Curtis Jones is scheduled to be sidelined for more than a month in the Premier League – and Liverpool will miss their new midfield mainstay
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones reacts after being shown a red card during the Premier League match at Tottenham Hotspur on September 30
A career highlight for Liverpool at one of the lowest. And all this in less than 72 hours.
And while it was easily overlooked given the excitement that was unleashed minutes later, Curtis Jones’ red card on Saturday night dealt a blow to Liverpool player and manager Jürgen Klopp at the just as the 22-year-old had finally impressed the few remaining doubters about his suitability for the first team.
Jones was a midfield mainstay during the Reds’ long unbeaten run, which ended in controversial and dramatic fashion at Tottenham Hotspur.
Considering he had only played one Premier League game all season before unexpectedly entering the fray at Chelsea in April, the fact that the Acade my graduate has carved out a specific role for himself in two completely different midfield formations is telling. his growing importance to Klopp.
The first came alongside Fabinho and Jordan Henderson during the final eleven games of last season, when Liverpool moved into midfield where Trent Alexander-Arnold became an inverted right-back. Jones worked on the port side of the engine room.
And after both Fabinho and Henderson left in the summer to be replaced by £95m duo Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, Jones was quickly restored to the starting line-up once he was fully fit for the home win against Aston Villa, after he had overcome a small ankle problem.
This should not be surprising, given the attitude shown by Jones when he spoke to the ECHO over the summer.
“We know that the guys who have arrived this summer are world class, but I don’t think anything changes for me in terms of how I think and the things I do,” he said. “I know if I go out and play, it’s an opportunity to prove that I’m good enough to play in the next game.
It’s all up to me.”And Jones’ influence helps get more out of his teammates, as Klopp explained last month when discussing Darwin Nunez’s improved defensive contribution. “We found a way to do it around him. Curtis and Dom are a great help, how flexible they are,” the Reds coach said. “It feels really good, for sure.”
Few eye brows were raised when Jones was handed the captain’s armband as he underlined his versatility by playing the right-back role in the League Cup win over Leicester City last Wednesday, his second time as captain and becoming the player youngest in the lead was a Reds team in the FA Cup fourth round replay against Shrewsbury Town in February 2020.
His dismissal on Saturday after just 26 minutes at Tottenham Hotspur was therefore particularly premature.
Liverpool appealed the red card – but after receiving confirmation on Tuesday evening that it had been rejected, Jones will sit out Sunday’s Premier League match at Brighton as well as the visits of Everton and Nottingham Forest after the international truce.
In total, he will miss more than a month of top-flight matches as the Reds hope for a positive response to events in London this weekend.
With Liverpool now playing Europa League home games against Union Saint-Gilloise and Toulouse – on the first Thursday – and a League Cup trip to Bournemouth on November 1, Jones will have the opportunity to continue to get his minutes.
But it says a lot about his progress over the last six months that he will be a major failure in a position that is already being done without the long-term absence of Thiago Alcantara.
Klopp will find a way – Wataru Endo could allow Mac Allister to move from defensive midfielder to the left position – but Liverpool have benefited from Jones’ physicality, energy, maturity and attacking drive.
It won’t be easy to replace him.And Jones’ form could yet be rewarded with a first international call-up.
He made a crucial contribution to England’s UEFA European Under-21 Championship final victory against Spain this summer, but is now too old for recognition of that kind.
And with Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze out for six weeks, there is Gareth Southgate in the vacancy for the games against Australia and Italy later this month.
Jones, whose suspension would not affect his England chances, would most likely compete with West Ham United’s James Ward-Prowse for the call-up.
But even if he is overlooked, it could only be a matter of time before the Liverpool midfielder’s form earns him such recognition. However, the Reds want their new midfield mainstay to return as soon as possible.
