Jones Wants To Repay Mourinho

Phil Jones has admitted his confidence has been boosted by the praise afforded to him by Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, but the defender maintains the only way to keep repaying such faith is by producing consistently high performances.

The centre-back has developed a burgeoning relationship with Marcos Rojo at the heart of the backline since his return to action in November after being out injured since January.

His impressive performances have yielded both acclaim and back-to-back Man of the Match award nominations in the last two Premier League games. Jones is delighted to be out of the treatment room and back on the pitch. In an interview with the Boxing Day edition of United Review, he reveals he is now just as focused on his recovery from matches as he is his preparation.

"I think as I’ve got older I’ve become wiser to recovery and realised how important it is," he tells United Review. "When I was younger you think you know it all and after games you probably just go for some food or sit on your PlayStation. Now I take it a lot more seriously and recover properly because I know I need to give myself the best possible chance to be as fresh and as fit as I can for the next game."

On the subject of working with Mourinho, Jones continues: "It’s brilliant. He’s shown a lot of confidence and belief in me and hopefully I’m repaying that. I’m not a player who needs telling every day in training ‘you’re brilliant, you’re this, you’re that’… but it’s always nice to hear comments from the manager and people around that you’re doing well.

"I’m not under any illusions though, in this game you can be up there one minute and down the next, so I need to keep going game by game and keep improving."