Phil Jones: My Week At United

Offering a rare insight into the life of a professional footballer, Phil Jones gives a detailed account of his last seven days at United...

As you might expect, I was disappointed after our opening-day defeat to Swansea and it’s fair to say my Saturday night wasn’t too adventurous. I just put my feet up, thought about the game and tried to sleep – which is always hard after a match, but especially after losing. I am obviously a bad loser and I don’t think my girlfriend wants to talk to me much when we’ve lost!

I was still thinking about the game on Sunday and evaluating how we can improve. While it can be difficult to take defeats, it is a learning curve and a part of life. Monday was a fresh start for everybody and we immediately started preparing for the next game. We were all frustrated in the dressing room but ready to move on. We wanted to prepare properly for Sunderland and that’s exactly what we've done.

Without any midweek fixtures to contend with, we’ve had a full week to focus on Sunday and that has definitely helped us. The manager has been brilliant as well; he’s been really positive. We all have to pull in the right direction, especially as we are still learning a new system. It is what we believe in and we need to implement it. We have played a lot of 11 versus 11 matches in training and they are really useful because of the stop-start nature of the exercise. They also teach you where you should be on the pitch, which is obviously really important.

There has been lots of football on TV this week and, like most fans, I’ve watched almost every game. If doesn’t matter what level it’s at – if it's a League One or League Two game, I’ll probably watch it! I thought Chelsea did really well at Burnley and I enjoyed the Madrid derby in Spain, but there was an element of disappointment when I watched Celtic’s Champions League qualifer with Maribor because I know we could be in that competition.

The biggest event of the week was the arrival of Marcos Rojo, who trained with us for the first time on Thursday. I met him in the morning and he trained well. We all wanted to greet him and make ourselves known because his English isn't great at the moment, which is understandable. It's nice that the other lads who speak the same language can help him settle in and make sure he feels at home. He looks a strong lad, though, and is really comfortable on the ball.

Marcos’ arrival has provided a little boost in the camp and we are determined to bounce back from defeat with a win at Sunderland. The season starts now and these three points are massive for us. We are going to make sure we play to the best of our ability. Talking about it is one thing and doing it is another, but we are focused on getting the job done.