Jose’s delight at having Jones back
PHIL JONES could have been forgiven for worrying about what the future held when he didn’t play for Manchester United for 10 months because of injury.
Injury after injury stalled his career for the last two years and last season ended very prematurely for him on January 2.
It meant Jones didn’t play for Jose Mourinho until the 3-1 win at Swansea three weeks ago, but he has quickly made a positive impression.
When he was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2011, Jones was seen as the future of United and England, but that has not quite happened.
In fact, in that time, Jones has been absent for just under half of United’s matches and has not managed to establish himself as a first choice for the national team, either.
But in the three games since he has returned to action, United are unbeaten and starting to look better.
And as United prepare to face West Ham in today’s Premier League clash at Old Trafford, Mourinho is delighted his defender is looking to shed the dreaded “sick note” tag.
“Phil’s condition looks very good and his confidence is coming up,” says the United manager.
“He is playing really, really well, with no mistakes in 90 minutes.
“I’m happy for him when so many people were thinking about him being injury-prone and that it was difficult for him to be back to his level.
“I have to confess when he was injured again at the beginning of the season, I was also feeling that fear.
“But in the last month when the team lost Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling at the same time, he gave us great performances and the stability that we have at the moment.
“The biggest enemy of a player is injury and he had so many. But if he managed to get over that situation, then he is a very good player and it looks like he is doing that.”
Mourinho’s success at Chelsea was built on the foundations of a rock-solid defence with captain John Terry at the heart of it.
While across the road at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola concentrates on defenders such as John Stones, who are good on the ball, the Portuguese prefers his defenders to keep the ball out of the net.
“Phil likes to defend, as a defender. Sometimes now, defenders think the most important quality is to build from the back.
“That is not the most important quality. The most important is to defend. Then if you can add quality in the building up, you become a very good player.
“I am getting that from him in a moment when he was not really ready to play. He stepped in and gave a big step forward.
“He has a good personality and now with one or two weeks of football and training, he looks very sharp and the team is safe.”