I think people are sleeping on Curtis Jones this season. He is a creative player who was thrown in a team that was underperforming and did not drown. With Fabinho back in the 6, he will be the one to benefit from Elliots unfortunate injury. This may just happen to be his breakthrough season
Just still can't get over how many pundits basically are downplaying the tackle as if it was just PURE bad luck. Sickens me.
Hasn’t been seen at all this season and Elliott seems to have overtaken him. Not sure if he had an injury or anything. He had moments last year but I think you can see the difference between him and Elliott. Elliott us year younger but has 1 full season in championship under his belt and has come back ready to slot in. Jones never got that first team experience abs it showed at times last year (albeit in a team that was struggling). As you say, an injury is unfortunate and never want to see it, but does open the door for him to now stake a claim for a regular first team spot as he does offer that same kind of forward ability Elliott does.
Tbf to Jones, he was playing mostly in a struggling and imbalanced team. I think he has a lot of talent and I think the RCM role will suit him better as he will have more of a creative licence. I couldb be wrong but last season, he was mostly on the left which is the far more subdued midfield role.
Haven't been on the board all weekend, so just been reading through the comments. Great result, but overall a very frustrating performance really, mainly because of Mane's finishing! So sad to see Elliot's injury. According to the wife, you're ankles not going to dislocate like that without snapping ligaments, so will be a ling process of healing and recovery. Such a shame after having just broken into the starting 11 and playing so well, like a seasoned staple of the side. Also a blow for LFCs season really, as I think we didn't strengthen in midfield in the window due to the believe that Elliot would bolster us there. Who starts in Harvey's place now? Jones played a lot last season, so i guess he's next in line? Or does Hendo come in, assuming Thiago also starts? I really want Taki to work out, there's something about the way he plays that i like, but he's not hit the heights yet, i think he performed better at Southampton than he has so far for us.
it wasn't that bad a tackle Jim ,not great but not awful, just unlucky how the trailing leg trapped Harveys lower leg .
Coming from behind, two feet off the ground. His trailing leg is the one that does all the damage. Not saying there was any intent or malice behind it, but it's still a bad challenge.
Leeds fans signing to Trent Alexander-Arnold "you're just a sh*t Kyle Walker..", less than 5 minutes later he sets up Liverpool's goal. please log in to view this image
You forget Elliot is also a beneficiary of an injury to Curtis aka concussion and lack of pre season minutes in Hendo and Thiago. I have also said if you keep on using last season as a reference to the ability and players and the team, you will come to some pretty skewed conclusions. I am happy he didnt hide and was a key player. Just watch him play knowing the back 4 is solid
It is more that he wasnt malicious in his attempt to win the ball. However, the fact that it lead to a serious injury, was from behind and there was an element that he was off the ground, it was a red card. 3 match ban but more of an occupational hazard for Elliot unfortunately.
Disagree on this, but not only because Sadio got his goal eventually. The chances created were staggering. As an overall performance I thought we were excellent. For an open game we limited Leeds to very few real opportunities and we were a constant threat at the other end. If we had scored 6 or more it wouldn't have been a surprise. The only downside was Elliotts injury.
Jones will be better off the LCM role He's played LW and LCM in the youths all the time. This is also about the team balance. We are not a straight line by line team vertically. Salah is usually pushing on more as is trent at times and mane sits deeper when we are pressing etc. Robertson sits deeper and is looking for the big switch type ball to make his runs forward on. Wijnaludum also fed into that. Jones is also right footed which you guys swore to me that cod Elliot is left footed he should be on that right side no matter what. My view is if jones wants to play for LFC he can't be looking just to be the lad how gets to attack. he had to do the whol e job. thiago, jones, milner, henderson, ox, fabinho, and keita even with elliott injured suggests we have lods of cover and loads of options to find the right balance. I'd personally still see this as jones and keita to right for an LCM role but they are frustrated by Thiago. henderson at RCM helps trent who did a great job getting back in yesterday.
Special mention to VVD. Many times people marvel at him a a physical specimen but the calmness intelligence that man brings to this team is staggering. Man pickford really ****ed up that back to back attempt last season. People are talking about Chelseas defence and they have conceded just as many goals as ours. Furthermore, we are unbeaten in 14 games i.e. 11 wins 3 draws. Long may it continue
I really like Mane, but did you see the celebration. He went to his knees, turned round and no-one had run to celebrate with him. Yes, we should have scored a lot more, that's the frustrating thing! There were players in better positions on a number of occasions when Mane took the shots.
I'd give us a 7. We dominated but were awful at finishing and once elliott got injured we did drop right off the level. Finishing is a part of the game, we can't give a 9 for that performance, put 4 away and everything is awesome Even klopp was hopping mad n the bench before HT. Its a shame cos really there were good individual performances right round the park and very few errors from anyone. They started to creep in like alisson and matip ****ing up and thiago getting caught on the ball. but in the end the ball falls to the strikers and they didn't convert. Fabinho had to hard scramble the ball over the line off a corner where two forwards actually should have really scored before hand. That seal the game for me. If we can get back to better finishing and lets hesitancy then i think we will do well. Klopp is not a striker, anchelotti would be telling these lads hit these first time. I am sure he'd tell mane not to take another touch at all and accept 50% go wide cos he'd improve on 1/6 record. Klopp manages in his way but we simply can't afford to miss these chances against the top teams. At this point i am just hoping our one chance in a big game falls to jota and not salah or mane.