Jonás Gutiérrez (now managing Club Almagro)

[Flip]

He just looks of balanced every time on his final ball. He looks like he puts his back backwards and gets no control off the ball whatsoever. Doesn't matter if its with his left or if he has cut inside. He just look terrible right now in the final ball.

 

But he doesn everything so well until then most of the times, bar the end of the game yesterday when he lost the ball two or three times. Its not the Championship anymore he needs to understand this at some point.

[TRC]

Jonas brings a lot to the team, but we need wingers that can actually cross the ball with Carroll being so good in the air.

[JH]

Still looks injured

 

 

Has done since Arsenal.

[TRC]

He's probably shattered from the World Cup.

[Colocho]

Would still like to see Jonas in a CAM position, where his lack of crossing ability would be less important.

[Ronaldo]

Would still like to see Jonas in a CAM position, where his lack of crossing ability would be less important.

 

And his shooting and passing will be more important.

 

In other words, no.

[Guest Roger Kint]

He was fucking shite again yesterday, actually gets worse by the game. Lucky for him we have no other options at LW or he would be out!

[Yorkie]

I don't think Jonas is as out of form as people are making out in all honesty. He's not setting the world alight by any stretch but he's still playing an important role, even without end product. He was crucial to the result yesterday. I think Hughton's tactic of dropping Carroll back into defense and sticking Jonas upfront to run around is great, tbh. I think it really works. Even when he's fucked, Jonas has got the stamina to match any centre-back.

 

At the moment he's so vital.

 

By the by, i think Jose is more out of form than Jonas is. We're not linking play well from defense-to-midfield at the moment, and it tends to come mostly through Jose. His passing has been a bit 2008 in the last couple of weeks though.

[Lotus]

He would have looked a lot better if Carroll or Ameobi had actualy offered a short option when he ran with the ball. Even just now and again. Carroll  surged forward and Ameobi always stood watching him. Our front 2 didn't work the channels. Made it hard for the wide men.

[Yorkie]

He would have looked a lot better if Carroll or Ameobi had actualy offered a short option when he ran with the ball. Even just now and again. Carroll  surged forward and Ameobi always stood watching him. Our front 2 didn't work the channels. Made it hard for the wide men.

 

Great point. Most of the time the only player Jonas works in tandom with is Enrique... it only takes one of them to be off the boil to render our left side (and, by extension, a significant part of our attack) pretty hopeless.

 

All the talk has been of Carroll improving once Ben Arfa comes back... but Jonas will benefit from his return hugely. In the very, very fleeting glimpse of Ben Arfa at home to Stoke - he buzzed about either flank and the whole of the final third offering himself and trying to play others in. Unfortunately he actually started at left-wing that game, and his drifting left us unbalanced, but the point is - having someone to link midfield to attack will improve players who like to drive forward. Ie, Jonas.

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

Sometimes get the feeling Jonas isn't allowed to stray more than 5 yards away for Enrique. All the space in the world a head of him to run into, but he stands besides Enrique so he can pick up a meaningless 5 yard pass, where defenders can stand in the same spot and mark both Enrique and Jonas. Run at the full back, push him back, create space for the Enrique.

 

Both of our wingers are guilty of standing and waiting for the ball.

[Pilko]

Carroll to centre back for the last 5 or 10 minutes works a treat, it's even better than subbing him for a defender imo.

[JH]

Carroll to centre back for the last 5 or 10 minutes works a treat, it's even better than subbing him for a defender imo.

 

It does pretty much say to the other team "Come and beat us please" though - I can understand him dropping back when we're defending a lead, but at home and drawing, seemed a bit defeatist.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Sometimes get the feeling Jonas isn't allowed to stray more than 5 yards away for Enrique. All the space in the world a head of him to run into, but he stands besides Enrique so he can pick up a meaningless 5 yard pass, where defenders can stand in the same spot and mark both Enrique and Jonas. Run at the full back, push him back, create space for the Enrique.

 

Both of our wingers are guilty of standing and waiting for the ball.

 

That's the main issue I see with Jonas. Sometimes I just wish he would play the ball back to Enrique and run in behind the defender more often. He doesn't seem to enjoy running without the ball anywhere near as much as he does with it.

 

Not sure if he has been given specific instructions though, maybe he has.

[Yorkie]

Carroll to centre back for the last 5 or 10 minutes works a treat, it's even better than subbing him for a defender imo.

 

It does pretty much say to the other team "Come and beat us please" though - I can understand him dropping back when we're defending a lead, but at home and drawing, seemed a bit defeatist.

 

Teams are going to come at us regardless at that point in the game. There was yesterday and Everton where we'e employed that tactic to it's full extent. Bare in mind the results we let slip in the last five minutes, the year we went down. Stoke, Wigan, Man City - all at home - all devastating late blows. The fact we haven't conceded in the last ten minutes at all this season speaks volumes about how we defend as a team.

[JH]

Carroll to centre back for the last 5 or 10 minutes works a treat, it's even better than subbing him for a defender imo.

 

It does pretty much say to the other team "Come and beat us please" though - I can understand him dropping back when we're defending a lead, but at home and drawing, seemed a bit defeatist.

 

Teams are going to come at us regardless at that point in the game. There was yesterday and Everton where we'e employed that tactic to it's full extent. Bare in mind the results we let slip in the last five minutes, the year we went down. Stoke, Wigan, Man City - all at home - all devastating late blows. The fact we haven't conceded in the last ten minutes at all this season speaks volumes about how we defend as a team.

 

But all those results you posted from the last time and the Everton game, we were defending a lead so the tactic is perfectly understandable - I said I think it's a good tactic to deploy when we're defending a narrow lead at the end of a game.

 

But we were drawing, at home, regardless of who we were playing. The gaps they left exposed, they were there for the taking in the last 10 minutes, but only Jonas and Ranger look interested in getting a winner.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

The fact it was Chelsea was a massive factor, surely? I'd like to think we wouldn't have defended the 1-1 so deeply against a lesser team.

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

 

But we were drawing, at home, regardless of who we were playing. The gaps they left exposed, they were there for the taking in the last 10 minutes, but only Jonas and Ranger look interested in getting a winner.

 

Hughton was screaming at Carroll to get forward in the last 10 minutes. Think it was Routledge had bombed it down the wing, and Carroll was deep in his own half walking. He looked pretty lazy yesterday like (injured?).

[Neil]

I can see where you're coming from, JH, because naturally they did leave gaps but sometimes you have to be realistic - they were confident leaving 2 or 3 back would do the job. If you decided to chuck a few forward, I think it would have been far more likely with Chelsea's far greater quality and the fact they were on top generally, that it would have backfired.

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

Derailed the Jonas thread here like, but for the 20 minutes we attacked yesterday Chelsea looked scared being on the back foot. It was only once we stopped they gained confidence and momentum that allowed them to look a little dangerous.

[JH]

I can see where you're coming from, JH, because naturally they did leave gaps but sometimes you have to be realistic - they were confident leaving 2 or 3 back would do the job. If you decided to chuck a few forward, I think it would have been far more likely with Chelsea's far greater quality and the fact they were on top generally, that it would have backfired.

 

I don't think we should have thrown that many forward, because that's just suicide against Chelsea. But look at our last few games, the only man that has scored in the last five games was sat infront of the back four. We were never going to score again.

[Ronaldo]

Carroll to centre back for the last 5 or 10 minutes works a treat, it's even better than subbing him for a defender imo.

 

It does pretty much say to the other team "Come and beat us please" though - I can understand him dropping back when we're defending a lead, but at home and drawing, seemed a bit defeatist.

 

I agree.

[oldtype]

Has anyone seen his twitter?

 

"Thank you Chris Hughton for trusting us when nobody else would."

[Guest Roger Kint]

Maybe should have shown a little bit of effort in return. Been shocking last few months, barely bothered to break sweat.

[QBG]

Jonas has never shown a lack of effort. Lack of end product yes, lack of effort never. Loves the fans, loves the club, stayed when he could have easily thrown a paddy after relegation.