Curtis Jones says critics of ‘unbelievable’ Liverpool teammate ‘don’t understand the game’

Curtis Jones has heaped praise on one ‘unbelievable’ Liverpool teammate from whom he believes there is a whole lot more still to come.

The Toxteth native saw a host of players come in at Anfield during the summer transfer window, with Florian Wirtz prominent among them after joining from Bayer Leverkusen in a £116m deal in June.

The 22-year-old is yet to score for the Reds in a dozen appearances, but he claimed two assists in the 5-1 drubbing of Eintracht Frankfurt last night, one of which Ally McCoist hailed as ‘top-class’.

The German playmaker had shipped some criticism over his subdued G/A output in the first couple of months of his Liverpool career, but Jones vehementy claimed that detractors of the Reds’ number 7 are sorely misguided.

Jones takes aim at Wirtz’s critics

The 24-year-old told LFCTV after the win in Frankfurt: “I say all the time on Flo – he’s one of those lads that if you don’t think he’s good, you don’t understand the game.

“Obviously he’s been bought for a huge price tag, that’s not his fault, and everybody expects goals and assists. We do as well obviously, but in terms of what he brings into the team, where he goes and moves, he might not actually get on the ball, but it helps me and Dom [Szoboszlai].

“As he moves, a lad has to stay with Flo and it means that I’m free, and that’s just the smart thing of how he plays.

“It’s a matter of time before he gets his goals and assists. You saw there he just got two and I told him just carry on. From the first day you could see he had that spark.

“The Premier League as well, of course it’s a huge change as well but he’s a smart lad, intelligent lad. Technically he’s unbelievable as well, so it’s a matter of time before everybody sees the real Flo.

“We see it every day when he trains, I can’t wait until everybody really, really sees him. It’s exciting times for us and the whole team.”

Wirtz has done plenty right at Liverpool so far

There was always going to be considerable scrutiny on Wirtz after joining Liverpool for such a sizeable fee, but don’t let the lack of goals from the German fool you into thinking he hasn’t been effective or influential for the Reds.

As best illustrated by his delightful flick towards Mo Salah in the defeat to Chelsea, the 22-year-old has frequently produced moments of technical brilliance, but wayward finishing has deprived him of more than his current tally of three assists.

Many of his underlying performance figures have also been quite impressive. As per FBref, he has the joint-most key passes of any LFC player this season along with Cody Gakpo (25), the second-most shot-creating actions per 90 minutes (5.07) and the third-most dribbles completed (10).

Jones sees the quality of Wirtz on a daily basis in training, so he’s well-placed to speak about the playmaker’s strong points, including how he subtly helps teammates by occupying opposition markers.

It’s easy to forget how young he still is and that, in all likelihood, he’s still a good bit away from reaching the prime of his career. If he’s this good now, just imagine what he’ll be like when he hits the 25-30 age bracket and is well and truly acclimatised at Liverpool!

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