Fenerbahce vs Manchester United - Phil Jones back as injuries decimate United defence

Posted Thursday, November 03, 2016 by PA

Jose Mourinho has opted to recall Phil Jones for the Europa League trip to Fenerbahce despite admitting the defender has struggled for regular games.

A host of injuries to the backline, with Chris Smalling the latest to join Eric Bailly and Anotnio Valencia on the sidelines, leaves Manchester United short on defensive cover ahead of the trip to Turkey.

Bailly faces two months out and Valencia a reported six weeks, with Mourinho only saying the right-back will "be out for a while" after undergoing surgery on a fractured arm.

Such paucity of defensive options means Jones has been rushed back into the fold having just recovered from a knee issue.

The oft-injured defender last played a competitive match 10 months ago, but could be involved in United's Group A game against Fenerbahce on Thursday.

"Well, I almost don't remember when Phil Jones had a good run of matches for United," Mourinho said. "I don't remember.

"I remember that when I was at Real Madrid in maybe 2012 I played against Man United and Phil Jones played in Madrid for Man United. I don't remember many occasions after that where Phil was ready.

"He's having a difficult relationship with injuries. It's been a difficult period for him, but he worked hard to recover and is training with the team for more than a week now.

"We are in a difficult situation because we lost three defenders in a week - Valencia, Bailly and Smalling - and because we are in a difficult situation we don't have more time to be in better conditions, so we have to select him and maybe we have to play him."

Michael Carrick and Memphis Depay have remained in the north west, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Anthony Martial and Tim Fosu-Mensah are part of the 21-man squad in Turkey.

Meanwhile Fenerbahce manager Dick Advocaat is keen to capitalise on his counterpart's teething problems at Manchester United after the Portuguese's arrival brought an injection of excitement at Old Trafford after three frustrating years under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.

The former Sunderland manager admitted it had been a tough start to life at Old Trafford, but is backing him to come good.

"If you see how many prizes he has won, that is almost unbelievable. He is not a magician," he said.

"There are so many good players at United, which is good on one hand and on the other hand it makes it difficult to find the real right line-up.

"But it is a matter of time that he knows that, but quality-wise if you have six players like Manchester United it is still difficult to find - is it (Anthony) Martial, is it (Marcus) Rashford, is it (Wayne) Rooney? It's quite difficult.

"But I am sure that they will play for the first place, no doubts about that, and they will start winning games as well, and (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic will start scoring as well because that man knows how to score."