On a related note, it should be frightening to other teams that Jones is only just about to turn 21. Heâs not as massively hyped as Foden, but he is a rather different player, and has already proven himself to be fairly reliable in the chase for top 4. I love that we can nitpick tiny details about his game, comparing him to top, top players, all at the age of 20.
Hoping heâs a mainstay in our team for the next decade and a half, and all for good reasons.
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baller
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The f*ck is that.
Someone tell Mighty Red âwe have to improveâ.
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Michael Owen :0)
Jones was shit last night. In real danger of becoming dispensable.
Probably his weakest match in quite a while. I think that Klopp wonât have an easy time moulding Jonesâ game to his will but the reward could be huge. Heâs still a kid with probably a career of fifteen years ahead of his if he looks properly after himself. After all, he got picked ahead of clubâs most expensive midfield signing and the third most expensive overall signing ever, that speaks volumes about Kloppâs expectations of Jones.
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Yeah, he wasnât good last night. I didnât want Thiago at RCM when I saw the XI, who was pretty good still. But that from Jones is also all a part of being a player who just turned 21. Recently got back in the team. Not all his games are going to be good. That also doesnât mean heâll disappear from the team for a while after a performance like that.
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Bar âholding on to the ball too longâ he has no other real drawbacks to his game. This can cause turn overs when he gets caught, it can also mean moves slowing down or opportunities lost. It is an area of his game he can improve, this shite that in 3 years heâs not improved is exactly that, utter shite.
Yes he lost the ball once in a dangerous area but so did Firmino and even Elliot lost the ball leading to an attack⌠The utter irony of this point being used is Thiago/Henderson/Keita/Ox do this regularly every game, and do it many more times. Has anyone considered this is our actual game plan i.e. draw in players, get out of a tight space and then transition to attack? Yes it can fail and lead to a chance for the opponent but 9 times out of 10 it leads to a chance for us⌠Itâs high risk high reward football.
So I think itâs utterly bizzare this focus on his one area he needs to improve without the context of the rest of the entire midfield, especially when if you check his overall stats i.e. the ones Klopp will be using not 1 incident in a game youâll find he is one of our most secure midfielders for retaining posession.
Not a single mention that his defensive game has come on massively, considering he played left winger for the youth team and now is playing center midfield for a team competing at the very top of the best league in the world. Iâd say his growth has been brilliant.
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He was playing mostly centrally for youth teams, sometimes playing on the left of the attack, but not like a winger, more like Coutinhoesque. We can separate it from a wider picture in which so far heâs been good and that inconsistency at that age is also understandable. They will have bad moments, periods, games, run of games. Whatâs the ladâs ceiling, how long heâll merit to be here (how good are we during that time), will he ever be a key player, etc. All that is impossible to predict. For now, he merits to be here and the very near future. As for exactly right now, we needed him in last weeks. One weaker game will also not make us abandon him.
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Agreed. Iâm not sure what game I was watching compared to others, but it genuinely was bizarre seeing so many of the comments slagging him off. I thought he was fairly fine on the whole, and that many of the incidents that were being nitpicked over were just a matter of something else that our other players would doâŚ
For what itâs worth, Thiago became equally anonymous once Jones came off, maybe itâs just that side of the midfield that always plays that wayâŚ
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Not sure I agree on this point, Thiago and Fabinho were excellent (they compliment eachother really well) once Thiago moved over to the left⌠I really donât like him on the right. Thiago (like Gini) is great at killing the space that opens up when Fabinho gets dragged away from center
Good article;
His pass completion rate stood at 92 per cent (70 out of 76 passes).
His work off the ball was as eye-catching as the quality of his distribution. He made four tackles, three clearances, three interceptions and gained possession on eight occasions.
They certainly complement each other well. Thiago brings the silk and Fabinho the steel. The only player on the pitch to gain possession more often than Thiago on Thursday night was the Brazilian, who won it back 11 times, as well as providing four tackles and seven interceptions. He was immense.
Paywall, canât read. For what itâs worth though, that also doesnât say (from the little I could read) how much of that came before and after Jones got substituted. I remember seeing him down the right far more than I remember the same down the left.
My point was more that we always seem to see at least one midfielder who ends up getting closed down more with fewer options to pass to, so theyâre seen as âholding the ball too longâ when in reality there may simply not have been any good options.
Too many average performances, or games where like at Palace will do great for 15-20 mins and then fade badly. Not his fault though as he shouldnât be starting
Glad someone else picked up on this. Fabinho was my MotM last night for exactly those reasons.
Otherwise Jones, yeah seems to like to have the ball at his feet a little too much. This is good at times but can be a hindrance in others. Last night was the latter unfortunately.
Foolish to be writing the kid off for that at this stage of his career.
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Another point is, Klopp wouldnât be starting him ahead of the likes of Keita/Ox if he was average/rubbish. He knows his talent.
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People have already made up their minds on certain players, it takes an awful lot to overcome that.
As soon as Jones gave the ball away there were 6 or 7 posts with the âI told you soâ overtones, which was very predictable. There are certain posters whoâll do that with Jones and Keita for every error they make. There are more and more doing it with Firmino, and a lot have done it this year with Van Dijk. The way people on here talk youâd think Matip has been outstanding every game and Van Dijk looks like a pub player, when in reality their level has been quite similar, itâs just one has every error magnified. Neco Williams had his little fan club who were constantly trying to criticise his performances this season despite there being very little wrong with them, even when he faced up with players like Luiz Diaz.
Too much focus on what Jones isnât doing well and no appreciation of what he does do well. Last night he was still showing for the ball constantly and his off the ball work was solid yet again. Those calling the performance âabysmalâ arenât interested in judging him fairly, only in being right.
This time last year Thiago was the waste of space and many on this forum were writing him off. Now heâs integral to the way we play. Thiago wasnât anywhere near as bad as people thought he was last year, and Iâm not saying that with the benefit of hindsight, and Jones is much better than a large handful of posters are making out now.
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Harsh to be judging any young player on a game by game basis. Not his best performance last night by any means but JK clearly has a lot of faith in him and heâs usually a good judge.
I am willing him to do well because I like to see Scousers in the team. One of the traits of the fanbase is that we seem to be harder on local lads than we are on big money signings. You only have to look at the stick Trent got when he first started and still occasionally gets even when he is now arguably the best in his position in the world. JK has endless amounts of patience in players he believes in and he is usually proved right in the end.
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