Curtis Jones briefly turned the airwaves blue with a frank assessment of Liverpool’s ongoing malaise.
The Reds’ season hit a new low (yes, another new low) as they were thrashed 4-1 at home by PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night, with Virgil van Dijk’s ludicrous handball in the first five minutes setting the tone for the humiliation which followed.
For the second time in five days, there were chunks of empty seats around Anfield well before the final whistle as many fans had already seen enough, a sight that Steven Gerrard pinpointed as indicative of how far Arne Slot’s side have fallen.
Jones pulls no punches with raw post-match verdict
Jones fronted up to the TV cameras after the match, and the boyhood Red’s deep-rooted frustration came out in a raw assessment of Liverpool’s ninth defeat in 12 games.
The 24-year-old told RTE Sport: “I don’t know, I don’t have the answers. I’m the same as everybody else. It’s just unacceptable, to be honest.
“I don’t even have the words – I’m past being angry and sad. I’m at the point now where I don’t have the words… I’m a player and a fan and I’m seeing it like this where, for a long, long time, I haven’t experienced a team playing this bad.
“At the end of the day, we’ve still got that badge on our chest, so until that badge goes, we’re always going to fight and try and get this team back to where it needs to be and show the whole world why Liverpool is the best team in the world. But as of now, we’re in the s*** and it needs to change.”
Jones’ commitment in no doubt, but we need to start seeing results
It was evident from Jones’ words and tone that he’s truly hurting from what’s happened to Liverpool and isn’t merely spouting rhetoric that he thinks the fans would want to hear.
Since his emergence into the first team at the turn of the decade, the Reds have enjoyed plenty of tangible success, and he’s experienced nothing like our current malaise, not even during bleak spells in the 2020/21 and 2022/23 seasons.
As a player in Slot’s squad, he’s partly culpable for LFC’s embarrassing fall from grace, but he was by no means the worst performer on Wednesday night as he tried to impact the game from an unfamiliar right-back position.
The Liverpool Echo‘s Ian Doyle observed that Jones ‘brought thrust down the wing’ in the first half and was ‘quick to press and challenge PSV players’, but an overall match rating of 4/10 summed up his tough night overall.
We’d never question the 24-year-old’s commitment, but as a collective this group of players is letting down their head coach and their fan base, and words will ring hollow until such time that demonstrative improvement is seen in the form of an upturn in results.
You can watch Slot’s full post-PSV press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
Scouser speaking. We really need the Bravehearts. They know what it is like to be playing for Liverpool.
It would help if Jones understood that dragbacks in the area or chipping it to an opponent in the area aren’t helpful. The guy is a decoration at best.
Mate, Jones was described by Gerrard as being more talented than himself. I think Jones being played out of position did affect his performance. Gomez should play next game as right back.
I’ve more bloody talent than that waste of space Jones and I’m 79 i think stevie must have been drunk when he said that 🤔
He’s one of the biggest reasons we are in the sxxxhes not good enough for Liverpool, I keep saying pick Jones and get beat ,all the running around like a blue arsed fly doesn’t impress me