How should Curtis Jones be handled? The 22-year-old picked up where he left off from the previous season and had a fantastic start to the 2023–24 campaign. Up until he unintentionally crunched into Yves Bissouma and was given a three-match suspension due to an unfortunate slide of the boot over the ball.
But chance breeds tragedy, and Ryan Gravenberch entered the fold determined to show that he was much more than a Bayern Munich bust.It does raise the question of how precisely Jones will make his way back into the starting lineup, though, considering the Dutchman’s dominance on the left of the midfield. This is a rather drastic change from not too long ago, when it would have been unimaginable to drop the Englishman.
Nevertheless, we saw a strong performance from our “super” (as Jurgen Klopp referred to his recent performances after Liverpool defeated Leicester City in the Carabao Cup, via Liverpool World) Scouse Academy graduate that undoubtedly helped Liverpool’s newfound penchant for possession-based play.Though not quite as visually appealing as Ryan Gravenberch’s box office runs, Jones’s contributions on the field are unquestionably significant. However, if you said Dominik Szoboszlai should be benched in Jones’ place, you could draw some odd glances.
Our No. 17 will almost certainly be warming the bench in the Premier League for the foreseeable future as the former Bayern player now appears to be the winner of the league jersey for that left midfield spot.
The good news is that he should still be able to play a few decent minutes in cup events throughout Europe! Naturally, there’s also no reason to believe that he won’t have another favorable opportunity.
His most recent performance against Toulouse will have validated the decisions made by Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic, the two lately deceased Allianz Arena titans who brought him from Ajax. In comparison, Thomas Tuchel might be feeling a little awkward.
