Group win could be catalyst for United

PHIL JONES believes Manchester United can close the gap on the early Premier League front-runners before the Champions League resumes.

The defender- cummidfielder was United’s match-winner last night as they finished top of Group A and will be aiming for a long run in the competition when it starts up again at the last-16 stage in February.

Their form win the Premier League has been far short of expectation so far, with new manager David Moyes struggling to get the best out of the championship-winning team he inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson.

“We know we’ve had a disappointing couple of weeks but probably we can start going on a run now,” Jones said on ITV1.

“Hopefully we can kick on from tonight. I know we’ve said that in the past but it’s really time we did start kicking on.”

United started slowly and faced plenty of pressure in the first half, before improving after the interval.

“I think we had to show a bit more desire, a bit more belief in the performance and I thought we did that eventually.

“We got to grips with it in the second half and created a lot more chances,” Jones said.

A half-time prompting from Moyes amounted to a reminder of the basics, as Jones explained he told the players “just to pass the ball better, give each other nice passes and create chances”.

“I felt we did that in the second half,” Jones said.

Asked if it was a timely win for a team coming off two back-to-back home Premier League defeats, Jones said: “It was. We needed it.”

The win came as a relief to Moyes who has not tried to downplay his new side’s struggles.

“We got to the top of the group and that’s what we wanted,” he said.

“We wanted to win it and it helps us improve our form.”

Picture: PA. Phil Jones, right, after scoring.