‘A tough watch’… Liverpool fans slam player who ‘contributed nothing’ vs Newcastle United
Liverpool fans were left unimpressed with their team’s performance despite winning at St James’ Park.
Rio Negumho scored the winner on his Premier League debut to secure all three points for Liverpool against Newcastle United.
The game was full of end-to-end action from the first whistle. Antony Gordon’s reckless challenge on Virgil van Dijk earned him a red card, and Newcastle were down to 10 men.
Despite the numerical advantage, the home team were level minutes before the full-time whistle was to be blown. And even the last-minute heroics from their 16-year-old star could not distract Liverpool fans from their poor display.
Liverpool fans criticise Curtis Jones’ performance vs Newcastle
It was suggested that Curtis Jones could start at right-back for Liverpool at St James’ Park. But Arne Slot opted to play him in the midfield.
The midfielder managed 89 minutes on the pitch before Slot decided he had seen enough. Along with Ibrahima Konate’s poor showing against Newcastle, Jones has been singled out for his underwhelming performance.
Liverpool fans took to X to express their disappointment during and after the game.
One fan wrote: “You actually wouldn’t know Curtis Jones was playing. Contributed nothing.” Meanwhile, another was not too kind in their criticism: “Curtis Jones should not wear a Liverpool shirt ever again.”
There is no doubt that Reds supporters will be hoping to see a big improvement against Arsenal on Sunday, 31 August.
What do the stats say about Curtis Jones’ performance?
This is where the eye test and statistics differ, because if going by the stats, Jones had a pretty decent game.
He had the most tackles among the Liverpool players and completed all of his dribbles. Meanwhile, he made five passes into the final third and won all of his ground duels.
| Expected assists (xA) | 0.02 per 90 |
| Chances created | 0 |
| Big chances missed | 1 |
| Successful dribbles | 2/2 (100%) |
| Passes into the final third | 5 |
| Accurate long balls | 1/3 (33%) |
| Tackles won | 2/4 (50%) |
| Recoveries | 6 |
| Ground duels won | 7/7 (100%) |
Defensively, he was sound, but perhaps fans would have liked to see more of him going forward. The midfielder failed to take a single shot and created no chances.
In a must-win game where the stakes were higher than ever, a more complete performance was needed from Jones.
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