Arne Slot Details Key Reason Behind Curtis Jones' Outstanding Liverpool Form
Arne Slot believes Curtis Jones' impressive performances for Liverpool have coincided with the birth of his first child.
The 23-year-old became a father for the first time the week before he produced a superb individual display in the 2-1 win over Chelsea after the international break.
Jones, who was included in the England squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Greece and the Republic of Ireland shone once again for the Reds in an emphatic Champions League defeat of Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
Speaking ahead of Aston Villa clash on Saturday night, Slot said: "With Curtis, maybe it's not me who did it because he became a father and I had nothing to do with that!
"You never know if that plays a part or not, but since the moment he became a father he started putting great performances in, and he already did this in the first few weeks that we worked together in pre-season.
"I was like, 'Quality player!'
"But then his performances dropped a bit.
"But since the moment, like I just said, he became a father, he's outstanding again.
"It might have to do a bit with that but in general I think it has to do with the way the team plays, because every player that comes in has a good performance – and that probably tells you a lot about the quality of the team, how they play together.
"As a result of that, individual performances are good as well.
The Dutchman added: "He has a lot of qualities on the ball.
"When he has the ball, he's never afraid to do something special with it.
"Sometimes that led to a situation where, in my opinion, he touched the ball a bit too much, because sometimes he's a bit too overconfident.
"But confidence is an important tool and that's what he has.
"And he combines this – at the moment and probably for a longer period but as long as I'm working with him – with an incredibly hard work-rate.
"And we can trust him in defence as well, you saw how well he played against Cole Palmer.
"He's quite complete but for him now, and I think I used this word a few days ago, it's all about consistency.
"Because if you are a quality player – I think they are all quality players – to have a good performance once in a while, that's not a big accomplishment.
"But the best players in the world show up every three days, and if he wants to continue progressing that's what he has to show now, to be every three days the player he's been for us in the last few weeks."
LFC Transfer Room Football Correspondent. Covered the fortunes of Liverpool for the past three years. Follow Joseph on X (formerly Twitter) @joseph_agbobli