Curtis Jones masterclass leaves Chelsea feeling the blues
Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1, 20th October 2024
LIVERPOOL 2 (Salah 29, Jones 51)
CHELSEA 1 (Jackson 48)
“Curtis Jones. Curtis Jones can play
Racing through my brain
And I just can’t contain
How Curtis plays the game”
If you sing the above lyrics to “There She Goes” by Liverpool band The La’s you won’t go far wrong. Much like today’s “Man of the Match” and object of footballing desire for the song masters on Liverpool’s Kop, Curtis Jones. The 23 year old Liverpudlian and father for the first time has had quite the week! Unfairly pilloried by many in today’s reactionary Liverpool fan base, he dances that fine line between being a regular member of the starting XI (under both Jürgen Klopp and Arne Slot) and fighting for a permanent place ahead of more senior members of the Reds midfield. Starting ahead of an unwell Alexis Mac Allister and in his second consecutive start, Jones’ all action 80 minutes of football should be lauded far louder than perhaps it will be and for far more than simply his match winning goal on 51 minutes. Biting into tackles. Acting as the calming pivot on the ball, a “picture” of the game in front of him, passing to a red shirt and as demanded by managers Slot and Klopp before him, to run and run and run. Break up play, grab back control of the ball, dictate play, be up with play at both ends of the field, demand the ball in the centre and final third of the pitch and that simple 3 letter word again — run.
Curtis Jones was outstanding today in a game that had everything and quixotically nothing: a game described by Peter Drury on Sky TV commentary as “engaging” but which was anything but, a game full of incident yet so few real goal scoring opportunities for either team. A game whereby arguably the better team lost but who failed to seriously mount any serious goal scoring chances after their equaliser and, most importantly of all, Liverpool’s toughest test so far under Arne Slot and a game they never truly had control of, were often second best, rarely created any real scoring chances themselves (other than the two goals) and yet they still left the Anfield pitch victorious. Blame it on the international break or indeed my rare hyper critical eye, but this was one of the least cohesive performances in Slot’s managerial reign to date, too wasteful in possession, too sluggish in attack, bested for large periods of the game by that crazy circus sideshow from the Kings Road, London.
But they won, and new Dad Curtis Jones was bloody magnificent.
In all Red honesty, Chelsea were the better team both before and after Mo Salah’s 29th minute penalty and thoroughly deserved their equaliser through Nicholas Jackson so early in the second half. But they relinquished parity so soon and far too easily to trail once more and whereas they had Liverpool where they wanted them in the first half, the second became a more level fight between the Reds managing the game to victory and the Blues trying to regain their first half control of the match. Where Enzo Maresca’s team in Chelsea Blue excelled in the first half was calm control of the game, a high defensive line pushing the game into Liverpool’s half of the field and spreading the play constantly left and right to exploit the spaces left by the Reds marauding defensive backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson. As highlighted time and again in the first half, Chelsea were trying to force the Liverpool defensive backs to retreat and stay in their own half with Noni Madueke attacking Andy Robertson and Chelsea’s best player Jadon Sancho constantly running at Trent Alexander-Arnold. Sancho was surprisingly replaced at half-time with Pedro Neto and whilst the Portuguese winger continued where the England international had left off he faded, and despite swapping wings or taking a floating, central position, he too failed to spark a visiting team who played well, controlled large parts of an ordinary, stop/start game, but never threatened a second equaliser let alone a third and winning goal.
From today’s losers we conclude with today’s winners, and the team at the top of the Premier League after another barnstorming weekend of English football. Caoimhin Kelleher had so little to do in goal but he’s always a calm and confident replacement for the injured again Alisson Becker and in front of him: Ibrahima Konaté and captain Virgil van Dijk joined their defensive full backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in winning nearly every one of their individual duels. Alongside star man Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch was his solid self, Dominik Szoboszlai faded a little in the second half and Cody Gakpo failed to have the impact recently seen with his appearances from the substitutes bench. Talking of substitutes, the chaos of Darwin Núñez returned with a feisty, determined and nuisance of a performance in place of the injured Diogo Jota, both an unwell to start Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Díaz each got late minutes of game time, and a certain Mo Salah scored again and has a raft of club and Premier League records in his sights in the coming weeks and hopefully, subject to contract, many seasons to come too.
The toughest test of the season so far was passed, a win that takes the Reds back to the top of the Premier League and Curtis Jones can play, “and I just can’t contain………how Curtis plays the game”.
Over to the Boss.
Arne’s Afterword
“In an ideal world we would’ve outplayed them completely. That’s definitely not what we did. It was an equal game, in my opinion. There were phases in the game where we had to work really hard not to concede, but it’s very pleasing to see that is also what we did. I think we all saw the great block tackles Dominik and Curtis had — Curtis first half, Dominik second half. Those moments are just as crucial as the goals we scored and added to that, there were a lot of eventful decisions by the referee, which made it the game it was”.
“I think it was mostly the media that told us that this was our first big test. I think if you go to Old Trafford against a very strong team like United, that is definitely a test as well. I said, I think it was Friday in the press conference, don’t judge us on this week, you have to judge us after six, seven or eight more games. That’s also what I say now after this win because Wednesday is Leipzig, Sunday it’s Arsenal, then it’s Brighton, Brighton, then it’s Leverkusen and Aston Villa”.
“I have a lot of confidence in this team, but you also saw today after the international break that we had some problems. Conor Bradley is not in, Trent, which you probably don’t know, was also not training in the first days after he came back so he was a bit of a doubt before we started the game. Then we had Macca being sick. Today Diogo had to be substituted. I’m not sure what it is, but I will be surprised if he’s there on Wednesday”.
Thanks for reading. I often lament that despite my hundreds of articles here I rarely if ever make contact with genuine Liverpool fans so, if that is you, please say a hearty hello and, whilst you’re here, can I interest you in these spectacularly good self-published books on the Mighty Reds?
"A final word from The Boss" - link to Amazon
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.