Curtis Jones would be on the plane to the European Championships in the summer if Gareth Southgate was as smart as many people say he is.
It is not too much of an exaggeration to say that the Scouser is quickly becoming the soul of this Liverpool team that is chasing four trophies.
It is not The Quadruple, it is two sets of four medals. Still, though.
Curtis Jones celebrates after equalising for Liverpool in Wednesday night’s win over Fulham
The 22-year-old midfielder again made a crucial intervention to help Liverpool to a 2-1 lead
Jurgen Klopp has described Jones as ‘super, super, super important’ to his revived team
There is a lot of talk about “Liverpool 2.0” and the changing skills of Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold this summer, but Jones is still very important to the team.
Liverpool came back from behind to beat Fulham in the first game of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday. “He is super, super, super important to us,” said Jurgen Klopp, the manager of the Reds. The German teacher is also right on the mark.
Jones’s most important addition was the equalizing goal in the 69th minute, but the 22-year-old had another great game all around. He finished with a 98% pass completion rate and played like a throwback box-to-box midfielder, popping up all over the field.
Is there a Premier League player who is not getting enough attention than Jones? As a personal note, this writer used to be confused about what he brings to the team, especially when they did not watch every game.
He will not be the star of Match of the Day, and he does not score many goals (though that is slowly changing), but his skills are clear when you see him play every week, and especially when you watch old games without any stress.
Jones helps with offense; he almost always passes the ball correctly and is becoming a bigger threat to score goals
Jones was player of the match in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg
It was reward for another all-action performance at the heart of Liverpool’s team.
He helps with defense and pushing, and he runs an average of 12.6 km every 90 minutes. He also helps with smart fake runs when he is not near the ball.
This season in the Premier League, only Pascal Gross and Douglas Luiz (both of whom take set pieces) have played more minutes per goal or assist than Jones (176). Both of them are center midfielders. He already has more goals than he did last season and three times as many helpers.
This season, he has made 0.7 interceptions per game, which is up from 0.3 last year, and he has won control 6.3 times per game, which is up from 4.8 last year. This season, he is also taking more goals, passing the ball more often, and making more chances than last.
Jones has had some tough times. Klopp and Lee Carsley, who is the boss of England Under-21, have both criticized him and asked for more in the past. When a teacher tells everyone about a player, they usually want to see what happens.
She said, “I expect more from him.” “Every day, every game, he has to be the best player.” I think he can score more goals and set up more plays.
Klopp told him, “He got to watch a lot of football to get better at it.”
The things he has improved the most are his speed of play and his ability to counter-press. He no longer holds on to the ball for that long. That is something he has to do quickly, but he makes decisions much more quickly.
Jones himself said he “hit a wall” after his big break in the 2019–20 season, when he scored the game-winning goal in an FA Cup Merseyside Derby.
“As an academy player, I was always a kid who skipped age groups,” he said at the start of the season.
“Then I joined the first team and felt like I hit a wall. I could not really move forward.” That is why I had to look over my game and see where I could improve. As a kid, all I wanted to do was score goals and run with the ball.
‘But then I learned, “OK, the gaffer and staff want more.” As a child, I never thought about being the first to press or run the farthest, but now I do.
“I am trying to work on the whole thing.” I still need to learn a lot, but I am getting better.
Neil Critchley, who used to coach Liverpool’s Under 23s, gave Jones the captain’s armband, which he has worn twice this season. The first time was when Liverpool played Aston Villa in a cup match with a young team while their top players were in Qatar for the Club World Cup.
At the time, Critchley laughed and said, “It is really just a toss of the coin (for the armband).”
“But you can be sure that if Curtis gives me the coin, it will have two heads!” Jones is said to be a happy person who jokes that he is more like a Liverpudlian than a Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Jones celebrates after helping England to Under-21 European Championship glory last year
England under-21 coach Lee Carsley joined Klopp in challenging Jones to get even better
The playmaker from Toxteth told The Telegraph a few years ago, “I always joke with Trent that I am a real Scouser because I am from L1.” “That is where Liverpool got its start!” You can not be Liverpool anymore. It makes me proud to be from a place like this.
He is always in charge of the club’s YouTube movies, especially the ones about community service, which he does with a laugh and a smile.
An episode of Darwin Nunez’s English and Scouse accent tests at Christmas showed him laughing out loud.
The last year has shown that Jones’s game has the above-mentioned general package. Liverpool was in eighth place in the league after a 4-1 loss at Manchester City in early April. Jones played every league game after that. The Reds did not lose any more games, of course.
Jones celebrates after netting in the 4-2 Premier League win over Newcastle on New Year’s Day
The Liverpool support have been in no doubt for a while about how special the local lad is
In fact, Liverpool has only lost one game since that brutal loss at the Etihad Stadium. That was when Jones was sent off in the 26th minute against Tottenham. After 31 games, they have only lost one. And let us not talk about how bad the VAR was at Spurs.
During that time, Liverpool’s success was due to many things, but Jones is often forgotten. It is time to praise him. Maybe the best way to describe him is with quotes from things he is said before: “I have been on the team since I was 17 years old.”
“The journey has had its ups and downs, but I have always stuck with it, and my mindset has not changed.” I have the skills; I just needed more game time.
A long time ago, he said, “I do not care who we sign.” I am a sure of myself kid. I believe I can do well here. Yes, of course I do.
