Jurgen Klopp praised Curtis Jones after the young midfielder’s poor performance as Liverpool captain for the first time in their 3-1 win over Leicester City.
Jurgen Klopp was full of praise for Curtis Jones’ performance as a makeshift full-back in Liverpool’s 3-1 League Cup win against Leicester City.
And the Reds boss admitted he was forced to release the 22-year-old due to injuries to Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Jones made his 14th appearance in Liverpool’s last 18 games when he was selected at right-back for the Reds’ Premier League visit to the Championship sandwiched between Premier League games at West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur.
Despite a quick counter-attack that was impressively finished by Kasey McAteer in the third minute, Jones fell behind, Jones helped Liverpool find their groove in the second half as they responded with strikes from Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Diogo Jota.
The England youth international, who has made significant progress at Anfield since returning to the first team in April, was named as skipper on the evening in the absence of Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool captain and vice-captain Alexander-Arnold. Jones, who lasted 79 minutes against the Foxes, impressed again as he helped Liverpool fulfill the free-roaming role that Alexander-Arnold has primarily occupied since his introduction in April.
Asked by the ECHO about Jones’ captaincy process and his background as a right-back in Wednesday’s draw, Klopp revealed the reasons for his decision and also praised the 22-year-old for his “super special” performance. However, the German admitted that Liverpool intend to use Jones at a higher level in the long term.
“Yesterday [Tuesday],” the Liverpool boss replied when asked he told Jones he would be in charge of the boyhood club for the first time since February 2020. “When I told him he would play right back , at that moment. I sold the idea of the starboard with the captain, let’s say. But he was already quite excited when I told him he would be back soon.
“The way he executed it was very special, I have to say, wow. Very intelligent. We thought about him because we couldn’t play Stefan [Bajcetic] for a long time, we have to be careful with him. Joey [Gomez] will be fine this weekend, but not today.
“It’s too early for Trent, so we have to find solutions. I always thought that Curtis is a possible solution because he is football smart. He enjoys the ball and the deeper you are, the more often you get the ball.”
Reflecting on Jones’ mature performance to help Liverpool earn a fourth-round draw at Bournemouth, Klopp added: “I have to say it was a great performance, first time for him in a strange position. I liked it a lot. “He’s got good timing, so he could probably play any position at the moment. We’ll try to use him as often as possible in his natural position.”
