Cole Palmer claim speaks volumes as Arne Slot sets new Liverpool challenge

To paraphrase the Liverpool midfielder, what a month that was then. From the arrival of his first child, establishing himself in Arne Slot's new-look side to the dawn of a senior international career, it has been quite a period of positive change for Curtis Jones.

The 23-year-old this week even heard interim England boss Lee Carsley, having called up the boyhood Reds fan for the forthcoming UEFA Nations League games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, repeat his previous assertion Jones is one of most talented players he has even worked with.

Despite having this season spent time on the training ground with the likes of Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Harry Kane and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Carsley - with whom Jones won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship last year - saw no reason to alter his view.

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And, increasingly, Slot is being compelled to also recognise the value of the Academy graduate. After Jones started the campaign on the bench and then suffered the setback of injury, he has been involved in 12 of the last 13 games while starting six of the last eight, breaking up the previously established midfield of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in the process.

Jones created the opener for Luis Diaz in the 4-0 Champions League romp over Bayer Leverkusen in midweek having also assisted Mohamed Salah's winner against Brighton three days earlier and, three weeks ago, scored and assisted in the 2-1 in over Chelsea.

"He has a lot of qualities on the ball," says Slot. "When he has the ball, he's never afraid to do something special with it. Sometimes that led to a situation where, in my opinion, he touched the ball a bit too much, because sometimes he's a bit too over-confident.

"But confidence is an important tool and that's what he has. And he combines this – at the moment and probably for a longer period but as long as I'm working with him – with an incredibly hard work-rate. And we can trust him in defence as well, you saw how well he played against Cole Palmer.

"He's quite complete but for him now, and I think I used this word a few days ago, it's all about consistency. Because if you are a quality player – I think they are all quality players – to have a good performance once in a while, that's not a big accomplishment.

"But the best players in the world show up every three days, and if he wants to continue progressing that's what he has to show now, to be every three days the player he's been for us in the last few weeks."

Approaching 150 games for Liverpool, Jones has long been established in the senior squad only for untimely injury and the strong competition to prevent him properly nailing down a regular starting role. Indeed, there is no guarantee he will begin Saturday evening's Premier League visit of Aston Villa.

But the impact of Jones this season can be seen in the numbers. In the Premier League, he is running on average 11.74km per 90 minutes, the most for any Liverpool player who has played at least 200 minutes in the top flight.

He has five goal contributions - one goal and four assists - in all competitions, only three off last season's total and already more than in 2022/23. His number of assists this campaign matches the previous two terms combined.

"He came back earlier than the others because he was not in the Euros or Copa America, so he had a good and long pre-season," says Slot. "That maybe helps him now with the numbers and physical output he brings.

"When it comes to goals and assists everyone benefits - all the individuals - from the team performance. Scoring goals is not what the attackers do. Assists are not what the midfielders do. They all get the ball from Trent, from Virgil and Ibou and we as a team arrive in individual situations and benefit from this.

"Curtis is an example of this. Luis is. Cody, Mo... they are all examples of benefiting from a good team structure at the moment.”

And the Liverpool boss believes that rather impacting his preparation, the onset of fatherhood may be giving Jones an additional boost.

“I don’t know if he has a lack of sleep," says Slot. "But you might get so much adrenalin... are you a father? I am. I know there is no better feeling than becoming a father. That can help in the short-term with your performance. But that is more of a joke. It is more about team tactics."