Die- difficult Liverpool followers will certainly have understood when the Reds’ line-up versus Everton was validated that Curtis Jones was not mosting likely to be dipping into right-back for the really very first time.
When Jones was appearing under Jurgen Klopp in 2020, he made a number of replacement looks on the best side of Liverpool’s protection, and 3 years later on he repeated that function as he captained the club to triumph in a League Cup video game versus Leicester last period.
A Merseyside derby is a couple of actions up from the 3rd round of the League Cup, yet Jones did not watch out of area asArne Slot’s men kept a clean sheet en route to a 1-0 victory Jones’ efficiency amassed appreciation from manager Slot, that spoke up the worth of flexible gamers, yet Gary Neville had an odd take, one which he confessed himself was “ruthless”.
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“I’m going to be quite ruthless here,” Neville said on Sky Sports. “There’s no doubt that there are games where Curtis Jones could play right-back, but I think he (Slot) may play Quansah on Sunday at Fulham purely because it’s away from home and the away of doing a lot more defending, you’re going to get a lot more pressure.
“But I think the idea that Curtis Jones can play full-back remains to be seen, because if he’s playing against PSG or the top teams, you will get found out if you’re not competent defensively. I know there’s a feeling in football that everyone can play right-back, but I’m going to push back a little bit and say it’s more challenging when it comes to the big games and playing against fantastic players.
“Will he be able to play at the Bernabeu and play against Real Madrid or City away or United away? I’m not so sure, he might have some problems, but he’s got the physical attributes for it and the ability on the ball, it’s just has he got the concentration, has he got the positional sense. He can work on it, but let’s see.”
Neither Trent Alexander-Arnold neither Conor Bradley are anticipated to return from injury whenever quickly, so Jones might well have a couple of even more getaways at right-back throughout the encounter, yet Real Madrid is out Liverpool’s component listing, neither are Manchester City or Manchester United, so there is little factor hypothesizing regarding exactly how Jones would certainly do in video games that are not mosting likely to take place.
There is no risk included with having fun Jones at right-back in between currently and completion of the project: Liverpool has the Premier League almost finished up, which is the only competitors that the club will certainly complete in over the following 2 months adhering to last month’s removal from the Champions League.
When either of Liverpool’s right-backs are readily available once more, either this period or following, Jones will certainly not be selected to play there, and there will certainly be no demand to discuss exactly how well he could play there in a theoretical video game at the Bernabeu.
