Curtis Jones asked Jurgen Klopp an important question during Liverpool’s game against Arsenal. He was a very different Jones.
Curtis Jones hit the headlines in midweek when he scored two stunning goals in Liverpool’s 5-1 win over West Ham United. That leaves him available for Saturday’s game against Arsenal. And that’s because Jurgen Klopp has been with the Scousers from the start. Jones played 68 minutes at Anfield, but this time there was no spectacular goal.
Now that the game is over, Jones has something else to say. Suddenly he looks like Liverpool’s most reliable midfielder. In the end, this game was not one where the midfield flowed and formed.
It was a matter of grappling and positioning, and Jones did it very well. He had the only shot of the game and two headers. Jones also won the ball and had an 88% shooting success rate. This last figure is perhaps the most impressive.
No midfielder had better pace and the only defensive midfielders who could match him were Wataru Endo and Declan Rice. Jones won 100% of his games, passed better than anyone else and was Liverpool’s most consistent midfielder.
Of the other quality midfielders who actually played in the game – Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz – Jones lost the fewest possessions (just once). Schoschlai, Havertz and Gravenberch fought twice and Odegaard four times.Jones now has a big question for Klopp.
Should he be the first midfielder on the squad list? He showed in midweek that he is a match winner and is now showing how he can tackle and bring stability to midfield in big games.If he can keep it up, the Scouser will soon cement his place in the starting XI.
