre-season matches. He has not had any chance to justify the hype around him so far. Darren Gibson has made more of an impression. Getting a few minutes at the end of some PL games (if he's lucky) is going to be hard to allow him to develop. Look how rare it was that Rossi got a chance to show what he could do last season. United never seemed to get a 2 or 3 goal lead that allowed Fergie to experiment with a young player.
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/so...|0|0|71566930|0|0|0|0|0|||0|0|0|0|0&p=2&tag=1 he is back in training
David Jones... why on earth has fergie not given jones a chance? i mean he's certainly deserved one.... yet fergie has continually ignored him this pre-season, i mean how on earth is he expected to grow, if he isnt picked? the boy's a monster of a player, in my view, he's the next scholes, only he can tackle! im seriously concerned as to what the future holds for jones, he needs his chances NOW. im just hoping that jones gets a start for our next pre-season match (which i THINK is at Oxford). PS im particularly interested in DS' opinions on this....
Re: David Jones... already a thread my friend https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=215205
why on earth has fergie not given jones a chance? i mean he's certainly deserved one.... yet fergie has continually ignored him this pre-season, i mean how on earth is he expected to grow, if he isnt picked? the boy's a monster of a player, in my view, he's the next scholes, only he can tackle! im seriously concerned as to what the future holds for jones, he needs his chances NOW. im just hoping that jones gets a start for our next pre-season match (which i THINK is at Oxford).
David Jones - Welsh - 20yr - and a bright man utd career to come! shame it was not to be with Neumayr!
Beginning to wonder what the deal is here. From the outside looking in, Jones is not being given a fair crack of the whip. If we're not going to use him, why wasn't he loaned out to another Prem team? Seriously. I know it's early days yet, and getting off to and maintaining an excellent start to the seaso is paramount, but you would think Jones would see some time at least as a sub by now. It's a fine line and he needs to be played in the right games to A) give him a feel for the league in a strong environment (i.e one where we are doing very well and the team around him is settled) and B) so that if he has a bad game it is not costly to us or the 3pts that are on offer. Hell, I've just argued my way into saying why Jones hasn't seen any minutes yet... I'm just concerned for him now. Not even a peep in the majority of our pre-season, nor a PL kick of the ball this term...that doesn't look good and it will be a total waste of his talents if he is dumped back in the reserves after a stellar season away where he was twice given top appraisal's by fans and coaching staff alike at PNE and NEC, for him to come back and play in front of a few hundred people at a level he pissed all over 2yrs ago. It has to be seen as a massive step back for the lad if this is what materialises. Fletcher is well worthy of his place on his showings since pre-season, he has come in and earned himself a spot after seemingly falling out of favour at the end of last season. O'Shea is actually essential. As strange as that is to type, he is our only DM..or the only player masquarading as one (to be fair he is doing an OKish job of it) Scholes is a lock. Carrick is the only DPL in the squad. Of that lot, Jones can only realistically challenge Fletcher and with the way Fletcher is improving from game to game that is not realistically going to happen. So, why haven't we loaned Jones out? I don't get it. He's 22 in Novemeber, he cannot afford to be loafing around hoping he gets bit parts in the Carling Cup. This is a make or break season for Jones in relation to his career as a United player. With regard to this setting keeping Jones here and not sending him on a PL loan seems to be a disastrous move. He obviously won't see time against Arsenal, but there are some games coming up where realistically a player of Jones' quality should get minutes. The probability of this happening however seems to be remote. He must be pulling his hair out. He came back here after an exceptional spell in Holland where he was voted top 2 young player in the league! He was kept here past Aug 31st (which suggest(s)ed he'd feature in some way for us) but not even seeing him on the bench today has given some cause for concern. I'll be most disappointed if I'm listing him in PbP reserve line ups this season. Talk about 3steps back! If we don't see him in any capacity in 4 of the games after Arsenal (Reading, Newcastle, Wigan, Copenhagen) alarm bells will start ringing.
The problem for Fergie is that we will absolutely need David Jones before the season is over. (We will also need Rossi.) Things happen during the season and there is no doubt that he will be called upon. Already, Richardson is an important player. However, right now we don't need another central midfielder for all the reasons that you mentioned. I just hope that when the call inevitably comes, that Jones isn't too discouraged not to take his chance.
I don't think Ferguson wants to take any risks. If O'Shea, Fletcher, and Carrick are working, there's no need to replace them. Even in games where we can "afford" to play Jones. DS, you're right, he'll be 22 in November, if there is any time he should start breaking into this team, it's now. If not, it doesn't make any sense why he's not out on loan. It's difficult to assess what Ferguson is thinking, other than he wants to play it safe with what he's already got.
They've already been ringing for a while in my house. I thought that if there was ever a good oppurtunity to play him it would have been against Charlton. After going with the Giggs/O'Shea combo for most of the second half of last season and then Scholes/O'Shea for the first game of the current campaign against Fulham it looked like an O'shea/attack minded player was what we'd be going with most of the time. With Scholes not available against Charlton, and Giggs being called into action in a more advanced role I genuinely thought that would have left the door open for Jones in that game. Fletch hadn't been doing to much at that time and I was mildly surprised to see him given the nod. Ok, so it was a potentially tricky contest and maybe Fergie went for the more experienced player who was perhaps a little more battle-hardened (it seems strange saying that about Fletch ) but it did seem like a decent oppurtunity. I'm not knocking Fletcher, he was great in that game and has been solid since but ever since then I've been having my doubts as to exactly where Jones fits in as far as the gaffer is concerned. First name on the teamsheet if I was in charge............I'm serious too.
I think the start we've had has actually hindered Jones - if it aint broke and all that. As long as it's just a case of giving him his shot at the right time, I'm comfortable with that, but if Fergie just plans to use him in the Carling Cup, it would be an incredible waste of a player who is ready for this league now and has all the badges prior that most good pros get before stepping up (most notaby the FA Youth Cup medal) it's frustrating knowing we have a genuine talent who seems to be getting frowzen out though.
I would hope he will get some minutes against some of minnows over the next few weeks. What we don't know is how his form has looked in practice.
With our central midfield problem (the Carrick versus Scholes compatibility issue) I just can't see where he would play. We have enough problems trying to fit Fletcher into the side and I see Jones as being his left-sided equivalent, although obviously not as good (). I could go back to my midfield trio and a single winger tactic (see A) but since Ferguson will never try it it's a pointless exercise. By that I mean he will use the tactic but not the same personnel. Given the injury to Giggs/Park and Ferguson's ignorant insistence in trying to use a Carrick/Scholes midfield cobination, I can see the one winger formation being used for quite some time. Who is played out of 'position' then depends on the opposition. O'Shea/Fletcher are before Jones in that regard and I can't see him getting a chance to break through unless that duo are struck down by injury or suspension next. It's a sad state of affairs given his talent and potential but that's what we get for mucking around and having to 'first choice' central midfielders that both need someone to hold their hand. (A) ------ Saha - Rooney < Ronaldo >>>>>>>>>>>>>> -- Jones - XXX - Fletcher Evra - Vidic - Ferdinand - Neville ---------- VDS XXX = Carrick or Scholes
Ahh.. the good old single winger...The so called "4-3-3" that Brazil played in the 70's and 80's was often really a midfield trio and a single winger.
If Fergie was paying attention to Jones on loan he'll know that he did very well at LM/ LCM for NEC and he'll take the chance to play Ronaldo in a flank position. -----------Saha -------------------Rooney ------------------------------Ronaldo -------Jones----Scholes ------------------Carrick Evra ---------Brown--------Rio---Neville