Liverpool outlier confirms he HAS to start next game | OneFootball

The Reds have won a game of football, for the first time since September 23 and it was a brilliant performance against Eintracht Frankfurt that brought an end to the four-losses-in-a-row streak.

Liverpool's form in the Champions League was somewhat of a mixed bag going into the contest, having beaten Atletico Madrid 3-2 at Anfield before losing 1-0 to Galatasaray on the road in Istanbul.

And initially, things did not look good, with Rasmus Kristensen scored the opener for the hosts to put the Reds firmly on the back-foot, staring down the possibility of a fifth consecutive loss, which would have been the first time such a feat had been achieved by a Liverpool team since 1953.

But eventually, Frankfurt gave up a clear cut chance to level the contest and from then onwards, it was a bloodbath, as a mighty 11 big chances were created, with 14 of the 18 shots hitting the target.

Amongst all the goal contributions spread throughout the team was a player who demonstrated perfectly how Liverpool need their midfielders to be. He oozed calmness and control throughout.

Jones HAS to start going forward

As soon as we knew that Ryan Gravenberch would not be making the trip to Germany, it was a matter of working out how Arne Slot could make sure the midfield was balanced in his absence. Wataru Endo was the only traditional 'defensive midfielder' in Liverpool's squad, yet Slot looked elsewhere.

Curtis Jones was charged with partnering Dominik Szoboszlai, having featured intermittently so far this season, particularly in the Premier League, playing just 252 minutes across seven matches. In spite of playing slightly less than he might have envisioned, he delivered an absolute clinic last night.

Across the 90 minutes, he had 140 touches on the ball, making 122 accurate passes, alongside winning a tackle, making two recovers and succeeding in five of his nine duels. He was everywhere.

Of course, we must temper our praise a little, since Eintracht Frankfurt were miles off the pace, but Gravenberch's absence was not felt anywhere near as much as most would have initially feared.

And this kind of performance from Jones shouldn't come as a surprise. A statistical illustration from DataMB on X focusing on midfielders in terms of progressive passes and progressive carries per 90.

Within that graphic, Jones appears to be one of the most balance players in Europe, delivering nine progressive passes, and 2.5 progressive carriers on average per every 90 minutes on the pitch. He's joined by the likes of Pedri at Barcelona, and Vitinha at Paris Saint Germany. Impressive company.

Of course, the data behind his stats might not be the strongest, given he is a player that you could consider to be on the periphery, but Liverpool have an outlier who needs to be utilised a lot more.

Alexis Mac Allister would ordinarily have played Jones' role, but since the Argentine is out of form, Slot might have unearthed a way to deliver the control his midfield requires, without having to rely on the World Cup winner. If we have Gravenberch or Szoboszlai partnering him against Brentford next week, the platform will be set for a similar performance.

In general, the defence will need to become more solid moving forward, since Frankfurt seriously threatened during the early part of the game. Over time, the Reds need to improve in that regard.

But Jones playing ahead of the centre-backs simply has to continue. He was immense all evening.