Slot challenges Jones to add consistency to game

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has challenged midfielder Curtis Jones to add consistency to his game because “the best players in the world show up every three days”.

Jones has been in impressive form recently, scoring in a league win against Chelsea and providing a brilliant pass in setting up Luis Diaz for a goal in Tuesday’s 4-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

He has again been called up to the England squad for games in November. The uncapped 23-year-old was drafted in as an injury replacement at the last England camp but withdrew because of the birth of his daughter.

“With Curtis maybe it’s not me who did it because he became a father and I had nothing to do with that,” said Slot.

“You never know if that plays a part or not but, since the moment he became a father, he started putting great performances in.

“He did it in pre-season but then his performances dropped a little bit. Since 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 how the team plays.”

In the summer, Jones spoke about how Slot’s style of play suited him “because I can get on the ball more and be free” after the Dutchman replaced Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager.

“He has a lot of quality on the ball,” added Slot. “He’s never afraid to do something special with it. Sometimes that leads to situations when, in my opinion, he touched that ball a bit too much because sometimes he’s a bit too over-confident.

“He combines this with an incredibly hard work-rate and we can trust him in defence. He’s quite complete but for him now it’s all about consistency. The best players in the world show up every three days.

“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.”

Liverpool not getting carried away – Slot

Liverpool are top of the Premier League table, with a two-point lead over champions Manchester City going into Saturday’s game against Aston Villa and, after four wins in four, are also top of the Champions League group in its new format this season.

Slot has guided the Reds to 14 wins in his first 16 games since replacing Klopp but insists no-one at the club is getting carried away.

“We are there to do our work and become better players on a daily basis or keep having the same level,” he said.

“It’s not the first time that this club is where it is at the moment. I think for most of these players it is a normal situation and I don’t think they get carried away at all by us being top of the league at the moment.

“They know how small the margins are when it comes to our results and the amount of points we are ahead of the other teams.”

He added: “I’m not trying to manage expectations with the squad because we don’t talk about expectations.

“The only expectations I have is that they put the same effort in on a daily basis. That’s the only thing we focus on.

Meanwhile, Slot said he does not expect injured forward Diogo Jota to be back until “one or two weeks after the international break”.

Jota has been out since the win against Chelsea on 20 October when the Portugal international suffered a chest injury after Blues defender Tosin Adarabioyo fell on top of him during a challenge.