LIVERPOOL (England): Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was happy with Curtis Jones’s performance, but said he wasn’t surprised at all.
The 18-year-old celebrated a dream start with the first team after scoring the only goal that helped his side beat Everton in FA Cup third round on Sunday.
“Unbelievable player, Scouser, very confident, can’t wait to play in the first team, good, rightly so, he is (on) a very good way,” said Klopp. “I have known him for three-and-a-half years, he has made big steps, will 100% be a Liverpool player, if nothing strange happens.”
“That he scores that goal? I am not surprised. He is for these situations. Still a lot to learn, a lot to improve. Sometimes people forget in training, he is 18, unbelievable.”
Jones keen to make a mark
Jones has been making clear to Klopp that he feels ready for the first team and admitted he had found it hard to feature only infrequently for the Premier League leaders and European champions.
“It’s been frustrating at times being on the bench and then getting a taste on the pitch and then being back on the bench,” said Jones. “I’ve been basically begging to come on but hopefully I’ve topped it off with a good goal,” said the academy product.
Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti rejected the suggestion that his team had been affected by Liverpool making nine changes and fielding such a young side.
“The line-up of Liverpool didn’t affect our idea of how to play; we knew that Liverpool put in fresh players and that the intensity could be a high intensity so I think the defeat arrived because we were not able to keep the intensity in the second half,” said Ancelotti.
The Italian has faced a busy schedule of matches since taking over last month and said he was looking forward to finally getting down to work on the training ground with his squad.
“We are going to speak and work together to find a solution to help improve the team. I know we have to work,” he said. “We lost energy, we lost confidence, we were not able to build up quick from the back.”
