Jones' place in United defence uncertain
Manchester United defender Phil Jones is in a battle to earn a first-team place for the start of the Premier League after Louis van Gaal confirmed he has decided upon three of his back four.
But while England international Jones, 23, has started all of United’s preseason games as the right-sided centre-back, but he has not yet convinced manager Van Gaal he deserves a spot in the side to face Tottenham on Aug. 8.
Van Gaal is happy to pick summer signing Matteo Darmian at right-back and Luke Shaw on the opposite flank while the versatile Daley Blind, who has been used in the centre of defence in the U.S., has also impressed the manager.
But England international Jones faces an anxious nine days as Van Gaal considers the credentials of Chris Smalling, a regular for him last season, and perhaps even Jonny Evans, though United are willing to listen to offers for the Northern Irishman.
United lost their final International Champions Cup game 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in Chicago, but Van Gaal is satisfied with most of his defence.
“I have to start with the formation and when the formation is doing well, I let them play in that formation,” Van Gaal said in a news conference.
“I think I shall play Shaw with Darmian, and with Daley Blind. The right central position I have to consider. I am very pleased with the performance of Matteo Darmian, and you can see he can play on the right and left.
“Also, a benefit of this year’s tour is that we don’t have any injuries. Last year I was forced to use, for example, Tyler Blackett and Jesse Lingard in the first Premier League match.
“Now, I have a wider selection and I can use everybody who I think I have to use. There is more competition now and there is more balance in the selection. I have a lot of confidence to start the competition.”
Van Gaal was not worried by the defeat to the French champions, explaining: “I am really satisfied about the performance. Yeah, we lose, but maybe that is also good because last year we won everything [on tour] and then we lost the first match in the Premier League. Now the sequence is a little bit different. But I am not superstitious.
“In the first half we created more chances than Paris Saint-Germain. They only created chances with errors, personal errors, and you cannot fight against personal errors when you are playing at the top level.
“They can score out of these kinds of errors, and they can finish the game. You have seen in the second half when they played the ball wide and back, rather than up front. A top team can do that.
“But I have to say I have seen a lot of very good things from my team. So in the preseason it is more about the performance than the result. I was rather satisfied. It is better when you win, of course.
“Against Barcelona, we could have been 2-0 down and we scored the first goal. Between top clubs, it is who scores the first goal. Then you have a great possibility to win the game.”
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