World Cup 2018: Phil Jones is running out of time to shake his tag as England's dead-rubber specialist

Watching Jones here, a man who doesn’t run so much as gallop, who doesn’t head the ball so much as fling his face towards it, Gary Neville's post-match praise seemed off the mark

Of all the names listed on the team sheet before the World Cup third-place play-off, the most surprising was Philip Anthony Jones. Jones had barely featured in the tournament up to this point, only appearing in the final group game against Belgium which England had been happy to lose, and it seemed a strange moment to bring him into the fold. But then it fits the pattern of Jones’s international career to date: a training cone, a dead-rubber specialist, 27 caps won in fits and starts.

After the then-England manager Fabio Capello said Jones was “born with talent”, Roy Hodgson called him into his Euro 2012 squad but the defender didn’t play a minute in the tournament in Poland and Ukraine; Hodgson again called on him for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but Jones played only in the goalless draw against Costa Rica once England were already eliminated. This seems to be Jones in a nutshell: England’s reliable back-up, yet not quite so reliable as to be trusted when it actually matters.

It is odd to think that for all the clamour around the emergence of Harry Maguire, Phil Jones is only 11 months older. He still has his peak years ahead of him but it is hard to know exactly what they will consist of. Once upon a time Sir Alex Ferguson tipped him to be a future captain for club and country, yet watching him against Belgium, that seemed a far-fetched scenario.

Jones was dragged out of position by a simple piece of movement from Kevin De Bruyne for the opening goal, following the Manchester City midfielder deep and then wide. England didn’t look totally assured with a back three but at that moment Jones left a back two exposed, and they were punished seconds later by Thomas Meunier’s close-range finish with Jones arriving back into picture as the net bulged.

The second goal wasn’t much better. Jones dropped too deep playing Eden Hazard onside, and when Hazard was given the ball the Chelsea midfielder evaded him with ease to cut inside and kill off the game. Match over: Belgium third, England fourth.

Afterwards Gary Neville insisted that Jones has the potential to become a player of the ilk of Gerard Pique or Rio Ferdinand. Watching Jones here, a man who doesn’t run so much as gallop, who doesn’t head the ball so much as fling his face towards it, this kind of praise – like Capello’s and Ferguson’s before – seemed some way off the mark. But clearly you do not play centre-half for Manchester United without a set of exceptional core defensive skills.

Jose Mourinho said at the start of the season that “he’s potentially a very good player... I think potentially he’s everything I like in a central defender.” Perhaps this is the underlying problem. He is now 26 and yet potential is still the word that is used. He has still never played more than 30 Premier League games in a single season. Fitness issues continue to interrupt his rhythm. And now Jones is running out of time to shed the back-up tag and be more than an international player for the smallest occasions.