Roberto Martinez and Peter Crouch spoke in awe on Amazon Prime over the performance of Curtis Jones during Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Tottenham on Wednesday night.
Ex-Everton boss Martinez felt that the highly-rated teenager was the ‘most influential’ player on the pitch during the first half when he assisted Mo Salah for the opening goal.
It was the Liverpool academy products mazy run past Giovani Lo Celso which allowed Salah to find that space and slot home.
During the game, both Martinez and Crouch shared what impressed them about Jones, who is playing beyond his years.
“Curtis Jones goes past Lo Celso and that opens up that little bit of opportunity for Salah and he is quick to react,” said Martinez. “A little bit of fortune [because of the deflection]. But everything came by Jones finding that really quick one-two.
“For me, the best and most influential player for Liverpool in the first half, without a doubt.”
Crouch: “I think he has been very good with his passing. Very quick. He looks more confident. Showed a little bit of immaturity maybe for the [Spurs] goal, he maybe should have stayed with his runner. But I think he has been fantastic offensively.”
This Liverpool injury crisis has without a doubt benefited Jones the most because he is now undroppable.
At the start of the campaign, the likes of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, new signing Thiago and even Naby Keita would have been ahead of the ball-carrier in the middle of the park.
But Fabinho has had to drop back into defence, Thiago has seemingly been injured for most of the time and Keita is still battling with fitness.
All in all, Jones has grabbed what was a negative for Liverpool and spun it into a positive for himself and dazzled his way not just into the starting XI, but past opposition defenders with ease on the pitch.
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