Phil Jones says he has put his personal ordeal from the FA Cup final behind him, the Manchester United defender admitting he would be “ready to jump off a bridge” if he allowed it to fester in his mind now he is with England in the World Cup.
Jones gave away the penalty that led to Eden Hazard’s winner for Chelsea at Wembley, meaning United finished the season without any silverware. Jones’s poor performance against the Belgian that day, with Gareth Southgate in the crowd, might help to explain why he will be among the substitutes for England’s opening game of Group G against Tunisia on Monday.
“It was crap,” Jones said of United’s 1-0 defeat. “But that’s football. These things happen and you move on. You have to, because I can’t sit on my arse and dwell on it for weeks and weeks and weeks. I’d be ready to jump off a bridge if I thought like that.
“It was disappointing – gutted. But these things happen. Some get highlighted more than others but I’m used to it now and I like to think I’m wise enough and experienced enough to deal with it.”
England will come up against Hazard in their final group game against Belgium but Jones said that, if selected, he would not be concerned that the Chelsea player had already got the better of him.
“He’s got to be up there with the best players in the world. He’s sharp, he’s quick, he’s agile. He’s a difficult player to play against, but there are talented players in all the squads. We’ve got some here as well, so I’m not too worried about players from other teams.”
Jones’s demotion from the national team, with Southgate expected to use Kyle Walker, John Stones and Harry Maguire as his three centre-backs, follows the decision to leave Chris Smalling out of the squad on the basis the England manager wants his defenders to play out from the back.
Jones has also come under scrutiny because of some accident-prone performances but he insisted he was unmoved by the criticism. “I remember one headline after the Italy game [the 1-1 draw in Turin in 2015] saying I was ‘no Pirlo.’ I remember thinking ‘no shit, Sherlock.’ I could have told them that before the game.”