After the 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven, Liverpool FC midfielder Curtis Jones gave a frank and brutally honest assessment of the state of the team in an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE:
“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 now at the point 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 shit and it needs to change.”
In a separate interview with CBS Sports, Jones said:
“It starts with just wanting to be a man out there and just wanting to tackle someone and be a dog out there. It’s not always the fact that we’ve got these lads who are nice on the ball and we’re just playing, playing, playing. Go and smash someone.”
“That comes from me as well, I’m not saying that other lads have to go and do it because I’m in the exact same boat. The lads are looking at me as well and saying, ‘Go on then. Go smash someone.’ It’s got to be on me and the rest of the lads to change this around and not be so nice where teams are coming here and thinking we’re going to score two, three, four goals.”
“This used to be a place that you hated to come to with the fans and how we played and how we pressed – just absolute dogs. And then we have the ball and then we play whereas now we hardly even play. There are times when we do play, but off the ball stuff – I think that’s the stuff that has to change.”
The team is clearly hurting and a mess on all fronts right now. Passion and emotion are appreciated, but I don’t know if the problems are as simple as “we need to run more”, although that wouldn’t hurt. Liverpool will travel to London on Sunday to take on West Ham United, and three points seem like an absolute must, or the manager’s job could be on the chopping block.
