Smalling & Jones Building A Bond
Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are hopeful they can build a solid partnership at the heart of the Manchester United defence in the months ahead.
The two England centre-backs have not played too much football alongside each other since arriving at the club in 2010 and 2011 respectively but have now started the last three United games together since Jones returned from a case of mild thrombosis.
"I hope there is the potential for a partnership between us," Jones told ManUtd.com after Sunday’s goalless draw in the Manchester derby. "Every time I play with Chris, we're comfortable. I think he's a great leader and we complement each other well.
"I still don't think we've played that many games together but we've done well so hopefully we can keep going and grow stronger."
The pair were signed by Sir Alex Ferguson as talented youngsters and Smalling thinks their friendship off the field has helped their development on the pitch.
"We've been together with the England Under-21s and the senior side and we are similar ages so we click and get on really well," said Smalling. "We obviously train with each other every day and go away with the international team so we are very good friends off the pitch.
"As a defender, you want the back four to be as consistent as it can be throughout the season and, in the past few games, Phil has come in and done really well."
Smalling had the benefit of playing alongside Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic during his early days at Old Trafford and believes they gave him the direction to step up as a defensive stalwart.
"When you play with great defenders like Rio and Vida, train with them and see how they go about their day to day business, you learn a lot from them," he added.
"When they left, there was a big void and someone had to step up, I tried to do my best to make an impact because they were big losses to our team as two of the most experienced players."
Smalling has arguably become one of the Premier League’s best defenders and skipper Wayne Rooney said in an interview in the derby matchday programme that the stopper is one of the best three centre-halves in the world right now.
Jones was also full of praise for his fellow defender and hopes he can establish a similarly consistent run in the United team now he has fully recovered from injury.
"I’m delighted for Chris. He’s worked really hard, he's a great lad on and off the field. He's worked his socks off and deserves all the credit he's getting," he added. "I don't want to put any added pressure on him but everyone in the club is delighted with his progress and hopefully he can keep going.
"I need a consistent run like him too, absolutely. You can grow in confidence with a run of games. The more games you play, the more confidence you get and hopefully we can cement a partnership together."
posted by Wilson @ Wednesday, October 28, 2015
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