We need to talk about Jonny Evans

[harpendenfox]

Did anyone get cramp today?

[st albans fox]

Watching the sky replay now 

my take at the time was that he was limping on his bad foot and shaking his head - didn’t look like cramp to me 

will see in ten mins 

[Stanmorefox]

Saw him come out the ground after the game with his kids and I thought he was limping then

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

49 minutes ago, harpendenfox said:

Did anyone get cramp today?

Who’s cramped who’s style? 

[smitha]

1 hour ago, Facecloth said:

You need to learn how to quote , but I'm guessing you're replying to me as I replied to you.

 

I started this thread, so when you say some of the stuff was embarrassing, I was the main one talking bringing it up. There's nothing wrong with questioning if a player in his 30's might be declining, especially when he's playing as badly as Evans was a year ago. I'll be delighted if he can prove us wrong and we get a little more of him at the top of his game, but to call it embarrassing that people might think at his age he might not get back to his level, well that's embarrassing.

So you think Evans is not at the level he was a few years ago, personally age has nothing to do with it as with Vards players get better with age. Percy seems to think that he is one of the best by a country mile, not many seem to disagree.

[Big Dave]

29 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Watching the sky replay now 

my take at the time was that he was limping on his bad foot and shaking his head - didn’t look like cramp to me 

will see in ten mins 

The BBC RL chaps said that Evans was out on the pitch cooling down with the rest of the team after the game, so 🤞 all is ok.

[eblair]

Fairly certain it wasn’t a bit of cramp. Every player came back out after the game (including Kel + Maddison) other than Jonny

 

Can’t tell if it cos he’s hurt me so much in the last 6 months; but i think he’ll be out for another month again. If he is okay he should be nowhere bear East Midlands Airport on Tuesday

[eblair]

Also does anyone remember how poor he looked in his first game for us? Was convinced he was just here for a last pay check and was abolished shite (never been more wrong). Hope to say the same about Betrand in a years time

[Pliskin]

Evans is one of the best defenders on the league. Period.

 

His leadership skills, organisational skills, and awareness isn’t matched. And it’s completely laughable that United have two CB on display today that couldn’t sniff the sweat around Johnny’s bollocks. 
 

We are a much better team with him in it, and he must be replaced at all costs when the time comes. 

[brookfox]

I’m not sure about talking about Jonny Evans, I’d rather we spend our time on cloning him! The difference he brings to our whole defence is just immense. Not sure which Man Utd manager sold him but shame on them as he’d have still got in their team yesterday.

[Vazman]

I was sceptical about him being so influential to our defence, and general play, how wrong I was, he was the absolute difference, a mentor and calming influence to Cags and Dan, moving the ball forward not backward or sideways, when Cags scored Johnny was there giving him a fatherly hug, keep going Johnny we absolutely need you!

[Facecloth]

13 hours ago, smitha said:

So you think Evans is not at the level he was a few years ago, personally age has nothing to do with it as with Vards players get better with age. Percy seems to think that he is one of the best by a country mile, not many seem to disagree.

I replied to this yesterday, but its been deleted, god knows why.

 

Anyway, I'm not writing the whole post again, but basically, do you think Evans was playing well a year ago? Because he wasn't. Many players as they age will declined, so why can't his form and potential decline be talked about? 

[dynamark]

Doubt he will play thursday cotton wool and ice for next weekend .With that injury you can put insoles in to shape the foot for regular use but a football game is much more stress

[An Sionnach]

He must have been hampered by pain over the last twelve months. He is a very clever player and unspectacular in style but when in form he is one of the best in Europe. We will not find a perfect replacement but for me James Tarkowski has a lot of Jonny's attributes and we made a great mistake in not signing him in the summer.

[CosbehFox]

He takes a might whack when trying to tackle Rashford his goal. Hopefully a result of that 

[Farrington fox]

2 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

He takes a might whack when trying to tackle Rashford his goal. Hopefully a result of that 

That is exactly what I thought.

[The People's Hero]

17 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

I replied to this yesterday, but its been deleted, god knows why.

 

Anyway, I'm not writing the whole post again, but basically, do you think Evans was playing well a year ago? Because he wasn't. Many players as they age will declined, so why can't his form and potential decline be talked about? 

It was deleted because you were abusive and I reported the post.

[Jobyfox]

[Raj]

Hes the cog of the machine.

Imagine him in his prime.

 

[coolhandfox]

How I've missed his cross field raking passes like the one that set up the move for the 3rd goal.

 

He's so good on the ball.

 

 

[Pliskin]

Why I think he is so important is;

 

 

Firstly communication, it’s one thing to be vocal, but it’s another to be tactically aware and vocal, one thing that is noticeable is Jannik, Cags and Amartey don’t talk to watch other like Evans does…. Obviously they will communicate in game, but it tends to be a reaction opposed to being proactive. 
 

First thing I noticed was how much Johnny communicates, and his tactical awareness and ability to organise is something only experience and football intelligence can give you. 
 

There was a moment when Fernandes passed a ball for Greenwood to attack, Johnny was clearly seeing the phase of play before it happened, as Fernandes was shaping up to pass you could see Johnny prompting Cags to go and attack the space Greenwood was about to run into, which is Cags strength, being aggressive on the touch of the opponent and looking to win the ball first. 
 

He also tells him when to drop off too and the same with big Dan, it’s almost like a game of chess. 
 

Second point I want to make is, over the past few months in possession of the ball, when looking to build an attacking from the back we were being careless with our passes, forcing passes into the midfield, which in turn created issues, as we were often misplacing said passes and exposing ourselves, and exposes players like Jannic, will never end well due to the obvious lack of pace. 
 

There was a moment in the game where Johnny came out of the back line with the ball, and normally people would see this as a negative but he held his arms out to provoke some movement ahead of him. Obviously the crowd don’t like it when we have to withdraw and recycle possession, but it just shows that thinking is back into that back line, something we’ve been badly missing for a while.

 

 

It just proves that you need a tactically astute defender in the back line especially if you are wanting to play from the back.

 

Dunk and Tarkowski are two others that stand out, but we absolutely have to look to replace this when Evans moves on…. Furthermore, if he getting Evans into the coaching set up once he decides to retire. 

Edited 17 October 2021 by Pliskin

[Stevosevic]

How did Manchester United sell this guy? And why did he only get picked up by West Brom? 

 

Our gain eventually. 

[drumbeat]

43 minutes ago, Stevosevic said:

How did Manchester United sell this guy? And why did he only get picked up by West Brom? 

 

Our gain eventually. 

He was a different player at the time? Dunno.

 

Maybe the role he got to play with us has inspired him on to greater things. Maybe he reassessed where he was, where his strengths and weaknesses were, and is using his experience in a way he didn't before. Myriad of possible reasons but, as you say, our gain in the outcome.

 

It's been a real eye opener for me. I honestly didn't realise just how much difference a single player could make by simply their presence.

 

Of course, it could just be 'correlation' 

 

 

Edited 17 October 2021 by drumbeat

[Col city fan]

Crucial to our defence. Absolutely crucial

But we need to sign a replacement who’s as composed and experienced. Evans is getting older and too injury prone to be totally relied on

[turlo]

1 hour ago, Stevosevic said:

How did Manchester United sell this guy? And why did he only get picked up by West Brom? 

 

Our gain eventually. 

He got injured when Van Gaal was manager and fell out of favour so they cashed in on him when his contract was down to the last 12 months. Ferguson was quoted a few years later that he was shocked when they sold Evans, as he was part of the succession plan for when Rio/Vidic retired.