Curtis Jones had another night to forget after continuing his role as Liverpool’s makeshift right-back against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday.
The Scouser has been asked to fill in as part of the back four over the past two games, with the Reds shipping seven goals at Anfield.
Not all of that is down to Jones, of course, but the 24-year-old has looked like exactly what he is: a square peg in a round hole.
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Who was Liverpool’s worst player against PSV Eindhoven?
Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool handles the ball which later leads to a penalty to PSV Eindhoven during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD5 match between Liverpool FC and PSV Eindhoven at Anfield
Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images
What you can always rely on from Jones, however, is honesty. As a local boy and supporter of the club, he is clearly hurting at Liverpool‘s current run of form.
The midfielder was one of the few Liverpool players to step out in front of the cameras after Wednesday’s loss, and he did not pull any punches.
Unfortunately for Arne Slot, Jones’ assessment provided a damning window into the mentality within the Liverpool squad at the moment. It does not look good for the head coach. Not at all.
Curtis Jones in action during Liverpool's UEFA Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield.
Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images
Liverpool players no longer putting in any effort
The absolute bare minimum any supporter can expect from their football team is that they give it their all and do not stop running on a matchday.
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For Liverpool fans, they have been especially used to seeing their heroes expunge every last drop of sweat during the Jurgen Klopp years. Klopp had a way of making the players want to run through walls for him.
In recent months, that has completely disappeared. And, unfortunately for Slot, Jones’ angry post-match interview – as seen on CBS Sports Golazo – suggests that the players have simply given up.
“It starts with just wanting to be a man out there and just wanting to tackle someone and just be a dog out there,” fumed the England international.
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“We have these lads who are nice on the ball and we just play and play and play. Go and smash someone. It comes from me as well, I’m in the exact same boat, the lads are looking at me as well saying ‘go on, smash someone.’ It’s on me and the rest of the lads to change this around, to not be so nice where teams are coming here thinking we’re going to win here, we’re going to score two, three, four goals.
“This used to be a place that you hated to come, with the fans, with us, with the way we pressed. Now, we hardly even play. Off the ball stuff, that’s the stuff that has to change.”
Arne Slot has lost the Liverpool players
While the style of play Jones is describing – and the change from the Klopp years – is down to Slot, the off the ball work and the ‘playing like a dog’ comes from the players themselves.
It is instructive that so many of them look like absolute passengers right now. They are not putting in the hard yards for the manager.
It can hardly be that Slot is telling his players to shy out of tackles or to jog around aimlessly. He will be as angry with what he’s seeing as any Liverpool fan right now.
But when players are failing to do the basics and not working hard at all, it points to one clear fact: they are not playing for the manager anymore.
Once that rot sets in, it is virtually impossible to shift it. The question of whether Slot has lost the dressing room has lingered over recent weeks, but whether he meant to or not, Jones has just answered that definitively. Sadly, he has to go.
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