Baffling that he didn’t get on the pitch again tonight, at this point the only logical explanation is that there has been some kind of fallout with the manager.
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There was a video doing the rounds about a month ago of Curtis reacting pretty negatively to some guidance he was getting from the sidelines. Its the sort of thing where it can be completely normal interaction, but is also what you would see of a player and coach in the process of having a real falling out. The ambiguity and “read whatever you want into it” ness of it made lots of level headed people tried not to read too much into it. But there was one reading of it at the time of Curtis reacting with frustration and disappointment and seemingly underwhelming ideas for how to change the game. I think what he could be seen to have mouthed back was something along the lines of “how is that different? we’re already doing that.”
Anyway, he has barely made any appearances even off the bench since then
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The midfield has looked a bit leggy as games have worn on, and at the least, Jones is a capable rotation option. The lack of action he is seeing, after being used much more until fairly recently, tells me there has been some sort of fallout. He’s not injured.
It is looking likely that Slot will go in the summer (I don’t know that, but things are so deflated around the club that a change seems necessary). Therefore Jones will probably wait it out to see how he fares under the new man. It could be a risky strategy as there are lots of unknowns, but even then, I would have thought Jones would remain a home grown rotation option, at the least, and if he doesn’t see enough action next season he will move in the summer of 2027 for the sake of his career.
Plays well against Wolves and doesn’t get a look in against Gala, even worse when our midfield couldn’t pass or keep the ball
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Maybe his head doesn’t fit in Slots mind,he does not appear to be Robinson Crusoe,sadly.
Arsenal away was the first moment when I thought well this is weird. He’s just not playing enough in recent times and usually I’m not someone to start inventing all sorts of theories and blowing things out of proportions, but this could well be something behind the scenes. Might leave this summer though remains to be seen whether who is the coach plays a part in it.
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couldnt really remember it, and im sure modern media wont emphasise it, but Robinson Crusoe was aboard a slave trading ship…
so…
yeah.
bit of trivia for pub quiz night
Bit much comparing Arne to a slave trader
its hard to ignore the facts…
If I had the choice between Jones staying, a home-born player, who loves the club and is LFC through and through, and Slot, I’d certainly go with the former.
At worst, Jones is a dependable squad option, and when at his best, a really good midfielder who is getting into his prime now. He’s the last who should leave the club this coming summer imo.
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Jones is stuck in a vicious cycle: decent player but hasn’t really progressed either and that is largely down to a combination of getting injured in past seasons and being good but not better than our regular options and not always being the best fit when other players are available.
Each factor is not huge but has chipped away at his game time which has limited his growth and in turn means his gametime because he hasn’t really grown.
I would say, he probably would have been a better player if he had the opportunities at a mid-table club.
I think he has looked a lot better this year and was one of the players that came in when our form was dire and made us harder to beat and one of the best players, normally at keeping possession.
He was also one of the better players against Wolves in the FA cup.
Compared to some of our poorest performers, I do feel he has been unfairly treated in regards to playing time.
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No doubt at all about that,he is coming into his prime and needs game time,he has shown he has got it.imo!
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Time to consider playing him on the left wing instead of CM? At least he dares to take on his marker.
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I used to hope that we could convert him into a Cole Palmer or Frank Lampard-like player because back then he had good shooting skills including long-range shooting (certainly better than Wirtz right now).
Unfortunately playing from the deep for so long took away his shooting abilities.
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Funny, I wouldn’t say Jones is a particularly good shooter. Capable of the odd good goal, but his numbers is an area that isn’t very strong. A bit similar to Kovacic (style wise, quality wise Jones still has a step to make). Technically of high quality, able to play multiple roles in midfield, able to go past players with ease, but in the final third there’s a lack of serious threat.
I think he means back in his youth days. At U21 level he was an automatic goal within 20 yards it felt like.
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When Jones first came into the 1st team he remined me of Bobby, in that he was really good at holding on to the ball, running with the ball and finding space. The issue for me was that there was a tendency for him to hold on to it too long - an issue that I felt he’d grow out of as he became more established.
Now when he plays or comes on he seems to play with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and rather egotistically at times which, makes his tendency to hold on to the ball a bit too long even worse..
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If that was the case, that’s also a long time ago and at a different level.
Shooting is not something that comes to my mind as Jones’ main qualities when I think of him.
And I think people in the industry take his apparent weakness among fans (holding onto the ball too much) rather as a strength. Where he did improve since his youth days and establishing himself as a first teamer under Klopp is mostly off the ball work.
I do want a player of his ability to have touches on the ball, because it can be useful for the team in many different situations.
Of course, there will always be actions where that player does need to get rid of the ball a bit sooner. Football is far from a perfect game, players are no robots, there are mistakes every few seconds.
Give me any day of the week a player comfortable in possession who sometimes makes a later decision on the ball rather than someone who cannot even cope with it.
In general though, yeah, he never really won a starting shirt (how he describes it sometimes in pre-season) for long enough, but I have to say this season there were many moments when in my opinion he should’ve either started or played more minutes.
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