The criticism is what keeps us going, says Manchester United's Phil Jones

 

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Underestimated: Phil Jones believes critics had written Manchester United off this season
Tom Farmery24 March 2015

Phil Jones has said the criticism Manchester United have received this season has spurred the players on to perform.

Jones believes United have proved their critics wrong with a run of form that has left Louis van Gaal's side in position to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2013.

United are fourth in the Premier League and five points ahead of Liverpool, who they beat 2-1 at Anfield on Sunday.

The defender said that it has been good to shut some of the critics up.

"We have proved people wrong up to now. People can assume and predict and it is up to us to prove them all wrong. That is what the lads enjoy doing. We enjoy proving them wrong," he said.

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"People criticising does spur you on. You are always going to get critics. We are at a massive club here at Manchester United and if things aren't going as well as they should be then there is always going to be people wanting to have a pop at you.

He added: "We have been well aware of the criticism we have had. We are professionals and we are in a job where people have an opinion about you and they are entitled to it and we just have to get on with it.

"We just take it on the chin. It is water off a duck's back to us. We know if we continue to produce performances like this week and last then I am sure we will be fine."

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