Curtis Jones sparkles in Liverpool’s diamond midfield to give Arne Slot a new post-Salah solution | OneFootball

It isn’t the most infamous interview a Liverpool player has conducted after a match of late. Not any more, anyway. But after PSV Eindhoven won 4-1 to inflict Liverpool’s joint-heaviest European defeat at Anfield and take their run to nine losses in 12 games, Curtis Jones declared that they were “in the s**t”.

Two weeks on, with no more losses but one notable exile from the squad, Jones felt it was too soon to say they are out of the brown stuff now. “The last one [at Leeds], we were 2-0 up and we drew the game,” he said, continuing his habit of plain speaking. “There were fans there that probably thought we were still in the s**t.”

Nevertheless, much has changed. Liverpool are four games unbeaten, which wouldn’t have sounded like much last season but is a radical improvement now. Jones kept repeating that beating Inter Milan in the San Siro was “only one game”. What a game, though. It had far less drama than the 3-3 draw at Elland Road, and it hinged on two VAR decisions. Liverpool abandoned the chaos of much of the season and embraced caution and control. They were minutes away from the first goalless draw of Arne Slot’s reign. It could have been a new scoreline for them. As it was, Jones said: “The mind frame has changed.”

So, too, the style of play. “We had to show fight and dig in,” said Andy Robertson. “The clean sheet was crucial.” Which didn’t feel the Liverpool way when they appeared to be trying to win 3-2 or 4-2 every week a few months back.

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Arne Slot on the touchline in Milan (Reuters)

Slot picked his most defensive full-backs in Robertson and Joe Gomez. He packed the midfield. The Dutch are indelibly associated with wingers, but Slot’s were injured, ill, exiled. Inter’s formation is based around three central midfielders. Slot played four.

Jones was the beneficiary, often the fourth man when Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai started last season, and arguably the best of them on the night. “I think it works because I am playing,” the Liverpudlian said with wonderful simplicity. “It is a way of getting all the lads in the team.” And he got on the ball, time and again. No one completed as many passes on the hallowed San Siro turf as Jones. He opted not to answer a question about whether Thomas Tuchel had been in touch recently. It was the sort of display that should prompt the manager who dropped him from the England squad to reconsider.

There was a battle-hardened nous to Liverpool. The formation may prove another quick fix, just as it looked when Slot conjured victory against West Ham by shifting Szoboszlai to the right and dropping Mohamed Salah. His new midfield diamond may not be forever; the quadruple central-midfielder ploy was not the plan when they spent £450m, none of it on central midfielders. But it was proof of adaptability from the manager and determination from the team.

Whether it is a step forward is another point. It is probably not a coincidence that the nine men behind the front two were all at Anfield last season. Every formula Slot finds seems built on the players he inherited, not those he has bought, and Alexander Isak was Liverpool’s least effective player at the San Siro. This was less evolution than reversion; reverting to winning was welcome.

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Liverpool secured a much-needed win amid the continuing drama with Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC via Getty)

But it was significant, too, that Virgil van Dijk kept talking about consistency. Liverpool have rarely been consistent over 90 minutes this season, let alone across a series of games. A team that won the title by churning out wins have now defeated Arsenal, Real Madrid and Inter, and kept clean sheets in each. They limited the top scorers in Serie A to an xG of 0.43. They have conceded at least two goals in 13 other games.

To some, that may reflect the enigma of Ibrahima Konate; found at the crime scene too often, Slot had said three days earlier, the Frenchman maintained law and order in Milan. Slot’s faith in Konate has been questioned this season; if few, other than the match-winner Szoboszlai, have had genuinely good campaigns, Liverpool found an answer by sticking together.

All bar Salah, anyway. A game that was defined by the player who was missing showed him just what he was missing. Liverpool found solace in teamwork and hard work. A night that could have been traumatic became cathartic.

And if Salah, with his self-pitying words, had attempted to throw Slot under the bus, the coach found a new gear. Others rallied to his defence, the team showing loyalty. Jones was asked if they were behind the manager. “We always are,” he said. “We always are.”