Ones to Watch: Curtis Jones
The Liverpool midfielder has impressed this season, but there's so much more to come.
Welcome back to Marginal Pains.
It’s Sam, here. Today we’re introducing another new series to run alongside the what went wrong one. This particular series is going to focus on players we feel will be at the forefront of European football over the next decade.
With this in mind, I thought I’d take the opportunity to write about Curtis Jones.
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For those outside of the Liverpool FC bubble, Jones is probably going under the radar this season playing as an all-action midfielder. He was always going to be part of the first-team picture this year, what with the departure of Adam Lallana and the fact he was given the No.17 jersey. Few would’ve envisaged him being this involved. Injuries to a host of midfielders opened the door for him and it’s safe to say he’s made the most of the opportunities.
Debates are now being had over whether or not he should be ahead of more experienced players in the pecking order now. His headline numbers aren’t anything to shout about; Jones has one goal to his name at the time of writing and he’s yet to register an assist.
However, as flagged in the Gini Wijnaldum and Naby Keïta feature pieces, Liverpool midfielders aren’t in the team for those final phase situations. Judging Jones on that sort of output, in his current role, would be unfair. The No.17 is in the midfield to help the Premier League champions sustain attacks and he’s impressing in that role.
He’s seeing a lot of the ball. In the 4-0 win over Wolves, both Jones and Jordan Henderson attempted over 75 passes on the night. This could be a consequence of the team being without Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold over recent weeks, two players who are key to the way Liverpool build attacks. Regardless of why it happened, it’s clear that the coaching staff and the players trust the 19-year-old.
For some inexperienced players, the temptation would be to try to stand out. They’d look to force passes and their use of the ball would be loose, at best. Jones is showing his maturity by keeping everything safe and simple. It sounds boring, but to have that side to his game already puts him comfortably ahead of his peers. Especially when you consider just how creative he can be.
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For those unaware, Jones initially emerged in the academy as a fleet-footed attacker. The way he danced and slalomed his way past opponents drew comparisons to Philippe Coutinho. In his early appearances for the first-team, he started on the left side of the attack.
He also operated as a playmaker at times from central areas of the pitch. Always calm and always composed, his ability to play a pass with either foot enabled him to slice opposition defences open with great regularity.
He was even likened to a young Eden Hazard by some. Liverpool have a different profile for their wide forwards, though. Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota all share a number of traits. They’re all genuine goal threats but a lot of their opportunities come from runs in behind the defence.
As basic as it sounds, the Reds don't just want to generate touches in the box, they instead want penalty area touches to be part of a wider sequence that results in shots on goal.
You can’t guarantee much in football, but you can remove as much uncertainty as possible.
This might explain why Klopp has turned so many attackers into midfielders during his time at Liverpool. Gini Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana, Xherdan Shaqiri and more recently Takumi Minamino have all been deployed in a midfield three, though the latter two are only used there against certain opposition.
The idea is to remove the risk from the attack and place it in the middle third. It makes sense, if things are going wrong, teams can bypass the midfield and get the ball to the match-winners in the final third.
You can understand why Klopp might’ve viewed Jones as a centre-midfielder. Having come through the ranks as a tricky wide forward, he’s press-resistant.
Jones has got parts of Wijnaldum, Keïta, Henderson and Lallana to his game. He’s a ball-carrier who can also ping 60-yard cross-field passes. He’s naturally got that ability to craft space for himself and, perhaps most importantly, the Liverpool-born maestro has the ability to change gears from tempo-setter to goal threat. His versatility gives Klopp options without the need for substitutions.
He went from recycling possession in the dominant win over Leicester City to having the most shots in the match against Ajax, all while starting in the same position.
It’s this that makes him one of the most exciting talents across Europe. In five years time, he could be turning out as a false-nine or as the deepest midfielder. The potential is there for him to be moulded into one of a number of things.
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