Jonny Evans coming of age

Was that daunting?
I wouldn’t say daunting. I’ve never thought, ‘I want to be like them’. I've always wanted to be my own player. I wanted to be the type of player that I am. You can never truly mirror the way another player plays because everyone is different. If I tried to do that then I wouldn’t be the player I am. So I wouldn’t say daunting but I recognised that it’s a big challenge to come in and try take them out of the team. It’s all about having patience and being the best I could be. You can’t put too much pressure on yourself in that situation. You’ve got to go out and play your football and make sure you work hard to always keep improving.

You seem to take charge in defence, organising and instructing team-mates…
I’d like to think it’s always been a part of my game. It’s hard when you first come into the squad because I was never going to be able to do that. I was thinking to myself, ‘How can I tell these lads where they should be’? But then in a short period of time, you gain that respect from your team-mates and the confidence to say something that needs to be said. Communication is a massive part of being a defender. I think it makes your job so much easier if you can speak and tell someone to move five yards one way, or two yards the other way. Small things like that make a big difference to your own game and it helps your team-mates out too.

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