Jurgen Klopp lauded Curtis Jones‘ performance after the midfielder netted a brace against West Ham, but insisted that he wants to see more of the same going forward.
Jones was one of the standout performers as the Reds booked their place in the last four of the League Cup for only the second time since 2017, with two well-taken goals helping his side on their way to a 5-1 win.
The 22-year-old has started all three of the Reds’ fixtures in the competition so far, with only a two-legged tie with Fulham now separating him and his team-mates from a trip to Wembley.
Klopp expressed his delight in seeing his No. 17 shine at Anfield on Wednesday night, but added that he has attributes within his game that he doesn’t utilise “often enough.”
“Yes, it was [a joy to watch]. I’m really happy for him, because obviously the skillset is immense, but sometimes he forgets to speed the game up,” the boss told Sky Sports after the game.
“Especially the second goal is exactly what Curtis can do as well. He has this speed, he has this tempo, and he doesn’t use it often enough. That’s what we tell him quite frequently.
“Tonight he did it and hopefully it’s, for him, like an eye-opener – ‘ah, OK, that’s a possibility for me as well!’”
It was a dominant display from Liverpool, with goals and chances in no short supply after a frustrating afternoon against Man United ended goalless over the weekend.
The manager continued to acknowledge Jones’ performance in his post-match press conference, where he described the second of the midfielder’s goals as “crazy” and highlighted the importance of freshness in being able to deliver during the busy period.
“You cannot do it against each opponent, but there are some opponents where you can do it, where you can pass the first line, then you have to go with the ball,” he continued.
“His second goal is obviously now a crazy goal, because then you go pretty much towards the penalty spot. That’s pretty rare, but this is an important thing for him to do.
“Yes, it was a really good game. He looked super fresh, which is probably not surprising because he didn’t now play thousands of minutes in recent weeks. But in general, the performance was just good.”
