View: 95% Liverpool ace simply must start v Wolves after what he did this week
Curtis Jones has surely played himself into Arne Slot’s plans at Liverpool after his performance in the 5-1 win against West Ham United.
The Reds found themselves trailing in the first half through a Jarell Quansah own goal before an audacious bicycle kick from Federico Chiesa found the head of Diogo Jota to level the tie heading into the break.
A flurry of goals saw Jota complete his brace, while Cody Gakpo also netted a double either side of a goal from Mohammed Salah to complete the rout at Anfield.
Jones was instrumental in the second half and set up Jota’s second to complete the turnaround and help set up a fourth-round clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.
As a result of all this, Dominik Szoboszlai will now be sweating on his starting place for the match against Wolves on Saturday (28 September).
Curtis Jones must replace Dominik Szoboszlai for Liverpool
The 23-year-old struggled in his first start of the season alongside Wataru Endo in the double pivot, a position he was expected to thrive in this year after pre-season, but flourished when moved further up the pitch.
Jones moved behind Darwin Nunez into the number 10 role for the final 30 minutes after Alexis Mac Allister replaced Jota, with the match still in the balance with only a one-goal lead.
Slot’s side, while dominating the exchanges, were vulnerable on several occasions to the West Ham counterattack and needed more control in the midfield battle without sacrificing the creativity in the opposition half.
While Jones completed 95 per cent of his passes on the night, most were either backward or sideways passes from the pivot and he lost 71.5 per cent of his duels as he struggled to match the intensity set by Edson Alvarez and Tomas Soucek [Sofascore].
It wasn’t until the midfielder made one of his trademark driving runs towards the West Ham penalty area, where he created one big chance with his one key pass of the match finding Jota behind the backline to give the Reds the lead.
He ended the contest with 100 per cent completed dribbles and missed two big chances of his own from four shots [Sofascore].
After a season of only one goal and one assist in the Premier League last term, Jones will need to improve his goal contributions throughout the campaign to stand any chance of becoming a regular starter for Liverpool under Slot.
However, given the string of lacklustre performances produced by Szoboszlai, the Scouser will be on the manager’s mind for his team selection against Wolves and this is the perfect opportunity for Jones to build momentum on a fantastic outing at Anfield.
In other Liverpool news, Don Goodman shares his Liverpool ‘concern’ about exit-linked ace.
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