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Cape Town - Manchester United defender Phil Jones has backed manager Louis van Gaal’s use of a back three, in spite of the team’s defensive frailties.
United have struggled to adapt to the system, which served Van Gaal so well with Holland at last year’s World Cup in Brazil, but the Dutch manager has persisted with the formation.
As a result, the Red Devils have picked up 37 points in 21 games - the exact same number of points achieved by David Moyes in the same timeframe.
According to Football411, Jones insists that United’s defence is more comfortable than it appears to be and has faith they will improve.
"I think we are comfortable playing in it. It's a learning curve. It doesn't just happen overnight. You don't just click your fingers and you are used to playing in a formation,” he told Sky Sports.
"It's like anything. But we are improving in training and we want to get better. We can have a back four or three. We are comfortable with both.
"Sometimes maybe we play a pass in the defence when we shouldn't but we are comfortable playing in both formations the manager has shown. We are still improving as a team."
United are currently clinging to fourth place on the Premier League table, just one point ahead of Arsenal after suffering their fourth loss of the season on Sunday (a 1-0 defeat to Southampton at Old Trafford).
United have struggled to adapt to the system, which served Van Gaal so well with Holland at last year’s World Cup in Brazil, but the Dutch manager has persisted with the formation.
As a result, the Red Devils have picked up 37 points in 21 games - the exact same number of points achieved by David Moyes in the same timeframe.
According to Football411, Jones insists that United’s defence is more comfortable than it appears to be and has faith they will improve.
"I think we are comfortable playing in it. It's a learning curve. It doesn't just happen overnight. You don't just click your fingers and you are used to playing in a formation,” he told Sky Sports.
"It's like anything. But we are improving in training and we want to get better. We can have a back four or three. We are comfortable with both.
"Sometimes maybe we play a pass in the defence when we shouldn't but we are comfortable playing in both formations the manager has shown. We are still improving as a team."
United are currently clinging to fourth place on the Premier League table, just one point ahead of Arsenal after suffering their fourth loss of the season on Sunday (a 1-0 defeat to Southampton at Old Trafford).
