On being deployed on the right-hand side of defence by the head coach and how he handled the task, Jones continued: “It was just one of those things I say all the time – at the end of the day, I’m a footballer.
“Of course I want to play eight or 10 – or false nine or off the left or anything like that – \[but\] I just want to go and play and help the team as much as I can.
“As I said, of course I want to play eight or 10 or even six but there are lads in there who are doing a fantastic job so I’ve just got to wait for my chance. Of course I back myself all the time but at the end of the day it is the choice of the manager and his staff, and he knows what he thinks is best for the team. I respect that and I just always wait until he needs me.”
He added: “They were going long all the time so I was finding myself at the back a lot, at the back post, and I was clearing things, I was stopping shots and crosses and things like that.
“That’s part of the game and part of a right-back as well. He has trusted me in there so I have to do a job.”
Jota’s winning goal was a display of outstanding technique, the Portugal international weaving past three opposition players before slotting a reverse finish beyond Jordan Pickford in front of a buoyant Kop.
The strike was Jota’s first for the club since mid-January, and Jones detailed the appreciation for him within the squad.