Manchester United defender Phil Jones spoke of the team’s better belief in themselves and a greater desire to win against Shakhtar.
Jones scored the only goal of the game to secure top spot in Group A for United and he said that David Moyes’ team talk at half-time was important for their second half performance.
“I think we had to show more desire tonight, a bit more belief in ourselves,” said Jones. “I thought we did that eventually. We got to grips with it in the second half. The first half was a bit shaky and a bit tentative but I thought the second half we got to grips with it and created a lot more chances.”
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Speaking of Moyes’ words at half-time, Jones said that his manager asked his players to pass more and create chances. The Scot was clearly aggrieved at his side’s passing in the first half despite their win.
“Just to pass the ball better and to give each other nice passes and create chances and I thought we did that in the second half.”
Jones was asked whether he felt the team is in transition after a run of poor results following Moyes’ appointment in the summer.
“People have their opinions but we know we’ve had a couple of disappointing couple of weeks and hopefully we can start going on a run now. Hopefully we can kick on from tonight.
“I know I’ve said that in the past but it’s really time that we did start kicking on.”
Furthermore, when asked about his best position Jones said: “I’ve played in a variety of positions, right-back, centre-back and centre-midfield, but the one I’ve said I wanted to play is centre-back.”
The 21-year-old did however, underline the fact he was happy to play anywhere for Manchester United.
