Arne Slot addresses Curtis Jones game time amid exit rumors

Liverpool could hand Curtis Jones a start against Crystal Palace with the midfielder set to enter the final year of his contract after playing 44 times for the Reds so far this season

Arne Slot speaks with Curtis Jones(Image: Ben STANSALL / AFP via Getty Images)

The Merseyside derby will always carry extra significance for the Scousers within the squad. And while not quite in the fashion he might have hoped for, Curtis Jones once again demonstrated his knack for delivering against Liverpool's oldest rivals last weekend.

Having stepped up as the latest to fill Liverpool's troublesome right-back berth, Jones produced a man-of-the-match display to help the Reds claim a dramatic 2-1 victory on their inaugural visit to Everton's new Hill Dickinson Stadium.

It was just a 13th Premier League start of the campaign for the 25-year-old, who has nonetheless featured in all but eight of 52 matches this season under Arne Slot.

Indeed, his total of 2,403 minutes across all competitions is a mere 34 short of his personal best recorded last season, with five fixtures still to go, beginning with this afternoon's home clash against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Jones finds himself at a career crossroads, however, unable to cement a regular place in the starting eleven due to intense midfield competition — a situation that has seen him drop out of England's World Cup reckoning while entering the final 12 months of his contract.

Yet Slot believes the Academy product brought something distinct to the derby, filling a position where Liverpool have struggled to maintain consistent influence throughout the season. "Curtis showed mainly character in that game," said the Reds boss. "Playing not in your own position in a very difficult away game, difficult circumstances, and to have that performance is really good.

"But when I look a bit deeper into it, he is one of the players I spoke to this week that in certain situations he has to position himself a little bit more as a natural full-back. But it's normal that he hasn't done that yet. There is still room for improvement in that position.

"But what helped us is that he is really comfortable on the ball. That was a quality that a right-back had for a long time who played here before, a very, very comfortable player on the ball in Trent Alexander-Arnold.

"He gave I wouldn't say a copy of Trent, but Curtis gave us that quality on the ball - calm, finding the right passes, starting to dribble, he gave us that in the Everton game and that helped us."

Curtis Jones was great in the Merseyside derby(Image: Getty Images)

Regarding suggestions Jones would have preferred more game time this season, Slot replied: "Since I am the manager he plays much more minutes than he ever did before. That's down to me liking the player and the fact our squad has become smaller, mainly because of injuries.

"That means the same players have to share the playing time because we went to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup. If you have a lot of injuries, then in the top 25 there are five or six players of ours with the most minutes played.

"Curtis played a good game against Everton, although now all of a sudden everybody had a good game because we won.

"I can tell you we played much better games when we have lost or drawn. But that's how football works - if we win then everybody played a great game, and if we lose then it's all s***."

Jones could hold onto his spot at right-back this afternoon, though both Jeremie Frimpong and the returning fit-again Joe Gomez are pushing hard for selection.

While only the bottom two sides have found the net less frequently in the Premier League than Palace, solely title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal have conceded fewer goals.

This sets the scene for a potentially grinding encounter at Anfield, with Liverpool chasing the win that would take them closer to a top-five finish and Champions League qualification, following a campaign in which their style of play has occasionally drawn "boring" accusations.

"I definitely don't like hearing that, but in some moments it was true," said Slot. "I would like to react to that with 15 arguments that I can hold against it.

"Having watched Crystal Palace, how many chances do you think Man Utd had against them? How many chances did City have against them?

"So in general when a team loses, then it is either not good, or s***, or boring and there is a lot of criticism coming at you. Then you start to win and it's, 'well, you played a great game against Everton'. I can tell you we had a great result, but we did not play a great game over there. A good game, but not a great one. But fans see it as a great game because we won.

"There comes a lot of criticism with losing games and being boring and what is the style of play. I think we might still be number one in terms of ball possession (Liverpool are actually now second to Manchester City in the Premier League).

"But from that ball possession, you would like a team from Liverpool to generate more chances. I can tell you exactly why that is not happening but I don't want to do that.

"It is not the moment for it, but if I will ever write a book I will explain exactly why these things have happened. But I am not planning to do that, by the way!"