Manchester United were just dreadful tonight in a 2-1 Champions League group stage loss to Valencia. There were numerous Red Devils players who put in extremely poor performances, but central defender Phil Jones may have been the worst of all. When things go wrong for Jones his unique body language sometimes makes those mistakes appear worse than they really are.
He often becomes a popular target on social media as Twitter users sometimes ask “why is Phil Jones?”
Tonight was one of those nights as the United centre back surrendered an own goal
1 – Phil Jones is the first Manchester United player to score an own goal during a Champions League match since Phil Jones also did so back in November 2011 v Benfica. Calamity. #VALMUN
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 12, 2018
There were of course plenty of funny tweets slamming the performance of Phil Jones and his overall value (or lack thereof) as an individual player.
Oh wow. That might be the most Phil Jones thing Phil Jones has ever done. 2-0 Valencia.
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) December 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/RedDevilBible/status/1072961433208610816
Phil Jones ???? just remember, Woodward couldn’t find a central defender better than what we have.
— Pilib De Brún (Phil Brown) (@Malachians) December 12, 2018
However, it may be Chelsea loanee and Valencia forward Michy Batshuayi who had the best tweet of all tonight in regards to the English international. When B-R pointed out his boots with the Batman symbol, because Michy is after all “the Bats man,” the Valencia star called attention away from his shoes and instead towards his opponent.
And it was completely hilarious.
Glad you like guys… but can we talk about Phil Jones face first ? ? #anotherone https://t.co/dLUjQw5Uh8
— Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) December 12, 2018
LOL! That may just be the highlight of the contest right there! Good times!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.