Harry Redknapp names Liverpool player who 'doesn't get enough credit' & another who had 'best game' v Chelsea

Former Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United manager Harry Redknapp has named Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones as the stand-out player of the weekend after his man of the match performance against Chelsea.

Jones started just his second league match of the season against the Blues and was at the centre of everything that was good about Liverpool’s performance in a 2-1 victory at Anfield. He won a penalty in the 29th minute which was converted by Mohamed Salah and linked up excellently with the Egyptian in the second half to net the winner at the far post just minutes after Chelsea’s equaliser.

It was a goal that the 23-year-old more than deserved after a lively midfield performance, which saw him dominate the game while directly facing £279m worth of talent in Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, who was introduced from the subs bench. He also made an important block in the first half to keep Chelsea out.

Redknapp claims Jones had the best game of his career to date and said: “My Player of the Week this week is Liverpool's Curtis Jones. He’s a young player that’s always shown glimpses of real talent, he’s got excellent technique and is very composed on the ball. This might have been his best game for the club. Aside from getting the winner, his all-round play was superb, and he never stopped running. He was involved in absolutely everything Liverpool did, winning one penalty and I thought he was unlucky not to have won a second.”

Jones was also praised by his manager afterwards, as Arne Slot said: “He had a very good game. He had a difficult job to control Cole Palmer who is an incredible player in my opinion. It is so difficult to defend him because he has so many qualities, and Curtis did that really well.

“In my opinion he controlled him for most parts of the game. It’s almost impossible to control him for 90 minutes but he was quite close to that but then also to have the impact on the other side with the goal and the two penalties he was involved in, one disallowed by VAR. It shows you he had a big impact on both sides of the pitch.”

Jones was unsurprisingly joined in Redknapp’s Team of the Week alongside the ever-reliable Salah, who made it to 10 goals contributions this season with his assist for Jones’ winning goal and his firmly-struck penalty. The 2008 FA Cup winning manager said: “Mohamed Salah might not have been at his absolute best, but I thought he was such a threat against Chelsea.

“He took his penalty with trademark ease, but his all-round play was excellent. Some of his outside of the foot passes were terrific. I’ve said it before, but I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for his passing and chance creation.” 

The result leaves Liverpool top of the table after eight games and Redknapp claims that things couldn’t have possibly gone better for Arne Slot in his early weeks after replacing Jurgen Klopp in the summer.

Liverpool are top of the table and one point clear of reigning champions Manchester City. The Reds can boost their gap on third place Arsenal to seven points if they can pull of an away victory in North London in their next Premier league fixture.