Manchester United started the game vs Sheffield United very strongly but it required just a single error from Phil Jones for the Blades to take a 1-0 lead.
Ole chose to play with a back-three on Sunday meaning Phil Jones got a rare start in the Premier League this season.
But the England international did very little to justify his selection as his naivety directly led to John Fleck scoring the opener meaning the manager wasted no time to replace Phil Jones with Jesse Lingard right after the first-half.
As Phil Jones was taken off, Man United reverted back to a traditional four-man backline and slowly but surely they came back into the match.
The defender has received major criticism for his poor show and one of the critics was Graeme Souness who came out to blast Phil Jones saying that the defender tried to be too cute despite being fully aware of his strengths and weaknesses.
“He’s having a look to see where his goalkeeper was or where Mousset was,” Souness said on Sky Sports[as reported].
“He’s got to get his body over, he’s got to protect the ball. He’s just done everything wrong.
“Just protect the ball, try and bounce it off the forward and get a goal kick or a throw-in for your team. But he just gets it all wrong, he’s in the wrong position.
“He’s a player that, let’s be blunt about it, Jones isn’t a cute player. So for him, and he’s not 20 years old, it should have been a case of row Z.
United defence playing a perfect offside line just before the first goal.
Then there's Phil Jones….Pathetic. pic.twitter.com/ujkRa4tcau
— Red Devil Bible (@RedDevilBible) November 25, 2019
“He’s not the cutest of players, he’s not got the greatest touch, but get your body in the right place, be strong and at worst give away a throw-in. But no, he just gets it all wrong.”
Solskjaer got rid of Chris Smalling during the summer but surprisingly chose to keep Phil Jones in the Man United squad.
We can understand that the Man United manager did not want to get rid of all his senior players at one go but after the performance vs the Blades, we are convinced Phil Jones will not be at Old Trafford beyond the summer.
