Curtis Jones has explained the debate he had with Jurgen Klopp following Liverpool’s Carabao Cup win over West Ham. The midfielder and his manager were seen chatting in an animated fashion on the pitch after the 5-1 quarter-final victory at Anfield.
Jones scored a brace as Liverpool eased through to the semi-finals. Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah were also on the scoresheet on a comfortable night for the Reds, who will play Fulham in the last four.
It was a big evening for Jones as he pushes for a more regular starting spot ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash against Arsenal. He has started just five Premier League matches this season but has put his name in contention for the visit of the Gunners.
Klopp would have understandably been delighted with Jones’ performance. However, that didn’t come across in the immediate aftermath of the match.
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The pair remonstrated on the pitch during the post-game celebrations in what appeared to be a light-hearted exchange. And Jones has explained what was said.
He told Sky Sports: “[Klopp] said about in the first half, there was a time when I think Darwin [Nunez] had the ball and I could have made a run it was a throw-in but it was at the end of the [half] so I was saying that I wanted to manage the game.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to receive the ball and then give it away, get tackled and they score at the end of the half. It is what is, there’s no problem.”
Jones scored the important second goal on the night for Liverpool 10 minutes after half-time. He squeezed the ball through Alphonse Areola’s legs from a tight angle.
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He then rounded off the win with Liverpool’s fifth after a mazy run through the Hammers’ defence. Klopp stressed his delight for the 22-year-old in his post-match press conference, admitting he has started to make vital improvements to his game.
Klopp said: “I am really happy for him because the skillset he has is immense, but sometimes he forgets to speed the game up, but especially with the second goal that is what Curtis can do as well. He has this speed and this tempo but he doesn’t use it often enough, we tell him quite frequently.
“Tonight he did it. He had a top game and looked very sharp during the whole 90 minutes.”
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