Why Manchester United's old guard are holding them back

One of the features of the start to David Moyes’s early Manchester United reign has been the number of changes made to his team from game to game, particularly in central defensive areas. Whether you think of it as squad rotation or as a man who has no idea which centre back pairing works best, United have had seven different centre back pairings in their 16 Premier League games so far. But which one is the best?

Performance Score

Phil Jones and Nemanja Vidic lead the way by Squawka performance score but the gap is not a big one, particularly when considering the respective number of appearances. When comparing the average performance score per appearance, Jones (22.8 per game) and Vidic (21.8 per game) still edge the ratings but by the thinnest of margins over Evans (20.7 per game) and Ferdinand (20 per game). Chris Smalling has the lowest performance score of the lot both cumulatively and per appearance (16), but this is mitigated by the fact that he has been filling in at right back for many of his appearances.

When comparing the number of defensive actions that the quintet have made, there is also little in it. Vidic has averaged 13 defensive actions per game, whilst Ferdinand and Evans both have 10 and Jones 9. However Jones has featured prominently in midfield this season, and would surely average more defensive actions had he been a fixture in defence. Over the four games that he has started in defence, Jones has averaged 16. He put in a barnstorming display at centre back against Aston Villa at the weekend, making 13 clearances and four interceptions.

idic also leads in terms of tackles and headed duels. A beast in the air, the Serb has won 43 headed duels, a success rate of 75%. Chris Smalling is next in terms of headed duels won with 20 (67% of his duels), one ahead of Phil Jones (49%). Evans can also lay claim to be amongst the best of the five in the air, having won 74% of his headed duels.

Jones leads the way in terms of tackles having made 25, over double the number of his nearest rivals: Smalling and Vidic (12). However once again Evans has made fewer tackles, but has made a higher percentage than his peers. Evans has the highest percentage of tackles won, with 67% of his attempts at getting the ball ending up succesful.

The name of Rio Ferdinand has been notably absent so far. The former England captain has played seven league games this season, but is lagging behind his other centre backs in terms of performance. At the moment, Jones, Vidic and Evans appear to be head and shoulders above Ferdinand and Smalling in the competition for the two centre back roles.

Of the trio Vidic and Jones are ahead in terms of physical attributes, putting their bodies on the line to make clearances and headers, but are similar players. In picking a partnership, one of the two should partner Evans. Evans has a higher pass accuracy than the other two, and complements them better than they complement each other. To use the cliche, “ball-playing-centre-back”, about Evans would do a disservice to the other two, but he brings anticipation and judgement to complement the physical attributes of Jones or Vidic. The fact that Evans has won such high percentages of his tackles and headed duels suggests that he is picking his battles better than his colleagues, going into fewer tackles but with more success. Whilst Vidic has been a mainstay in the United defence in recent years, Jones has made more defensive actions when playing at centre back and has also averaged a higher performance score per performance.

The Evans/Jones combination complements each other well and is unbeaten in games that they have started in defence together this season. Whilst Moyes is yet to settle on a combination, if he does it should be this one