22 Sep 2021 11:31:43
Have to say, with the form and hype around Elliot this season it’s easy to forget just how good Curtis Jones is.
We would have been absolutely mad to have sold him in the summer. He is way above Keita and Ox in the pecking order for me.
22 Sep 2021 12:08:31
But maybe not for Klopp though.
And he's the one that counts.
Jones has a very bright future in front of him, I can't get my head round why some on here slag him or write him off.
22 Sep 2021 13:25:20
Agree I'd have hin above Ox and Kieta, is ball control is excellent!
22 Sep 2021 13:28:24
If Jones stays as he is he will be a good squad player for us. Hopefully he can keep developing and become more.
22 Sep 2021 14:09:31
Jones is a baller. Not just me saying it. Other rival fans that I have seen on SM say the very same thing. Same goes for Elliott. Thy both have bright futures at the club. Whether they will be starter or squad players, is another issue entirely and only time will tell.
22 Sep 2021 14:14:56
A great young player, one I believe could make it big time should he have the right guidance. I love ox but yeah, CJ would have to be ahead of him.
22 Sep 2021 14:44:51
Curtis Jones absolutely carried that midfield last night. I think a lot can be taken from games like that, where squad players are dropped in and have to step up and lead the way, often alongside young players who will be looking to them for leadership. Curtis Jones is a very young man himself and was playing in the 6 for most of the game, a position completely unfamiliar to him, yet i thought he showed great maturity and asserted himself in the absence of the more senior pros. I also thought the likes of Kelleher, Tsimikas, Gomez and even Konate (on his second bloody appearance) were all very impressive and stepped up in the knowledge that it was down to them and nobody else to win the game.
The forwards were a little more difficult to judge because despite their goals, the starting midfield were so utterly useless at providing them with anything at all. When you put out teams like that the overall performance will always be a little disjointed, but simply put Keita and Ox were embarrassingly bad. We can make excuses about rustiness and disjointed teams all we like, but the performances from those two last night should have set alarm bells ringing. If you can’t do it against a Norwich B team, then when are you ever going to do it? It’s a sorry state of affairs when your £50 million midfielder leaves the pitch, is replaced by an 18 year old debutant and the team begins to play much better as a result. It’s an even more damning indictment that the improvement surprised nobody.
A young lad who played as a left winger in his formative years should not be getting thrown into the holding role over an experienced pro like Keita. Ox should at least be able to complete a pass to a team mate when playing against a Norwich B team, regardless of how rusty he may be. Both of them should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck, yet instead they did anything but that, preferring to leave it up to someone else, even if that someone else was a kid. I just can’t see how Klopp can see anything other than preferring to play Jones over those two.
22 Sep 2021 14:57:31
I just recall an instance yesterday in the first half where Keita lost the ball by the half way line and to say he was even jogging back would be generous. Curtis on the other hand sprinted making up a good few yards to win the ball back.
Local lads are so important to any club to show the passion that new players from different cultures need to play with.
On top of that he is actually an absolute baller. I said it a few weeks back. Curtis and Elliot are the future of the club and will save us over 150/ 200 million if they continue to be developed correctly and get game time.
I exclude Trent because he is already well established but add Gomez and we have a great core of players for years to come.
22 Sep 2021 15:45:52
Ox and CJ are very different players but I'd agree Curtis is ahead based on current form.
22 Sep 2021 15:59:48
When and where did people coin this new phrase, absolute baller. No offence but it's a bit cringy.
22 Sep 2021 16:01:32
I think we all agree Jones is ahead of the OX who has never fully recovered unfortunately. With Elliot, Thiago both injured and Milner sick Jones should get a chance to stake his claim on Saturday.
22 Sep 2021 16:24:20
I really want Ox and Keita to come right and I hope they can, but I thought the midfield looked considerably better once Morton came on and Jones moved to the left.
22 Sep 2021 17:09:48
Jones is already quality ld easily have him starting or sub above Naby or Ox. I’d have Morton in above those two after last night and a pocket full of U23 games.
22 Sep 2021 18:02:51
CJ will be a 1st team regular.
22 Sep 2021 18:31:10
Don't you mean baller Barry?
22 Sep 2021 19:29:06
I agree that Morton made a big difference when he came on. Curtis wasn’t suited to the 6 role as Klopp said.
22 Sep 2021 19:56:19
Barry's a baller.
22 Sep 2021 20:54:41
You know it lad's😉.
22 Sep 2021 22:05:46
He's a baller, he is.
23 Sep 2021 01:41:57
It's been said here before many times, but I'll repeat it anyways. What you're seeing is the difference of the attitude and performance of a player who feels he's got it made and has no pressure on him whatsoever on a very comfortable salary (Keita) . And two youngsters (Curtis Jones and Tyler Morton) who have the hunger and drive to still prove a lot and show everything they're capable of.
But that aside, I don't think Klopp has much of a choice when it comes to playing Keita. I think he's had enough (a lot of supporters and viewers certainly have), but has to keep him in that "pecking order" or rotation to preserve whatever financial value Keita can get for the club. Nobody can argue with the fact that this particular transfer has been a bust (can you imagine, supposedly the club offered 70 Million to buy Keita on the spot in the summer of 2017 and RBL refused and agreed for 55 Million for the next year in 2018?) .
I blame it all on Leicester and their title winning season in 2016. Everyone got so enamored of N'Golo Kante and his "he plays two positions and does the same as two players" moniker, that the club went out and tried to get a player who did the same (although not the same positions as Kante) .