Jonny Evans

[B\connellblue]

He's absolute shite and getting worse every time I see him. Would sooner persist with mangala at least hes not a CNUT.

 

[Tanzeylee]

Can I remind all posters to please use his full name when talking about him, ‘Jonny fucking Evens’ (JFE is acceptable) stop being disrespectful ****s

 

[Dribble]

I've seen Evans play enough times to know that he's not terrible but I do think he is a pretty average premier league defender. I don't claim to be an expert and I don't think I need to watch every single match he plays to have a reasonably informed opinion on him. I reckon there are a fair few players around who we could go for if this is standard of CB we are looking at signing. Just don't see the point in all honesty. If we sign VVD he will in all likelihood be a first choice CB for a number of years. We sign Evans I reckon he goes ahead of Mangala in the pecking order but even for the rest of this season he'd be behind everyone else and in the summer will fall further down the pecking order when we sign a quality CB. We buy Evans, IMO it is spending 30m pounds on a back up player for half a season and stunting Tosin's development in the longer term. Much better to throw a bit of cash at it now and think beyond the next few months.

Tosin has promise, but he's not ready for regular top class football yet.

One thing always struck me about our link with JFE, which was why all those connected with Old Toilet agreed it was a mistake to sell Evans.

The other things that intrigued me was Arsenal's interest in him & then ours. It also made me wonder if the general consensus against Evans wasn't rooted in the fact he's an ex Rag player.

Which ever way fans look at it, Pep has more than earned my trust, so ultimately my faith lies with him, Txiki & the plethora of experts & data analysts we have at our disposal.

If Evens is good enough for them, he's good enough for me.

 

[Dribble]

I do see that side of the argument, and obviously I trust the club when it comes to player evaluation. There's a reason I'm just a lowly armchair manager.

If there is only 30m available and not a penny more, then I could understand why Evans is an option. Two alternatives that have been discussed around that price are Inigo Martinez and Ryan Bertrand. I won't pretend I've seen much of Martinez other than what I've read on here, and obviously Bertrand is a LB as opposed to CB (although I think LB is more of a need at this point), so from that standpoint they are imperfect alternatives. I don't think the decision is binary, though. I think they could go beyond 30m for the right player and in my opinion that's how the funds would be better allocated.

Another argument I'd make is - do we even need him at this point in the season? When the rumors surfaced over the summer I was surprised, but not necessarily opposed. Stones and Otamendi were coming off inconsistent seasons, Mangala looked like he was gone, and Kompany was an injury concern. So much has changed since then. Unfortunately Vinny is still oft-injured, but Stones has improved dramatically and is one of the first names on the team sheet when fit (hopefully soon?!). Otamendi has been quietly outstanding this year. Mangala is still a landmine on Bluemoon but I think he's played well enough, and we certainly haven't suffered in the results column during his fill-in. Even Tosin has flashed in his cameos, and while I"m not sure he's 1st team ready, I think we're nearing a point in his development where the club needs to decide whether it's worth giving him a shot.

At this point, the league is all but wrapped up barring an epic collapse, and we're in the knockout stages of the Champions League. We don't need Evans to hold on to the league, and he's certainly not leading us to Champions league glory. So what's the point of signing him at all in January? He just seems like stop-gap cover that we don't need. I think it'd be better to re-evaluate the position over the summer and work to identify a longer-term solution.

Apologies for the long post. It's 830 AM here and I haven't had my coffee yet so struggling a bit to get my thoughts down.

Your post assumes that we may only have £30m available, which I believe is far from the case. We lodged an interest with Sanchez, Evans & Mbappe, & secured none of them, so those funds must still be available, but as part of a bigger, long term plan for Manchester City.

Not for a moment do I consider Evans as our future, but I can easily see him as experienced PL, CL & international football cover for the CB's we have.

I'd also imagine that Evans would rather make 20/30 appearances for City, & be challenging for honours, rather than making 45 appearances for WBA where the first thoughts are PL survival at the beginning of every PL season.

With us, Evans would be back in the big time so to speak, & I'm sure he'd relish reduced playing time, to once again be on the pitch whilst City fans boo the CL anthem! Lol :-)

 

[Dribble]

I don't believe that for one minute mate.
Until I see him pull on a shirt or hear Pep say that he tried to sign him I will continue to believe that he feels the same way way about evans as the rest of us do.

Mate, they say there's no smoke without fire, but in the case of our interest in Evans, the flames were bigger than those that recently ravaged California.

Pulis & Pardew have both failed to deny we were an interested party when asked. You can't honestly think that Evans to City is a case of The Sun, Star & Daily Express at their very predictive worst, with no basis in fact?

 

[Father Paul]

I do see that side of the argument, and obviously I trust the club when it comes to player evaluation. There's a reason I'm just a lowly armchair manager.

If there is only 30m available and not a penny more, then I could understand why Evans is an option. Two alternatives that have been discussed around that price are Inigo Martinez and Ryan Bertrand. I won't pretend I've seen much of Martinez other than what I've read on here, and obviously Bertrand is a LB as opposed to CB (although I think LB is more of a need at this point), so from that standpoint they are imperfect alternatives. I don't think the decision is binary, though. I think they could go beyond 30m for the right player and in my opinion that's how the funds would be better allocated.

Another argument I'd make is - do we even need him at this point in the season? When the rumors surfaced over the summer I was surprised, but not necessarily opposed. Stones and Otamendi were coming off inconsistent seasons, Mangala looked like he was gone, and Kompany was an injury concern. So much has changed since then. Unfortunately Vinny is still oft-injured, but Stones has improved dramatically and is one of the first names on the team sheet when fit (hopefully soon?!). Otamendi has been quietly outstanding this year. Mangala is still a landmine on Bluemoon but I think he's played well enough, and we certainly haven't suffered in the results column during his fill-in. Even Tosin has flashed in his cameos, and while I"m not sure he's 1st team ready, I think we're nearing a point in his development where the club needs to decide whether it's worth giving him a shot.

At this point, the league is all but wrapped up barring an epic collapse, and we're in the knockout stages of the Champions League. We don't need Evans to hold on to the league, and he's certainly not leading us to Champions league glory. So what's the point of signing him at all in January? He just seems like stop-gap cover that we don't need. I think it'd be better to re-evaluate the position over the summer and work to identify a longer-term solution.

Apologies for the long post. It's 830 AM here and I haven't had my coffee yet so struggling a bit to get my thoughts down.

Great post and I fully concur. Why spend 30m on a back up player who won't get near the team if Vinny can stay fit and the Mangler keeps improving. Also Tosin showed enough the other night to suggest he can fill in for a few games if needed. Things have indeed changed since the summer what we need now is a longterm replacement for Vinny not an expensive stopgap.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

I think it is fair to say that Tosin isn’t a “this year” guy, but could well be a next year guy. So, we really only need 1 World Class CB to pair with Stones, with Otamendi as the immediate back up, and Tosin as the fourth....and all of that presupposes Mangala leaves (which I think is almost certain at this point). I don’t think that player is Evans, unless Mangala is going in January and we need a stop gap and experienced back up for next year. Evans gets an 18-month deal, so he can leave on a free at the end of next season and make a few bucks for himself in the twilight of his career.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Still being linked with him.
Seriously I really don't know what we see in him if the stories are true.
He is to slow for a high line defence and not a good enough passser of the ball. He would, in short, be a complete and utter disaster. Mangala isn't good enough as a starter for us but is doing well and he is 200% better for us than this guy would be.
It could be a disaster of Rodney Marsh proportions if Evans came to us. But I doubt he'd play much so maybe not quite that bad - but what a waste if money.

 

[Dribble]

Great post and I fully concur. Why spend 30m on a back up player who won't get near the team if Vinny can stay fit and the Mangler keeps improving. Also Tosin showed enough the other night to suggest he can fill in for a few games if needed. Things have indeed changed since the summer what we need now is a longterm replacement for Vinny not an expensive stopgap.

Sorry, but at the very highest level, I have little faith in Mangala or Tosin & Kompamy's fitness can't be relied upon. This is why Pep wants/needs reinforcements now.

 

[Dribble]

Still being linked with him.
Seriously I really don't know what we see in him if the stories are true.
He is to slow for a high line defence and not a good enough passser of the ball. He would, in short, be a complete and utter disaster. Mangala isn't good enough as a starter for us but is doing well and he is 200% better for us than this guy would be.
It would be a disaster of Rodney Marsh proportions if Evans came to us.

So that's JFE, VVD & Sanchez who now reside in the Bluemoon Rodney Marsh cesspit? :-)