Liverpool were put under pressure by Arsenal very early in Saturday’s clash.
The Gunners were all over the hosts and took the lead after just four minutes. Gabriel Magalhaes headed in brilliantly after a lovely ball from Martin Odegaard.
Liverpool slowly got back into the game, and Mohamed Salah took advantage of Oleksandr Zinchenko’s error to level the score just before the half-hour mark.
Both sides did their best to win the game in the second half, and Jurgen Klopp made a triple substitution in the 68th minute to affect the game.
That was when Curtis Jones came off for Liverpool, and Jamie Carragher has now revealed that it was a big surprise to see Klopp make that decision.
He said on The Gaty Neville podcast:
“Considering those three players [Jones, Endo, Szoboszlai] played midweek as well and then you think about who you’re playing against, the quality they’ve got, they’re going to be a lot fresher.
“The energy they put into the game, the amount of times they won the ball back, and I think that’s just one of the reasons why Arsenal came into the game a little bit more as the game went on.
“When Jurgen Klopp brought Curtis Jones off, I mean that was a big surprise for me, I thought Curtis Jones was outstanding in the game, but it was the fact he played midweek and Gravenberch comes on.
“But that is, I think on the back of what happened midweek and what happened today, that I think for the foreseeable future or certainly the next few weeks, that is Liverpool’s go-to midfield three now, I would say.”
Curtis Jones was Liverpool’s main man against West Ham United a few days ago, and although he didn’t quite have such a big impact against Arsenal yesterday, he was solid.
The 22-year-old had 43 touches of the ball and completed 29 of his 33 attempted passes, maintaining a healthy 88 per cent passing accuracy. He also registered one key pass during his time on the pitch.
Defensively, Jones won five of his six attempted duels, blocked a shot and made an interception and a tackle each. He wasn’t dribbled past a single time in the entire game as well.
Jones has fared really well recently, and we expect him to keep his place in the side for Liverpool‘s upcoming games.
