Liverpool’s Curtis Jones gave an emotional interview after the humiliating defeat of PSV Eindhoven, and his role in one of the goals confirmed his claim that all players lacked physical fitness
Curtis Jones’ interview with CBS on Tuesday night made a lot of headlines for his colorful articulation of what every football fan knows: his team is indeed “underdogs.” But Jones’ four minutes of eloquent insight should be required listening for all Liverpool fans.
Among the many striking and brutally honest points Jones made was this: “Other than ball? I think that’s something that has to change. We have to run more, we have to compete, we have to be outside dogs.”
Apparently, the interview didn’t require Slott to be heard, but he clearly got the point, and when asked about Jones’ comments, replied, “Did he say we need to be dogs? It’s good to carry that into the game.”
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Slott went on to suggest that while many players set their season bests in terms of their running stats against PSV Eindhoven, perhaps a goal or two for the away team was also in the back of their mind. His running stats may have been impressive, but they didn’t look that way when it mattered.
Listen to the full interview with Jones, as well as rewatch PSV’s second and third points. In the build-up to the first match, Mauro Junior breezed past Mohamed Salah and Salah made no attempt to look back. As for the second of these, the obvious first mistake is by Ibrahima Konate, for which he has been heavily criticized.
But the Liverpool man just stood and watched as the eventual scorer, substitute Kuhaib Drihues, ran past right-back Jones from 10 yards out and the Moroccan raced a further 20 yards to snatch the rebound. Now, Jones’ inertia may be the result of a combination of things.
He may have thought that there were enough Liverpool defenders in place to deal with the situation, so he may have thought it best to wait for his own counter-attack, for example. And it would be completely unfair to single out Jones’ performance on Tuesday night for special attention as, to most mortals, Liverpool’s players were not up to the standard required.
But one thing is for sure: it was emblematic of a bigger problem on this Liverpool side. They don’t look as strong, fast, durable, physically relentless, or able to cover for each other’s errors as they were last season.
Mr. Jones acknowledged this in an interview, and he certainly does not absolve himself of any responsibility. Good for you.
Injuries have not helped Arne Slott and there is no doubt that Florian Wirths, who should be back in training soon, is finding it particularly difficult to cope with the pace and physicality of the Premier League. Alexander Isaac seems physically miles away from reality, again for a number of reasons.
You may continue. Jamie Carragher suggested that “Salah’s legs are gone” and Alexis Mac Allister was not as muscular as he was when he won the title.
In other words, reversing this hopeless situation is not just about the motivation of the team of slot players, nor about the system or the attitude of the players on the pitch. Quite simply, this is a big physical challenge for Liverpool’s players…and so far they don’t respect it.
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