Curtis Jones plays new role as Liverpool worsen Moyes’ record | OneFootball

Diogo Jota ended his 10-game goal drought to extend David Moyes’ terrible Anfield record as Liverpool beat Everton 1-0 in the Premier League.

Moyes has now lost 14 of his 20 Premier League games at Anfield, including each of the past nine in a row. He’s drawn six of the other matches, still searching for his first win.

Everton didn’t go down without a fight, actually having the ball in the back of the net themselves in the first half, with Beto being denied by an offside. James Tarkowski was also lucky to be on the pitch, after a poor follow through on Alexis Mac Allister, only receiving a yellow card for his challenge.

But it was Jota’s goal that sent Liverpool 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League, with eight games left to play. While Jota was ultimately the game changer in this one scoring the only goal of the game, it was actually another player who stole some headlines. Arne Slot made the bold call in asking Curtis Jones to play a slightly different role in this one.

The Liverpool midfielder was tasked with playing as a right-back for Slot’s side, with both Conor Bradley and Trent Alexander-Arnold both unavailable. He was favoured ahead of Jarrell Quansah. The 24-year-old managed 85 touches in the game, winning one of his two ground duels and winning two of his three aerial duels.

But Slot used his full-backs in a clever way against the Toffees. He looked to drag Everton’s wide midfielders deeper and narrow, creating plenty of one-on-one isolations for wingers Luis Diaz and Mo Salah.

Diaz managed to complete five of his six attempted take-ons, having great success up against Jake O’Brien. Salah attempted five take-ons, though he didn’t complete any.

Slot’s usage of his full-backs can tell us a lot about this game, as his usage changed slightly after Liverpool scored their goal. In the first 60 minutes of the game, both full-backs were looking to push aggressively, force Everton back and overload the centre.

This allowed for space out wide and helped Liverpool to pin Everton in their own half, dominating proceedings and limiting the Toffees on the counter.

However, after their goal, Liverpool’s full-backs were slightly more cautious in their approach. They started working their way up slower on the ball, staying in the back four for longer periods in build up, before assuming their positions in the attacking third.

This showed a level of maturity we may not be used to with Liverpool, who we have become accustomed to smelling blood and going for the kill. But in this one, Slot’s side were willing to change their approach after going ahead, taking a slightly more cautious approach and protecting their lead.

Despite allowing Everton those few moments towards the end of the match, Liverpool limited Moyes’ side to just 0.03 Expected Goals in the second half. The Toffees only managed one shot which was off target.

Whereas in the first half, Everton managed to generate 0.64 xG from two big chances and four shots. This shows while Liverpool were controlling territory in the opening 60 minutes, they were open to conceding half chances, But Slot’s slight defensive tweak after the goal allowed them to eliminate much of that risk.