Curtis Jones

[Phoenix07]

His form has been remarkable, and again, he has to stay fit. He's show good strength to come into an underperforming side, knowing we're looking to rebuild our midfield, and play like has has. He's definitely earned a spot amongst our group of midfielders next season.

He looked incredibly strong too, holding off players with ease. Almost Gini-esque at times.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Brilliant last night. He’s showing that all that promise from a few years ago is coming through.

Genuinely think he can become a regular on this side.

Brilliant control, good engine, strong - starting to release the ball at the right times and hugely important; chips in with goals.

Let’s just hope he stays fit now.

Think another thing that needs to be remembered about Jones is that he only turned 22 this year and that his development has been stop start due to being unlucky with injuries, I saw unlucky as injuries like his eye injury were freak injuries rather than being of the recurring variety.


He might not be quite as far along as he might have been without the injuries, but the flip side is that he has less wear and tear whilst still having close to 100 games worth of first team experience at a top club.


Next season is massive for him. He needs a season free of injuires to build on what he has shown this season. Fingers crossed that by the time he turns 24 or 25 we are purring about how good a nailed on starter he is and how he has another five years at least of being so for us.

He is one of those that would not be overly affected imo by us bring in a quality LCM now as he is young enough to keep developing for a couple more years whilst still getting maybe 30 to 35 games in all comps and good enough to offer competition to that new player. Finally replacing that player by the time Jones is only 24 or 25.

[SB]

So pleased for him, I really am. Local lad living his dream & starting to show what he’s capable of when we really need him. Long may it last

[Rich]

There were a few times last night when he had no right to keep the ball with opposition players all around him but he did. That's some crazy ass skills.

[Angryred]

He will end up saving us millions in transfer fees too.

[danperkins]

Thought it was his best performance in a LFC shirt. His energy alone coming into the side 8 or 9 games ago has given us such a boost in a tired midfield.

[Shaggy]

It was pure Gini last night and a massive vindication for Klopp and how he's clearly tried to change Jones' game into something more efficient and economical.

It's mad really, for fans like us you see a manager shaving the creative edges and flair off a player, skills that have got him to the edge of the LFC first team, and asking him to remould into something really quite different, and you wonder why. What has the manager spotted that we haven't. It's taken a while for the penny to drop, for Jones to learn the job, but wow the patience isn't half being rewarded now. Trent's switch has definitely helped too. I always thought even if his potential was realised he'd never be more than a good squad option for us but if he sustains this he's going to be very hard to shift from that Gini role.

[Phoenix07]

What has the manager spotted that we haven't.

Klopp does have a knack of somehow doing things we'd never ever dream of doing, based purely on the attributes of the players.

- Going for Robertson from relegated Hull
- Wijnaldum from attacking left mid to centre mid
- Milner at left back
- Finishing top 4 with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams as CB (albeit forced).
- Gakpo in false 9
- Trent in a hybrid role

I would've chucked Firmino in there too, but he played up front for Hoffenheim occasionally.

[Shaggy]

Yeah Gakpo false 9 especially, I never saw that at all.

[Pablo]

He has turned into a press resistant machine! Nearly impossible to get the ball off him.

[rudedog]

It was pure Gini last night and a massive vindication for Klopp and how he's clearly tried to change Jones' game into something more efficient and economical.

It's mad really, for fans like us you see a manager shaving the creative edges and flair off a player, skills that have got him to the edge of the LFC first team, and asking him to remould into something really quite different, and you wonder why. What has the manager spotted that we haven't. It's taken a while for the penny to drop, for Jones to learn the job, but wow the patience isn't half being rewarded now. Trent's switch has definitely helped too. I always thought even if his potential was realised he'd never be more than a good squad option for us but if he sustains this he's going to be very hard to shift from that Gini role.

It’s more than that though, earlier on he was clearly being asked to play a deeper role, not get forward too much and just give the ball to the front three . Recently he been playing further forward and combining/interchanging with the front three, taking players on and scoring/assisting goals.

I think that time playing the more restricted position has definitely helped in terms of his discipline but he’s definitely benefiting from not being shackled further back.

[Doc_Piptorious]

He has turned into a press resistant machine! Nearly impossible to get the ball off him.

Not sure it is fair to say he has turned into that when he has been really good at not losing the ball for a few seasons now.

Has always been one of the stronger points of his game and especially so since Thiago and Keita came to the club as his game seemed to reflect both of them from then onwards in terms of press/turnover resitance along with the way he keeps the ball circulating.

Think back to games like the one during which Ronaldo kicked him in the stomach. He was making himself an outlet to receive the ball with players tight to him even when he was in defensive positions back then.

If he was a smaller/weaker or outright more devious player he would also
be a magnet for winning free kicks as the better a player is at being press resistant the more fouls they tend to draw (though being in a Liverpool shirt might go against him on that. )

[Doc_Piptorious]

It’s more than that though, earlier on he was clearly being asked to play a deeper role, not get forward too much and just give the ball to the front three . Recently he been playing further forward and combining/interchanging with the front three, taking players on and scoring/assisting goals.

I think that time playing the more restricted position has definitely helped in terms of his discipline but he’s definitely benefiting from not being shackled further back.

He seems to be playing now in a role not too dissimilar to how he is also being used in the England under age team. Did notice in the recent game he played for the England team (and scored a nifty goal) against France (ironically in the same stadium that he played and scored in last night) that he seemed to switch to the RCM position a lot.

Was just a fluke I saw it as was channel hopping and he was on the ball when the channel came up so stuck with the game.


Only bad thing is that he will be playing into the summer in that U21 tournament

[Mark79]

Klopp does have a knack of somehow doing things we'd never ever dream of doing, based purely on the attributes of the players.

- Going for Robertson from relegated Hull
- Wijnaldum from attacking left mid to centre mid
- Milner at left back
- Finishing top 4 with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams as CB (albeit forced).
- Gakpo in false 9
- Trent in a hybrid role

I would've chucked Firmino in there too, but he played up front for Hoffenheim occasionally.

I think identifying these attributes in unusual places was largely down to the data guys.

Like Gini’s ball retention and press resistance may not have stood out in individual games when he was playing as an attacker, because it wouldn’t have been evident as often in that position. But when you look at his data across a batch of games, suddenly you see the numbers of a controlling midfielder.

[Mr Pink]

Klopp does have a knack of somehow doing things we'd never ever dream of doing, based purely on the attributes of the players.

- Going for Robertson from relegated Hull
- Wijnaldum from attacking left mid to centre mid
- Milner at left back
- Finishing top 4 with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams as CB (albeit forced).
- Gakpo in false 9
- Trent in a hybrid role

I would've chucked Firmino in there too, but he played up front for Hoffenheim occasionally.

I remember at the time, thinking it was crazy moving mane to the left wing, to accommodate Salah coming in. Was like mane has been the best player in the team, playing from the right, why disturb this, for the new guy, haha