Phil Jones insists just winning the FA Cup is ‘not good enough’ for a club of Manchester United’s stature
PHIL JONES insists winning the FA Cup would not be enough for Manchester United.
The holders salvaged their season with Wembley glory last May but Jones says they must be challenging for more under Jose Mourinho.
He is desperate for a top-four finish in the Premier League and a return to the Champions League next season.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest Manchester United news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary
United face Wigan in today’s FA Cup fourth round targeting multiple trophies, with a place in the EFL Cup final in the bag and the Europa League restarting next month at the last-32 stage.
But defender Jones, who was an unused sub when Louis van Gaal’s side beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in last season’s final, said: “It’s not enough just to win a cup — we set our standards high.
“This club has a history of winning things. We are under no illusions. We have no given right to win things but winning the FA Cup is not enough.
“We need to do more; we need to be involved in more finals and pushing for more trophies.
“Hopefully we can pull together and keep going, and look forward to what will be a tough game against Wigan.”
Jones admits even the Europa League is a target despite the problems that come with playing on Thursday nights.
The 24-year-old said: “We’re in every cup competition so far and there is no reason why we can’t go to the Europa League final.
“But we need good performances and everyone in the squad pulling in the right direction and battling for each other.
“The Europa League is a genuine target for us. We’re in it and we face Saint-Etienne so from there we will see what happens.”
Jones admits he was gutted at United’s performance at Hull in midweek. They reached the EFL Cup final with a 3-2 aggregate win but lost 2-1 on the night to surrender their 17-match unbeaten run.
And he admits it will be tough today when United face a Wigan team bossed by ex-Old Trafford youth guru Warren Joyce.
Jones added: “Wigan won’t be easy but we have to pick ourselves up. The result in midweek was not what we wanted.
“We are delighted to be through to a final and to go to Wembley, but we weren’t happy with ourselves.
“That took the gloss off it a bit and it was a disappointed dressing room. But maybe when we look forward to the final it will be better. We know that it wasn’t good enough, especially in the first half.
“We had to dig deep. We conceded another sloppy goal. It’s a mark of how well we’ve done that we are so disappointed by it.
“We set our standards high and we were proud of the unbeaten run we’d been on.
“It takes some character from players to do that and to throw it away was so disappointing. Personally, I’m devastated.”
Mourinho will pick players in need of first-team football today — including Anthony Martial.
The France forward has been given a final chance to impress and keep his place in Mourinho’s squad.
And the United boss vowed to ditch the striker for Wednesday’s Premier League clash against Hull unless he shows signs of improvement.
Mourinho said: “Martial has great conditions to become a top player and I am looking for him to guarantee a place for the next match. If he plays really well, obviously he is in the next match.
“If he doesn’t play well, I have other players for the same positions and they have to fight between them.
“Against Hull last week I played Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, the game before I played Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
“In the next match I will play Martial and they have to fight between them and win positions in relation to their performances.”
Martial has started just 15 games under Mourinho and is frustrated by his lack of action — and the boss’ comments.
The 21-year-old can point to decent form during the last round of the FA Cup when he netted in United’s 4-0 win against Reading — having scored a vital equaliser in a 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough in his previous appearance.
That put Martial within two goals of triggering an £8.5m payment for netting 25 times for United, which was a clause in the £57.6m mega-deal that took him to Old Trafford in September 2015.
Other players needing first-team action will be given their chance
David De Gea will get a breather so Sergio Romero takes over in goal.
Left-back Luke Shaw makes his first appearance since the end of November after niggling injuries limited his action over the Christmas period.
And United’s 250-goal record goalscorer Wayne Rooney will lead the team out as captain after three matches on the bench.
Tweet @mcgrathmike