Post-match, Jones spoke to Liverpoolfc.com about the clash with Brighton, his milestone outing and more. Read a summary of the interview…
On it being a ‘big three points’ at Anfield…
A hundred per cent, yeah. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the team play in back-to-back games like that, where in the beginning of the game we stick in there. Against two good teams as well, who can obviously play as well. But the lads are in the mindframe of ‘we don’t quit’ and when the chance comes that we’ll take our chance. And that’s what we did.
On the importance of an early goal for the Reds…
It’s important in games like that, and in terms of the form we’ve had in terms of a dip. I feel that teams have come against us and probably thought, I wouldn’t say it’s an easy game but they can nick points. I feel that the first goal showed them and their fans and their staff that it’s not sweet over here, that we’re still here as a team and as a fan base and the support is always there as well. I thought the first goal changed everything. Obviously there were spells in the game where they were on top but that’s part of the Premier League, there’s never a team that is seen as an easy game.
We always say we have to just ride through the storm and then we’ll come out of the other side. The second goal goes in and I feel that it’s game done. The lads sat back a bit, we were compact and we knew how important it was to come away with all three points. The situation, if you saw against Leeds where we were 2-0 up and then had to fight again to then try to get a draw, I was telling the lads there at the end: ‘It’s not going to be the same.’
On ‘enjoying defending’ in the pursuit of clean sheets…
A big thing we’ve obviously spoken about as a team, and the staff have obviously said, is that it’s huge if we can come away with a clean sheet. If I look around at the lads in the team, I know that these guys are going to score and assist and help with the goals. If the guys at the back and in central midfield can run more and fight even harder to come away with a clean sheet, there’s no doubt that we’ll start to win more games.
As it showed there, there’s obviously games where it’s still hard, but if you get a clean sheet, we can come away with goals. You can say the game in Milan was luck – it’s a penalty at the end of the day and we score it. Two goals there in a 2-0 game against a good team. If we keep a clean sheet then lads are going to score. That’s what we have to do.
