Fans think Curtis Jones aimed ‘dig’ at Jurgen Klopp when asked what Arne Slot has changed at Liverpool

Curtis Jones made a surprise comment about Jurgen Klopp’s tactics when asked what Arne Slot has changed at Liverpool.

Slot officially took over from Klopp last month and has been spending pre-season so far working with a rather depleted squad.

Reds fans haven’t seen their team in action under the new manager yet, as Liverpool’s only pre-season friendly so far was the behind-closed-doors 1-0 defeat to Preston North End last week.

Jones has been one of a small core of players from last season that has been present at the AXA Training Centre this summer, with most of Slot’s key players away at Euro 2024 or the Copa America.

The midfielder was named in England’s provisional 33-man squad for Euro 2024 but missed out on the final selection.

This has given him plenty of time to get used to his new manager’s system.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s friendly against Real Betis in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Friday evening, the Reds academy graduate was asked how Slot had changed things at Anfield, and he made a perhaps surprising reference to former manager Klopp.

He said: “The principles are the same, but I feel the centre mids will be more the heart of the team. In terms of our build-up and how comfortable on the ball and stuff, and how calm we have to be, and play more as a team.

“We’re not in a rush to attack, we kind of just want to have the ball and break teams down and then if we give the ball away, then we can go and press.

“I feel more in the past a bit, it was kind of like a rush. We’d get the ball back and it was a little bit too direct, I’d say.

“It was up and down, up and down, to where now it’s going to be at the point where he wants us to have all the ball and just completely kill teams.”