Sérgio Conceição led Porto on a lap of apology around an almost deserted Estádio do Dragão after their latest humbling by Liverpool and did not hold back when the inquest opened. “The five goals we conceded are the kind you concede when you are in a relaxed training session and not when you’re playing in the Champions League,” said a coach who has endured 5-1, 4-1 and 5-0 defeats on Jürgen Klopp’s past three visits. “Too many mistakes in danger areas … everything was bad, but the responsibility is mine. It was a shameful disaster.”
Routs promote extreme reactions and few would dispute Conceição’s take on a fragile Porto performance that belied their experience in the Champions League (Tuesday was their 200th game in the competition) or pedigree as quarter-finalists last season. “Shameful”, as A Bola’s headline put it on Wednesday.
The emotional takes were understandable, but they do not detract from Liverpool’s excellence in Portugal or Curtis Jones’s statement performance on the Champions League stage. It is not an extreme reaction to a one-sided exhibition to suggest Jones may have come of age in Porto and elevated himself in the demanding eyes of Klopp. At the very least, the 20-year-old has seized the opportunity to be at the forefront of his manager’s plans for the game at home to Manchester City on Sunday.
Jones was involved in all five goals in Porto as Liverpool took control of a supposedly troublesome Group B. His snap shot produced the first mistake of the game from the goalkeeper Diogo Costa and opening goal for Mohamed Salah; he fought to keep possession in the buildup to the second for Sadio Mané; won the ball and carved open the Porto defence for the third; released Roberto Firmino in space for the fourth; and his volley inadvertently found its way to the Brazilian for the fifth. Not a bad night’s return, and it was polished by the clear improvement in the defensive side of Jones’s game.
“Top class,” was how Klopp described the midfielder’s defending. He also disclosed Jones had been struggling with a stomach problem before kick-off. In addition, the homegrown talent attempted more passes – 66 – than any other Liverpool midfielder and enjoyed a 91% accuracy rate. Only the defenders Virgil van Dijk, Joël Matip and Andy Robertson, with whom Jones combined to telling effect, passed more.
Jones knows he must deliver the entire package having been overlooked at the start of the season when, after he had missed the opening win at Norwich through concussion, the young promise that Klopp turned to after Georginio Wijnaldum’s exit proved to be Harvey Elliott. Elliott’s horrendous misfortune, Thiago Alcântara’s calf injury and Naby Keïta’s ankle problem have combined to open a route back in. From the Carabao Cup win at Norwich, Jones’s 50th appearance for his boyhood club, to the goalscoring display at Brentford and now Porto, there has been a marked determination to stay there.
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Jones’s impact is no surprise to Klopp, who cited the 20-year-old’s potential as one of the reasons not to fret over the refusal to sign a replacement for Wijnaldum this summer. “Curtis is another player who can and will make the next step, he is an exceptional talent,” the manager said before the Premier League campaign commenced. As so often with Jones, however, Klopp keeps pushing for more. “Let’s keep going Curtis,” as he said at Estádio do Dragão. He can propel Liverpool’s early-season momentum should he follow the advice on Sunday.