100% tackle success: How Jones and Cleverley dominated Spurs’ midfield

Trawling the internet, during, after- and even before- United’s trip to White Hart Lane on Sunday and it became glaringly obvious that when it comes to the Red’s midfield pairing, one player was a lot more highly-rated by the fans than the other. If you looked over twitter or various Red forums on Sunday, you’d see many fans praising Phil Jones’ performance while Tom Cleverley’s was about as popular among United fans as a Liverpool win. It seems Cleverley is quickly becoming persona non-grata among many fans who question what it is he brings to United’s midfield, Jones on the other hand appears to be enjoying a lot of respect from Reds.

Looking at Sunday’s game, Cleverley should consider himself somewhat unfortunate that he’s so derided by many fans after a performance that actually compares well to his more popular team mate.

One of the main criticisms of United’s midfield has been its inability to keep possession, with Cleverley often being cited as one of the more wasteful members of the side. At White Hart Lane, Cleverley’s passing stats actually put Jones’s in the shade- just. Both players did a decent job on Sunday of finding a red shirt, but it was the smaller of the England duo who was the more reliable.

It’s not just passing that United’s midfield has been questioned over this season- well probably the last few seasons if we’re honest- it’s also the lack of players with the ability to put in a tackle. Even Michael Carrick, the Reds most reliable defensive midfielder, isn’t renowned for ‘sticking a foot in’ he’s more adept at reading the game before it gets to that. Being something of a defender, as you’d expect Jones is capable of getting stuck in but contrary to popular belief on Sunday Cleverley enjoyed a similar afternoon when it came to defensive duties.

In true Carrick fashion, when it came to intercepting Spurs’ passes, both Jones and Cleverley again, were almost identical.

It’s strange how despite the stats telling us differently, many fans consider Jones to have had the far better game on Sunday- even though United’s number four got booked and now misses the Everton match, not to mention ducking out of a header that could’ve prevented Spurs’ opener.

If we put aside some of our indifference towards Tom Cleverley we may just realise out of the two midfielders representing United on Sunday, there’s very little to separate the two. Cleverley can even take solace from the fact that while he may not receive the plaudits he deserves, as his heat map testifies, he did put in a shift and maybe it’s time people started giving him a bit of credit.