Liverpool ended their tour of the USA in emphatic style on Sunday morning, hammering Manchester United 3-0.
It was a slightly up and down performance from the Reds, but they were ruthless against their arch rivals.
One of the goals on the night was scored by Curtis Jones, who once again started as part of Arne Slot’s double pivot in the midfield.It was a promising goal from Jones, who burst into the box to get on the end of an excellent piece of wing play from Mohamed Salah.
However, despite the match being the first of Ryan Gravenberch’s pre-season for Liverpool, Jones was the man Slot selected to come off for Trey Nyoni just before the hour.
Arne Slot explains Curtis Jones substitution. It was a little bit of a surprise to see Jones being removed from the pitch as the first second-half substitute.The academy graduate looked slightly annoyed himself after seeing his number go up on the board.
With Gravenberch having only arrived in training just before Thursday’s game with Arsenal, it had seemed likely that the Dutchman would be the first one to be taken off. Jones had picked up a knock during the first game of the tour against Real Betis last week, so the first thought was that it had perhaps reoccurred for the 23-year-old.
However, speaking to LFCTV after the game, Jones insisted that he is ‘100 per cent’ fit and ready to start the first Premier League game of the season if needs be.
Instead, the Scouser revealed that Slot told him he was being withdrawn after taking a bang to the head moments before. “I think I could’ve played the whole game there but I got a whack in the back of my head,” says Jones.
And he just said we took you off as more of a precaution thing, we don’t need to risk anything.“So, am I fit? 100 per cent. If I’m needed to go and start the first game of the season, then yeah.”Any other fitness doubts for Liverpool?It’s good news that Jones is fully fit heading into Liverpool’s final game of pre-season next weekend.
He has been a key player for Slot so far this summer and does indeed look likely to start against Ipswich a week on Saturday.Curtis could be joined in the midfield by Dominik Szoboszlai, who was a standout performer in Liverpool’s opening two games of the US tour.
However, Szoboszlai was notable by his absence for the match against United. But speaking to liverpoolfc.com before the game, Slot said that the Hungarian was simply a little fatigued and nothing more.
I think it’s a bit of fatigue and we don’t want to take any risks because we fly back to Liverpool tonight,” said the head coach. It looks like a clean bill of health for Jones, Szoboszlai and the rest of the Liverpool squad.
