BRAD JONES HAS vowed to do everything possible to hang onto his starting spot after displacing Simon Mignolet as Liverpool’s first-choice goalkeeper, paying no attention to speculation linking the club with an upgrade.
The Belgian was axed for the Reds’ trip to Manchester United – a game which they lost 3-0 – with his Australian counterpart retained in goal for matches against Arsenal and Bournemouth, conceding six times in his three appearances so far.
Jones, though, is desperate to cling onto the No.1 jersey – with Liverpool having been linked with the likes of Petr Cech and Guillermo Ochoa to replace him – and hopes that his performances can earn a new contract, with his current deal expiring next summer.
“It is just up to me to go out and do my best and hold on to it for as long as I can,” the 32-year-old keeper told reporters. “As long as that continues, great. If it is a couple of weeks, a couple of months, we will see. I just have to make the most of it when I can.
“Every game is an opportunity. The manager hasn’t said anything. I’ll just play each game and hope that I do well enough to play the next one. I haven’t had an awful lot to do in the last three games. I have tried to help the team in certain situations. I have tried to play as the manager wants me to do. I have just got to go on doing that.
“In football and with goalkeepers, circumstances dictate how much you do and when you do it. Sometimes you might not have a chance to do anything. I just try and play as best as I can in every aspect.”
He added: “Everyone wants to link other players with us and that is probably not going to change. We will get linked with another 20 goalkeepers now but I won’t let it affect me. Every game that I play, I will just go out and do my best. Do I want to stay? Of course I do.”
Though Jones is locked in a fierce battle with Mignolet for a starting spot, he nevertheless leapt to the defence of his team-mate, arguing that the Belgian has been unfairly criticised this season.
“That is what TV pundits do, isn’t it? They pick holes in people,” he remarked. “They pick holes in teams and point out things. ‘You could have done this … you could have done that’ … a lot of the time, it can be unjustified. Sometimes it is justified.
“Football is all about different situations. Certain people like to justify their position by jumping on the bandwagon and saying something that gets in the press. It is up to them. That is their job.”
