Jones: I'm no Pirlo? No s**t, Sherlock!

There weren’t any Manchester United players who could have been proud of their performance against Chelsea in the FA Cup final, but Phil Jones rightly received the majority of the criticism for his poor handling of Eden Hazard. He let the Belgian get away from him, before bringing Hazard down in the box to concede the penalty that cost us the game.

Jones has reflected on the incident saying it left him gutted but that he can’t afford to dwell on it.

It happens to every single player, all over the world, every day. Some get highlighted more than others, that’s football. I’m used to it now and I like to think I’m wise enough and experienced enough to deal with it and get on with it.

The FA Cup Final was crap. But that’s football. These things happen. You move on. I can’t sit on my arse and dwell on it for weeks and weeks and weeks then I’d be ready to jump off a bridge if I think like that. It was disappointing, gutted. But that’s football these things happen and there’s no point.

A previous England manager, Fabio Capello, compared Jones to Franco Baresi and Fernando Hierro. Roy Hodgson played Jones as a holding midfield player against Italy in 2015 and he played badly. Jones has reacted to the criticism he received but is happy with how he has played for United.

I remember one headline after the Italy game away, someone said I was ‘no Pirlo’ or something like that. I could have told them that before the game! I remember thinking ‘no shit, Sherlock!’ But that’s midfield. But you have a laugh and a joke about it. It’s all good.

I’ve done well. I’m still at United – since 2011-12 – and six years on, I’m still there. I’m sure after the World Cup there’ll be some other story about me going somewhere else. But I am not interested.

When you are at a club like Manchester United or Manchester City, you are always going to get bigger hype, bigger headlines than if you are at a lesser club, no disrespect. You wouldn’t be studying me as much and that is part and parcel of being at one of the biggest clubs in the world. I love it.