Man of the match, Phil Jones, highlights Manchester United's problems

Phil Jones scores the only goal against Shakhtar Donetsk 

Manchester United scored their first goal and won their first game in three last night against Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk. Phil Jones, playing once again in midfield, was considered man of the match by most. He performed well, but when a 21 year old center back playing out of position is your best player; you've got problems.

Phil Jones made 54/59 passes making an impressive 92% success rate. He recycled possession well, but these stats reveal a major problem for United.

There are a lot of passes from a deep position, some short forward passes in a more central area.The majority are side to side. There are no passes even attempted around the opposition area. Jones is a defender and should not be expected to be the creative force of the team, but for a central midfielder not to play one pass into the box or through the defensive line is a worry. There is no creativity or attacking threat coming from United's most dominant central midfielder.

Phil Jones occupied a position in front of the defense, and given his natural position is center back, this is understandable. He put in a serious shift protecting the back four, as this heat map demonstrates.
 


Again this shows a problem. Wasn't this supposed to be Fellaini's job? A £27 million midfielder has been replaced by 21 year old defender. We can see Jones has done well there but the very fact he's in the team shows that Moyes has already lost faith in his only summer signing.
 

I have to question whether Phil Jones actually did a good job in his protective role. He spent the majority of the game patrolling midfield but only made 2 tackles. Either he was not getting close enough to his opposite number or was too easily shrugged off. 

We can see here that Shakhtar completed a worrying number of successful take-on attempts. The majority of them through the middle of the pitch, the area Jones was patrolling. Bearing in mind he only made two tackles, it shows Jones isn't the dominating midfielder player he is being made out to be.

  

With all these things taken into consideration it is no surprise that Manchester United found themselves unable to sustain possession in an attacking area for any length of time.

With Jones and his team mates passing side to side you can see how they got stuck in midfield and just in front of their own defense. They spent more time in their own area than outside their opponents.

Jones is a fantastic prospect, but he lacks the creativity and ambition a midfielder needs to influence a game in the way Man United need. His inclusion in the team in midfield, and the fact that he is often their best player, is a damning indictment of the squad.